caulipera bleached?

[xcorallusx]

I noticed my tank was somewhat cloudy this am and the caulipera in the refugium looks to be dead. It was thriving and getting pretty big. The chaeto still looks healthy. I had this same problem with a tank a year ago, i bought some liverock which had caulipera on it, and it spread all over the display. One day it died and made the tank really cloudy. I guess some would say I got lucky, but is this bad? What causes this?

 

[ade]

What typt of caulipera was it?

 

[AIMFish]

It's normally due to lack of nutrients. Caulerpa is still an algae, just organized, when times(nutrients) get lean they leave their happy union, spread out and will start again later. In the future I'd keep it trimmed to a smaller size, easier said than done tho.

 

[mdntrdr]

Cheato probably out competed it.

 

[ade]

racemora(grape)? i will second what John said, they use all they have left to go asexual and spread their spores.