having problems with chaetomorpha

derek_setter

derek_setter

Member
I have tested my water, and it is fine in every aspect, the nitrates are at like 2 i think but that is it. I got two large globs of chaetomorpha in about a week ago. it was very good looking. I put it in my fuge, but it kept getting swept into the return chamber, so i decided to place two rocks in it to hold it down, it worked for the mst part, but it has all been dying back and all that is left is the basic stem that it had been attached to--wht happened---

p.s. everything i touch DIES!
 
Hey Derek,

Are you sure it is Chaetomorpha? I don't understand what the basic stem you refer to would be on chaeto. What kind of lighting do you have it under? Do you test your phosphates?

Kevin
 
yeah, i am absolutelly positive it is chaet. i compared it to pics on here and it defenitely was.. the stem i was refering two was like ...it looks like a tiny little tree branchy,a nd there are a couple of leaf like extensions on some of them. the chaet had completley engulfed it, but as it died off, i could see it. my phosphates are very very low...barely detectabel if any. i would get a pic if i could but the digi cam doesn't work so great--i will try to though
 
alright it wokred--now lets see if i can get it to upload

the lighitng is a 6500k 19 watt pc from home depot

all the stem-things with the leaves used to be engulved in a brillo-pad like mass
 
so what about the billo pad like mass--it was green and felt and acted just like chaet--before it just sort of disintegrated
 
the picture that you posed cj is exactly what mine looked like before the die off--then what i have in there now is what was left over--i saw one of those leaves in the chaet when it was sitll alive though, i assumed that it was supposed to be there
 
I have emailed the main office of Florida Pets asking for an explanation for the subsititue of plants--i asked for two chaetomorpha and i got one chaetomoropha and a set of calpuera. I checked the levels of phoshate in the aqurium and there wasn't any.
 
Chaetomorpha situation

Chaetomorpha situation

We are finding that customers are having a good experience receiving and acclimating Chaetomorpha only about 50% of the time.
As you can see, it is not one of our favorite items.
From what we understand there has been a recent push for Chaetomorpha...and the demand that we have seen supports what we have heard.
The strain of Chaetomorpha that we are able to collect locally does not seem to be a hardy strain. It has problems acclimating to different situations. We find it works best as a pod breeding and transporting station, but is not recommended for use in a refugium as a nutrient exporter.
Alongside the recent push for "Chaetomorpha," we have heard current speakers/authors downplaying Caulerpa due to it's "going sexual."
We have found, over the past several years, that Caulerpa prolifera (which we sell and LOVE) is just fantastic. We have never found it to "go sexual" in our tanks. We HAVE found it to be extremely hardy and able to acclimate to various situations. It is an excellent nutrient exporter, food, and medicine.
 
So thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s what cheato looks like, I guess I had it all the time. People around here call it spaghetti macro. Go figure. The worst thing that is happening to mine is the cyno. This stuff is like a filter and collects it all over. Im going through a rough time with cyno and the cheato isnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t helping. I do have to say that pods love this stuff A LOT. I havenââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t had massive growth yet and I have been using a LOA 75 over my 20 fuge. My calpura is doing good though itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s a nice dark green, the cheato that touches the surface right under the light seems to turn yellow and die off. My ownly guess is that the light is burning it. Should it be pinched in between rocks to hold in under water?

My tangs even eat it. What is even more strange is they donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t eat the calpura. I thought tangs ate calpura.

Thanks
 
Don't be so bummed about getting some caulerpa in your shipment too.... it's a great macro and really does a good job with nutrient exporting. I collect wild prolifera and racemosa and have used it for a long time now. Its never 'gone sexual'. It grows like a weed, but what's nice is the prolifera grows up and out from it's own leaves. Just gets taller, in my experience. very nice looking macro. I have it in my fuge and main tank. The racemosa is nice too. Never had any problems.

Everyone says chaeto, chaeto, chaeto.... but there is always more than one way to something. And look...your chaeto died but your prolifera is still there....go figure :p
 
Oh, and my tang nibbles on the caulerpa.... doesn't chomp on it though.. he prefers the seaweed sheets
 
I was nice to see florida pets respond here. Their experience with chaeto is not mine. My chaeto has proven very hardy over the last year even survived being in the display and having anemone crabs eat a tunnel through it. It has now expanded to where about 5g in my refug is almost totally packed with chaeto. that a volume of about 2'x3'x8". one solid mass of very tightly packed chaeto.

I do fully agree with florida pets on the caulpera profilera. Again been in the system for about a year and nothing seems to stop it. My yellow tang attack and eat it. So I culture it in a 20g.
 
how about them florida pets?

how about them florida pets?

Hey how about those florida pets?

How many vendors would admit they ever had a product with a 50% failure?

Gotta apreciate their honesty!!!!!!
 
Yeah the caulpera has been in the tank for only about 2 weeks at MOST and it has grown into a forest covering most of my sump--i will just keep the light on 24/7 to keep it from going sexual

yes--thank you florida pets, although i did have a bad experience after arrival, they were very friendly with everything
 
Derick:

As I understand it you put a macro (chaeto) in a tank with like 2 nitrates. If that is 2 ppm you basically put the macro in a tank with very very little nutrients.

If this is the case then, it is no wonder the macro did not do well. I have had some feather cloud my macro algae culture tank which tested at 0.0 nitrAtes before adding the feather. Manwhile the caulpera profilera continued to survive in the same tank. The difference was the profilera had "grown up" in the tank.

By contrast my macros introduced into nitrates over 20ppm have all done well. And they simply spread and consume the nutrients but then just slow down as nitrates are lowered. But if more macros are introduced into a system then is required for the nutrients, then they do not do well at all.

another poster on another board reported a macros not doing well after they removed three tangs from the tank. Again, that reduced the nutrients available for the macros.
 
well the macro that i put in being chaeto didn't do very well, but the macro caulpera prolifera that is in there has grown extremely rapidly and had no trouble at all w/ only 2 ppm nitrates--
 
I think chaetomorpha can at least sustain itself on undetectable concentrations of nitrates.
 
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