I agree with very cool looking macro algae.I've had this for a long time and it always just did it's thing, sometimes good sometimes bad. But lately it's just taken a turn for the worse and trying to figure out how to cater to it a bit better. Very confused about lighting. Some people told me red = deep so blue not intense lights then another tells me this is a very high white light loving species. But none can seems to agree to what it is. Grows in round pinkist petals from a stalk. Thanks for any info.
It came on a live rock purchased over 8-9 years ago. Rubbery feel, bends easy. Does well then does not. I never really gave it much attention and it did it's thing. But lately it has not been doing well. It's not recovering from what has upset it and I don't know what that could be.. I is a bit special to me since the rock was a gift from my mother. This used to be a 20 with a canister and two neglected t5 bulbs and it did good for 8 years. Tank leaked, filter broke, light as well. A lot of stuff changed and it seems really sad. The above pics where from better times. I was wanting to id it so I could care for it better hopefully recover it. It was kind of coming back a few months ago but I left the tank in my husbands care.. He decided to add a massive amount of racemosa because it was pretty. Nutrients bottomed out also because he changed too much water. Nitrate back up but having trouble keeping phos up. No matter how much reefroids I dump in there. Salt mix was also changed from IO to aquaforest. Light is now a fluval led. So many variables I don't know where to start.Coraline really too off lately, is it outcompeting it? I have no idea what it wants. High or low light? BLue or white? I just got some cheato gro today. Attached are pics with and without flash to show dire condition. Any pointer would be much aprreciated. I would like to see it lush and full again. Closest I could find online was Meredithia spp. but no info on it's care.
I recently found out that even for the scientists that study it, red algae can be notoriously difficult to ID through morphological examination; DNA seems to be growing as the main method for ID of these - so no guarantees of an ID here.
A Meredithia would be my first guess in this case (though they are typically found in deeper - mesophotic - waters), and some species in the genus do require DNA sequencing to ID to the species level.
I know Meredithia nutleorum is the only unbranched Meredithia species I'm aware of (I've seen descriptions for 12 of the 14 species I'm aware of), but I've only heard of it being found East of Australia - for picture comparison (pics of these species are hard to come by, since they're mostly found in mesophotic depths):The petal part comes from one stalk for one petal. The stalk is not very distinct from petal and is kinda U shaped extending into the petal part.It is short. Usually grows in a half circle with round part pointing downwards. I have no idea where the original rock was from. It was premium live rock, the type stuff we can't get anymore. It's really hard to get a good pic of it right now as it looks like utter crap. But the one post I found online shows the base perfectly. Althought I have never seen mine grow full round. Only half rounds.
Oh my! That would be odd that it ended up in a fish shop... Is was probably Fiji rock but from a big tub they used to keep all types of things so who knows. I think... Maybe I'm just not describing it very well. Sometimes multiple stalks will come out of the rock at the same point. But each petals stalk does touch the rock. I have never seen it grow more outwards than in the pictures. It spreads making new petals at the edge of the bunch. When a petal dies a new one usually will come back in that same spot. Also when falling apart or getting old a petal will turn into a fluorescent orange cube shaped particle. I see this coming out of it when I blow it off with a turkey baster. When you say branched you mean like this pic? Unless it never branched because it has never truly been happy? Any recommendations on its care? I'm not sure what I have done to upset it so much. It usually bounces back from whatever has irked it. I changed so much at once it's hard to pinpoint. Thanks for all the help and info, much appreciated.
To clarify, are the stalks connected here (i.e. growing from each other), or are they just growing next to each other?
Yeah, that and the stalks being connected are the kinds of branched I was meaning; if it's one petal per stalk, and the stalks aren't growing from each other, then your algae is unbranched.
If it has been growing and spreading for years, then it has definitely been happy for you.
Unfortunately, no, but @sixty_reefer might; IIRC, they've had some Meredithia before.
Odd, thought, but you could setup a new tank to try and get a few fragments of this stuff growing out again? Either with a similar setup as you had before, or with something like a tiny tank in the window to get natural sunlight?
To be fair, some new species of this algae have only been discovered recently (there's one from Hawaii that was only discovered in 2021, IIRC), and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more yet to be described, or if it's a totally different algae that just happens to look similar. If there's a university you could work with to get a DNA analysis of this algae, that would be a surefire way to get a solid ID, and that could potentially help us guess some care requirements.
I'm pretty sure it's just extremely close but separate. My eyes are not what they used to be lol. I will have to break out the magnifying glass later. Only way I can describe the more bunched ones is kinda like the leaves on an African violet, they are distinct petals but coming out of a very small area for the base but all have their own stalk. But most grow alone. Thanks again for all the help. This is very interesting. I hope to be able to get it thriving again. I have taken it for granted for so long and I feel awful it's struggling.
I was thinking that yesterday. It is tempting. I have to do an inventory of old equipment see what I could set up. As for a university I have no idea about that. It will require some research. What type of department would deal with this type of stuff... Thanks for setting me on the right track. I am genuinely curious and continue my research.
Ideally, you'd be looking for a phycologist (an algae researcher) who specializes in (uncommon) marine rhodophytes (red algae); so a university with a phycology degree/department with a be a good place to start. Barring that, any university with a decent marine biology program could probably direct you to someone in the know.
It wouldn't be Maripelta rotata, as that's from the East Pacific (cold/temperate water), but it could be Maripelta atlantica, which has been found in Florida's waters - a good thought.Maripelta rotata, maybe?
