Chaeto Turned in to Snot

Ezreal · Apr 2, 2019

I have had a wondeful ball of chaeto in my mini fuge that grew so well I had to split it and dump it every other week.

However one day the water in the fuge fell low because of a filter sock clog and the algae turned lime green and started creating gooey snot around it. I threw 95% of it out and kept the one dark green little chunk left and hoping it will regrow nicely.

But what happened? Why did the air exposure cause it to turn in to a tissue after a bad cold or... ya know.

Flippers4pups · Apr 2, 2019

Air did it. It like other algae has little pockets of cells. Cells have water in them and when exposed to air, the cell membrane breaks and start to decompose.

Ezreal · Apr 2, 2019

Flippers4pups said:
Air did it. It like other algae has little pockets of cells. Cells have water in them and when exposed to air, the cell membrane breaks and start to decompose.

can the remaining chunk recover?

Flippers4pups · Apr 2, 2019

Ezreal said:
can the remaining chunk recover?

Of course it can. If it's soild in structure and has it's color.

Ezreal · Apr 2, 2019

Flippers4pups said:
Of course it can. If it's soild in structure and has it's color.

Its a bit light green but somewhat dark

Ezreal · Apr 13, 2019

Flippers4pups said:
Of course it can. If it's soild in structure and has it's color.

Little update. The tiny clump of chaeto grew back in to an even darker ball of lovely chaeto! It's not quite at its former glory but it's getting there!