Caulerpa gone asexual

[Ga]

My Caulerapa Racemosa has just gone a-sexual and left my tank looking like someones poured a pint of milk in it!! ive removed what has died but there is another portion that spread that seems okay, still nice and green etc. ive added some carbon to the tank to try and help but what now...im guessing there will be a big nitrate/po4 rise, am i best to leave the what looks healthy caulerpa in the sump or remove it altogether??

Thanks

Ga

[kmk2307]

Hi Ga,

I think adding carbon was a good idea. If you can, you might want to do a moderate water change. Caulerpa produces various toxins. C. racemosa isn't really nasty compared to some other species but these toxins could harm your tank. Do you have a skimmer? If so you might want to crank it up (if possible w/ your model). I would leave the parts that still look healthy. How big were the pieces that went sexual? FWIW, when caulerpa self-destructs like this it is reproducing sexually. It breaks down its protoplast and turns it into gametes.

One way to reduce the likelyhood of Caulerpa trying to reproduce sexually is keeping the main horizontal 'stem' right around 12" or less. When you cut caulerpa you should only cut it at one place at a time. Caulerpa is actually one giant cell (it's a siphonous / coenocytic algae) so when it is damaged a lot of the cell contents can spew out a wound. Some people say keeping Caulerpa under 24/7 lighting in a refugium will prevent it from going sexual. I have 24/7 lighting over my refugium and my Caulerpa has never gone sexual but that, of course, doesn't really prove this theory... it just coincides with it. I do try to keep individual 'plants' shorter than 12". If you have had it with Caulerpa, other algae that are good for growing in 'fuges are Chaetomorpha and Gracilaria. These algae do not reproduce sexually like Caulerpa and are non-toxic.

HTH & Good luck,
Kevin

[Ga]

Thanks Kevin,

Its been 24 hours now and all Acros etc still showing polyps etc so hopefully no permanent damage has been done. Ill bear that in mind about keeping the stem short as i was just harvesting the shoots with the 'grapes' on rather than the stem.

Thanks again

Ga

[beaslbob]

By adding another and fast growing and thriving macros, you will go a long way to the tank clearing up.

I had a new batch of feather do this. The tank was cloudy for 6-8 weeks dispite other macros still thriving. I finally turned off the lights for a week and the water cleared up. And the other macros did well also. But that tank was just for cultureing macros--no fish or corals in there.

[doc1]

get chaetomorpha on e bay they tell me it never goes sexual its doing ok so far in my refugium