New caulerpa disintegrating into water!

tippytango · Nov 5, 2021

Palm caulerpa.. leaves turning white and falling off! I got it 2 days ago. Should I pull it out?
2 other bunches on the sides of the tank seem fine. I’m worried the middle one is dying and will poison the water.
Thanks!

maleks.reef · Nov 6, 2021

Im not expert in marco algae but maybe you have low iron/po4/no3 ?

Big Smelly fish · Nov 6, 2021

Sometimes when first introduced till it take hold and adjust to your perimeters and lighting you can experience some die out. If the one to the side are doing good because of less intense lighting more like the system it came from.
But it could be lacking in something else

sixty_reefer · Nov 6, 2021

tippytango said:
Palm caulerpa.. leaves turning white and falling off! I got it 2 days ago. Should I pull it out?
2 other bunches on the sides of the tank seem fine. I’m worried the middle one is dying and will poison the water.
Thanks!

It won’t poison the water, just cut out any parts that have discoloured to a white colour and discard

Tbg299 · Nov 6, 2021

tippytango said:
Palm caulerpa.. leaves turning white and falling off! I got it 2 days ago. Should I pull it out?
2 other bunches on the sides of the tank seem fine. I’m worried the middle one is dying and will poison the water.
Thanks!

I had the same problem with my Gracileria. It turned out I was doing too many water changes to keep nutrients
level low. Macroalgae need a decent amount of nitrates and phosphates to grow.

Tbg299 · Nov 6, 2021

sixty_reefer said:
It won’t poison the water, just cut out any parts that have discoloured to a white colour and discard

Yes. Macroalgae die off doesn't produce ammonia.

davidcalgary29 · Nov 7, 2021

I'd also check your salinity levels; if you haven't calibrated your refractometer recently, it could be off. I fried one macro with hypersalinity.

Tbg299 · Nov 8, 2021

tippytango said:
Palm caulerpa.. leaves turning white and falling off! I got it 2 days ago. Should I pull it out?
2 other bunches on the sides of the tank seem fine. I’m worried the middle one is dying and will poison the water.
Thanks!

Just curious, what are your nitrate/phosphate levels? In my experience most of my macro algae dies without at least a trace amount of phosphates and 5 ppm nitrates.