Why are my Chaeto is choppy like crispy noodles? It's not a long string like before but choppy like small section of crispy noodles. Please advice me as to what went wrong.
I've seen several different species while collecting macros here in town. Some is very dense and very green, others not so much. I wouldn't worry about it just yet.
Could be any number of factors, light, nutrition, species. Some folks are collecting different types over time so they have diversity for their tanks.
If its growing and your phosphate / nitrate are non zero, then it all seems good.
Shse666,
They use to be dark, green and long. After I have trimmed many times and may added pickling lime drip in the sump. Now they're like chop noodles.... Short strange like crispy noodles. They didn't like and feel happy like before.
Thats an option. Have you tested your pH and Alkalinity? Somewhere around 8.2 and 7 - 14 dKH with a non zero phosphate and/or nitrate?
Treating root causes instead of the symptoms? I've seen some weird macros when the phosphate and nitrate both test out at zero for weeks at a time.
I was going to start a new post for ULNS tanks and dosing for folks with an active 'fuge. My macros in the 45 feel somewhat starved.
My ph is at 8.2 and dKH at 10.6. Every low to zero phosphate & nitrate. I think at one time a couple of months ago when I start to drip and I dripped to much. Since then my Chaeto never looked the same.
If it's still growing, and you're still throwing the extra out, I wouldn't bother with new chaeto.
I've seen chaeto that's very stringy, and chaeto that forms mostly spirals, and chaeto that is like a brillo pad.. as long as it's growing, why buy trouble?
Im having cheato issues as well. I think my tank is starving it out. Mine is very light colored and the small tiny pieces go everywhere. I have been throwing away whatever gets accumulated in the filter sock. I might take my cheato out all together and start over with a nice ball that doesnt fall apart.
Yeah, if it starts to fall apart, it's definitely time to prune. Make sure you flip it over frequently, so that one side isn't constantly on the top and other bits are always shaded. In a perfect world, it would constantly tumble with flow, but I've only been able to achieve that for short periods of time.
