chaeto turning white???? whaaaaat?

[dclegern]

I have a ball of Chaeto (had been living very happily in the main tank)
Looked in there today, and most of it had turned white and nappy!!

whats up with this anyone?
too much light? ? ? ? ?

[justahobby]

Old age, We all have to face it some time or another :D

I would guess its too much light. Remove the dead/dying to prevent a release of nutrients.

[Neptune@gabesfish]

Shouldnt be too much light.. Might be that being in display tank with lights on and off of course very possible that it went into a sexual die off ..Not normal for Cheto,but possible also check water flow around it .. In a fuge the water running threw it keeps it clean of detrius this can also kill it .. Just my thoughts on this

[BIGBIRD123]

Good call Gabe. That is one of the first signs of macro going sexual. It turns white or clear. The next is a Phosphate spike from it releasing the toxins back into your water column of the stuff it is used to pull out. Then comes other problems...

[justahobby]

Interesting....That would be the first time I have heard someone's chaeto going sexual. Good luck with it!

[allan]

Probably not the same thing, but there are times when the top of my chaeto forest rises above the surface tension just a bit, and the center of the light focus causes mine to go white. It's always just limited to that little spot though and I think mine is a build up of heat.

If you need more chaeto to replace yours I've got plenty on the rebound. Bugs and all.

[Neptune@gabesfish]

Interesting....That would be the first time I have heard someone's chaeto going sexual. Good luck with it!

Not normal but possible. in most cases not to often seen cause most run the fuge 24hrs ..

[BIGBIRD123]

It is not normal but when it starts turning white or clear, that is what is happening. When it stresses, it goes sexual. We all no there are funny things that happen in this hobby. Every one always says to get a CBB for aptasia, I have owned 6 and none of them ate aptasia.

[dclegern]

I rinsed it out pretty good (nasty-turned the water dark brown) when I switched over tanks, and now 4 days later is when it happened.
Now seperated from the main tank, i'm hoping it'll bounce back.
Maybe it liked the muck in the old tank, and can't find enough now????

[justahobby]

I wonder if stress can cause algae to go sexual

[Ping]

Most likely light shock from the cleaning. color loss with algae will also happen if your water does not contain enough nutrients. Or the algae has not, or is not recieving enough light.

Cheato is not known to go sexual.

It should bounce back.