Has my Halimeda gone sexual?

[Dragonlady]

This morning I noticed that my Halimeda looked different.

There were white fuzzy things all over it.

Later during the day, the white fuzzy things turned dark green resembling miniature broccoli florets.

They were not just around the edges, but all over the Halimeda, and the area that was formerly green turned white, and it has stayed white all day other than the broccoli like things.

It had been growing very well showing lots of new growth.

I think my Halimeda has started to go sexual. Is this correct?

If so, what are the chances of getting new Halimeda plants from the older Halimeda going sexual?

 

[ReefRian]

I'm not sure about getting new halmedia, but odds are if it is growing somewhere in your tank you will get new sprouts eventually, I have. Yes it did go sexual and if you have other groups of it they may follow suit. Hopefully it was just a small amount and you have a big enough tank for the impact it can have. My husband had a nano, I think 10 gal, and when the halimedia went sexual the whole tank turned milky green and you couldn't see anything. We were gone when it happened and when we found it, we spent the day doing waterchanges. We were worried it would deplete the oxygen in the tank and were worried out our fish. They all survived and we had no problems, but the tank was gross for a while. If you want to check out the thread, here it is

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=28578&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=40

Hope this helps.

Rian

 

[Dragonlady]

I got a picture of what the Halimeda looks like after it went sexual. I was unable to find any other pictures of Halimeda after it has done this on RC, so perhaps this will help someone else.
It had no nuisance algae on it at all. This happened overnight.

It is in a 55 gallon tank, but I did do a water change just to be on the safe side. The tank is lightly stocked and has a good skimmer. Hopefully the other larger colony of Halimeda won't do the same thing.