Not sure if there is a problem or not.....

[AkainePSP]

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I started having an issue with black algae. So I cleaned/changed my filter/media did a water change, removed as much algae as I could without messing with the live rock and cut back on my feeding. The only inhabitant that may have died cause I haven't seen it in about a week is a scarlet hermit. My mandarin also passed on but I'm not sure if that was due to starvation because he wsa awfully skinny.

What concerns me is I purchased some caulerpa about 2 weeks ago and now its dying. I do know I definately need new lights and I hope to be getting those this week.

My last water test and change was about a week ago and everything was fine. Perhaps I should do another water change and test?


Any ideas as to what could be going on?

44 Gallon Corner Tank
40 lbs Live Rock
small bunch of caulerpa
3" Live sand and crushed coral
250 Skilter- supposed to work as a skimmer too

Tankmates: 1 Pearly Jawfish, Pair of False Perculas 3 blue hermits, 2 turbo snails, 3 Nassarius Snail, 1 elephant slug, 1 camal back shrimp.

[DragonForce]

Yea the manderin probably died becuase 98% of manderins die of starvation. You need like 125 lbs of live rock per manderin to feed off the copepods that live on the rock. Beautiful fish though.

[AkainePSP]

Did my water tests

PH- 8.0 (dropped from 8.2)
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0


Also I saw what looked like maybe my jawfish defacating? A piece of what looked like brown poop just came out of his body? Normal?

[Hara]

when you say your caulerpa is dieing, what does it look like? Did it fade to clear in places? If so, I suspect it may have gone sexual, which may be a contributing factor to your tank problems.

[AkainePSP]

yes the caulerpa did turn white but now it looks as if it is getting its green color back. What do you mean by sexual and why is this a bad thing?

[Hara]

"going sexual" is the term used for the caulerpa reproduction process. If you see it shortly after it happens, you will notice that your tank gets cloudy. These chemicals are toxic to the tank and an emergency 50% water change needs to be done.

[AkainePSP]

Well I did do a 25% water change earlier today and a 25% water change last Sunday. Should I do another water change? Should I remove the caulerpa?

[Fluff]

I would do another water change and be sure to keep the caulerpa trimmed back. Trimming regularly will usually help keep this from happening. You could try removing it, this is what I would do because to me it's more trouble than it's worth, but chances are you'll never totally be rid of it.

[seafan]

Personally, trimming doesn't do anything unless it is in a 'fuge. But if you have caulerpa make sure the tank is not in direct sunlight, and that it gets no more than 10 hrs of light a day (or if its in a fuge 24hrs). If you want it to grow or want to keep it from going sexual add an Iron supplement. But I believe Caulerpa is a big mistake to add to an actual tank. Just get a Chaetomorpha (Chaeto). Then again this is only my personal experience with grape caulerpa, taxifola may be completely different.

[AkainePSP]

what is chaetomorpha? I went to remove the caulerpa rfom my tank and it all kind of fell apart. There was one small piece of green, the rest was white and slimy. Kinda like it was dying. I do have a yellow tang in another tank is it ok to put this in with him (the green piece) and let him eat it? OR should I just throw it all away?

[Hara]

let the tang eat it

[seafan]

No if it's slimy it already went sexual, not much hope besides water changes. Google Chaeto to learn what it is and what it does, all I will say is that it is a type of algae that doesn't go sexual.