My Nightmare Has Come True....

[Lynden]

Hello. About two weeks ago a guy gave me this awesome mix of corals, and also a caulerpa algae, all for free. I have about 1 1/2 watts of light per gallon, although the k rating isnt the greatest.( about 4100)

Anyway, they began to prosper, and my sebae clown actually hosted the caulerpa. The mushroom and the encrusting corals, as well as the colony of orange spot and super colour colony polyps were doing really well, even growing a little. I noticed, that for a few weeks, the tank was freezing(like it was under 68f).
However high I set the heater, the temperature would not go up. The animals, although slower, were still doing very well.

Well, I was extremly suprised they didnt kick the bucket. They should have died, I do not know how they were spared. One day, I found that the heater wasnt even plugged in for those two weeks. So, I immediatly plugged it in, and activity resumed to its normal pace over the next few days, they all looked happier and healthier.

This morning however, when I woke up after sleeping next to the tank, I found something that I had dreaded to ever see. My algae and my corals were dieing, and fast. a few days ago, I noticed a decline in the orange spot polyps, and handed them to my cousin, Riley( you might see him on this site) until I got my better lights. Now he has agreed to take care of everything except for the super coloured colony, which appears to be fine, but only if the caulerpa is not diseased. Its leaves appear to have turned white and translucent.

My scallop, feather duster, my shrimp, and all the crabs and snails are doing better than before. The decline is only coming from the stuff that the guy gave me. Im pretty sure is from temperature shock, everything else is pretty normal.

Please, if anyone has encountered this before, could you tell me and riley what to do about it, I am very fond of those corals and algae.

Thanks in advance for the replies.

 

[Navarre]

I would say its temperature shock.

Caluerpa doesnt get disease ( if it did then the mediteranean dilemma would easily be dealt with). The white leaves means that its gone asexual and this means its dumps all its chemical and toxins/nutrients back into the tank. This will only have exageratred the problem in the tank.

Massive water changes are needed and a slow gradual increase in water temperature.

 

[Lynden]

I dont quite get what you have said. So, when it went asexual, did it dump the nutrients back into the water in order to reproduce? I have noticed some new growth around its base. And do you mean that it exxagerated the temperature shock in the tank? Does this mean I will have an ammonia or nitrite spike? I tested the water today, and the nitrites were pretty high, around 0.8, a little lower maybe. Also, the caulerpa wont die, will it?

I do not have very much salt right now to do water changes. What else can I do?

 

[Navarre]

Caulerpa is a very unstaqble macro algae, it grows very fast and eats nutrients at a horrendous rate. the problem is that once the caulerpa reachs a certain stage in its lifespan it will turn asexual and dump everything back into the tank This is obviously not a good thing for the tank and should be avoided. Many people keep their caulerpa pruned on a regualr basis as the length of hte caulerpa is thought to have a link to it doing this. Keeping the lights on 24/7 is another way to stop it as the algae works on a day/night cycle and it usually dumps just before or after lights on/off. This is not easy to do in a tank for obvious reasons and this is why caulerpa is kept in sumps so a light can be kept on it 24/7

 

[Lynden]

Thanks for the info It helped alot. I just hope I can get a sump or refugium when I get into my new house