Gracilaria Parvisipora: green and red colored, can it be toxic?

[mfinn]

I recently got some of this macro and while I was away from home yesterday, my wife opened the package and dumped it in my sump of my 240.
I got home about a hour later and noticed a red color through out the water.
Like some red dye had been added to the water.

I looked at the macro that was in the sump and it was completely white.
Most of it didn't have a speck of color in it.

Fish seemed a little freaked.
Then when I fed the tank, most were out, but I didn't see all the anthias.
Like a *******, I ignored it.
This morning, there were no anthias swimming around, and most of the fish were hiding.
I started a 65 gallon water change and filled up my BRS double reactor with carbon.
I have another 90 gallons of saltwater mixing now.

I found a couple anthias dead and got them out of the tank. I can see a couple more, upside down. There were 7 total.
I'm missing a hippo tang, a coral beauty.
Missing a large BTA.
A couple orange rics are bleached and rolling around.
About 8 other lps corals are all looking bad.


So, I'm totally convinced it was the macro.

Anyone have a thought?

 

[barron]

Wow, looks like the that algae when healthy is no problem, when it dies, releases toxins.
Be that as it may, I have seen entire tanks also killed from Caulerpa blooms too, from the massive drop in ORP, and resultant ammonia spike. Time to replace almost all the water.

And sorry for your loss. Guess if it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

 

[mfinn]

Wow, looks like the that algae when healthy is no problem, when it dies, releases toxins.
Be that as it may, I have seen entire tanks also killed from Caulerpa blooms too, from the massive drop in ORP, and resultant ammonia spike. Time to replace almost all the water.

And sorry for your loss. Guess if it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

That's the only thing I can think of. Something similar to what happens on occasion with Calerpra.

 

[phobos2deimos]

Wow. I'm sorry, that's unfortunate. I've had entire batches of macros arrive dead, with their color completely expelled and the water dyed. I had a batch of dead dragon's breath that was totally clear, and the water looked just like pink highlighter ink!
I don't know if it's toxins released, or if it's an incredible spike of nutrients that would cause the deaths.
I suspect that the macros were DOA, and perhaps spent time rotting in the bag, and whatever was resulted in the rotting is what got dumped in. I can't imagine healthy/living Gracilaria doing that.

 

[mfinn]

Well it looks like only the small fish in the tank were victims.
All the anthias.

Lost a few corals and a few are still looking ify.

 

[zeebies]

Check this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23727883#post23727883

 

[NewOne81]

Well it looks like only the small fish in the tank were victims.
All the anthias.

Lost a few corals and a few are still looking ify.

I'm happy for you that it wasnt a total loss. I wish i could say the same. the link on here says it all but I'll say i have 2 fish remaining....with most coral dead. We'll see happens to the last 2....

 

[mfinn]

I guess there is one more thing to add to the list of stuff we need to quarantine before we add to our tanks.

 

[mfinn]

Looks like I lost a bunch of zoanthids. Also there was a lot of common button polyps that would normally survive almost anything, except this. They are all looking like they are toast too.

 

[NewOne81]

I have 2 fish left, all sps dead, all lps except for 1 piece dead, zoanthids all closed up. Thank you CHSUB for destroying my hobby and years of work. I wish there was some way to get reimbursed for the now $1000+ loss. "certified hobby destroyer" I hope Karma swings the other way for you buddy.

 

[mfinn]

I have 2 fish left, all sps dead, all lps except for 1 piece dead, zoanthids all closed up. Thank you CHSUB for destroying my hobby and years of work. I wish there was some way to get reimbursed for the now $1000+ loss. "certified hobby destroyer" I hope Karma swings the other way for you buddy.

I'm in the same boat as you. I've lost 50% of my fish, most all zoanthids are gone. Several lps colonies, RBTA, and pearl bubble and some other corals are in serious trouble.

But one thing is different. I would NEVER wish something like this on someone else.

He may have shipped the macro to us, but we were the ones who put in in our systems.
Yeah YOU did this. If the macro was healthy it would have never caused this.
You had to have seen there was something wrong with it.
You need to take a chill pill, and learn from this.

 

[billsreef]

Out of curiosity, was the gracilaria shipped with ice packs? In water or just damp?

I suspect that the macros were DOA, and perhaps spent time rotting in the bag, and whatever was resulted in the rotting is what got dumped in. I can't imagine healthy/living Gracilaria doing that.

Considering Gracilaria sp. are not known for producing toxins, phobos2deimos is correct about DOA and rot. Which is suported by mfinn's statement of the algae being white, and red color from the algae being in the water. A mess of rot from anything added to a tank is going to be problem.

I guess there is one more thing to add to the list of stuff we need to quarantine before we add to our tanks.

Always wise to QT anything wet. Prevents lots of problems

 

[mfinn]

Shipped in plastic bags with water.

 

[NewOne81]

Ok so ive ordered this in the past from a major online retailer. It appeared the same way out of the shipping bag with water being red. Nothing negative happened before so i guess i must be crazy for assuming sinced it looked similar that things would be fine. After adding it and watching my tank implode the thought occured to me that this did not ship with any ice pack or the like which i now believe is the problem. You are right that i did this to my self but i must also be an idiot for assuming that someone who has shipped this for years would know what they are doing. So it is my bad but in the end i will wish or think whatever i like as you are welcome to also.

 

[Lacy]

I have 2 fish left, all sps dead, all lps except for 1 piece dead, zoanthids all closed up. Thank you CHSUB for destroying my hobby and years of work. I wish there was some way to get reimbursed for the now $1000+ loss. "certified hobby destroyer" I hope Karma swings the other way for you buddy.

I know you said in another thread you didn't have enough water made up for a water change. Even though I don't like the lfs water, I would have run to them for water. Might have been a smaller lose. I am sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[NTSdude]

This is painful to read,I also have some recent problems with my tank. I got home from a 48 hours shift, and I found my 30g packed with colonies 5 years old dead to the bone, water looked like milk shake gone bad all from a bad skimmer pump. This is the 3rd time I have a major problem like this one, My 90g became a fish only after being a very healthy SPS only tank. NewOne81, I very sorry for your lost, unfortunately we all learned from bad tragedies, take a break and I hope you can continue with this life style, good luck mfinn.