Macroalgae Turned Water Green???

[pmcustom]

I recently shipped some chaetomorpha macroalgae to someone and here is what happened:

"after putting it in my entire tank turned a NASTY shade of green i thought maybe it was something temporary but i put it in another tank with a bubbler and it turned that water green as well. as if it were dyed"

I've shipped roughly 60oz of this same algae, and no one else has ever had a single problem whatsoever. any ideas what could have happened?

Thanks.

 

[Samala]

If the algae took shipping hard and parts of it have died it might be leaching cellular contents (which would be green) into the water. Hard to imagine it leaching enough to turn an entire tank a vivid green, but I suppose it is possible.

Perhaps you could ask if the algae strands are white or gray in color? That might confirm this idea.

>Sarah

 

[pmcustom]

That's what I thought might have happened, but he said it was light green (didn't say anything about it being gray or discolored). He takes his water into Petco to get tested weekly, and I imagine Petco isn't the most reliable place he could go...could poor water quality cause this? I know that's a pretty broad question, but I thought macroalgae was very hardy and that pretty much any half-way successful tank could support it. As for the shipping, it is winter and I wouldn't have been surprised if some of the shipments had arrived in poor shape, but none of the other 20 or so people who got some from the same batch had any problems. That's why I have to suspect that there's an issue with his tank and not my algae. Plus, he said it was green when he got it, so doesn't that mean it's okay? Thanks for the help.

 

[pmcustom]

Here's what he said in his e-mail:

"the parameters are all fairly strict everything was at 0 accept ph ( for corals ) and it was 8.5 everything else is kept perfect i dont really give it a chance to get out of hand, i have it tested at petco every week and its always perfect. my nitrites got to .025 recent which is why i figured putting the algae in would take care of that but the water still tests fine although its so green you cans see out the back of it and after checking this morning the corals have infact begun to die. the xenia is falling apart. one of my 2 anemones died yesterday morning and the other is fighting to stay alive. im willing to bet the thick green cloud prevented light from hitting them. it looked very thin compared to my other algae i had in there my other algae is litterally the thickness of a speghetti noodle. light green not dark but i acclimated it. infact i took that algae last night and put it in a bowl and by morning the water in the bowl was green too"

 

[rustybucket145]

weird..... how long has this guy had his tank setup?

Almost sounds to me like he is having a phyto-plankton bloom. Maybe his tank is super fertile and he introduced phytoplankton from your tank (hitchiked in on the chaeto) where it was in a controlled environment. When it was introduced to his fertile tank it's growth and breeding was increased, thus turning the water green.

Really just a theory but it's the only way I see a wad of chaeto turning the tank green. What if he mixed up some fresh saltwater in a bowl and put the chaeto in it to test this theory? Of course... it could be his tap water...... hemmmmm....

 

[graveyardworm]

I'm with rustybucket, I doubt the problem is directly related to the cheato addition, Perhaps indirectly. Should've been quarantined first someday people will learn. I also dont think I would trust Petco with my water testing. What parameters are they having tested regularly? Is it complete testing? Sounds like a strange coincidence to me.

 

[pmcustom]

i agree...i don't have any additional information to pursue it further. i'll let you guys know if i find anything else out. thanks for the help.