life rock turns green in boiling water

[shoelevy]

i happen to immerse a small liferock (which i took out from my main tank) in very hot tap water today inorder to get rid of a pest.

but that's besides the pt.

what i found interesting was that this liferock (NOT coralline encrusted), turned from white to green(like as if it was covered with green algae), which is not observed when i previously immersed it in room temperature tap water.

also, i found that only the side which faced up while it was in my main tank turned green...the other side which rests on the sand bed was completely unaffected

just wondering if any one knows the science behind this?

[djviper]

might be the warm water accelerated the algae growth?

or due to the dying bacteria?

[patrick123]

I notice the same when I pour boilling water on one of my LR to remove aipasia. May be is the quick dying of the bacteria on the LR.

[shoelevy]

hm

interesting ideas above...thanks

what can explain the observation that only the top suffers this change and not the bottom of the rock?