Eradicating caulerpa in display tank?

[dough]

I just got back from a 2 week vacation. I had some grape caulerpa in the main tank when I left, now I really have some. There is no way that I will be able to pick that all out of the tank.

Can anybody recommend a fish to get rid of this stuff?

 

[tsciarini]

if you werent so far away, Id say let my convict in there for two days and it'd be clear... I cant make that kind of trip for a loaner fish tho

 

[horsesziggy]

doug, i feed grape culerpa daily to my tangs, i'm setting up a fuge just for calurpa.

 

[dough]

I be honest I would not mind a small tang in the tank.

Would a tang eat bubble aglea?

 

[dough]

Yeah I would need something small that would do okay in a 58 gallon tank for a while. Don't want no stinking tang police on my door step.

 

[nano_reefer92]

rder:kshhk </em>we have a hostle situation here need backuprder:

J/P

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Dang Doug, I am sorry to hear that... You can not hand remove..

 

[cameron]

Doug you could buy a small yellow tang and once he gets too big simply resell him or send ihm to a petstore for credit. Anyone on the forums looking for a yellow would likely prefer it from a home tank rather than a store pretty much any day. You can usually find one for well under $30 and probably get one dirt cheap at Marine Fish with the discount.

 

[dough]

Brandon, I wish I could get it all by hand. Not only is it stringy but it is matted down in some places. I made a dent in it last night, but I really need some other eradication method.

I also lost some of my SPS (4 so far) that where handing on when I left. That kind of sucks. I think my big green monti digi is gone as well. I have 3 that are hanging on that don't look good. probably will not make it either.

 

[daveatl]

hey, if you want a larger green monti frag I can give it to you to help you out. As far as the caulerpa, I would hand remove as much as possible slowly. By removing it (instead of adding a fish to eat it) you are exporting nutrients that would have decreased your water quality. Also, grape caulerpa is bad about going asexual overnight and ruining your water quality when it gets stressed (like temp spikes or removing too much of a colony) for the bubble algae I had great success with hand removing the larger bubbles and using mithrax crabs and a red sea sailfin tang to clean up the little clusters.

 

[dkelly]

I had a nice rooted caulerpa in my 40g inverts tank. Something has been munching on it. My wife said she saw one of the brittle stars eating a piece. It looks like someone is trimming it.

 

[xyzpdq0121]

dough;57925 wrote:
I also lost some of my SPS (4 so far) that where handing on when I left. That kind of sucks. I think my big green monti digi is gone as well. I have 3 that are hanging on that don't look good. probably will not make it either.

That is OK you gave me a piece of the Green digi so you can have it back! See the good that comes from sharing your corals...

We need to figure out what the issue is here, Why you loosing corals all of the sudden?!? :sad:

On an off note, you coming to the BBQ this weekend so I can hear all about Colorado?!?

 

[jmaneyapanda]

I dont think the previous fish would do much in terms of eradicating it. The best fish solution to caulerpa is a rabbitfish. They will really work it. I have found most tangs to be unrelaible in etaing cauklerpa- with the exception of Nasos, but there's no way that would go into your tank.

 

[twhitti]

I have the same problem as Dough. I am interested in trying the Rabbit fish approach, however, when I went to a dealer and searched on rabbit fish, I got several hits. Which one is the calupra eating one, the Foxface?

Thanks,

Terry

 

[daveatl]

I'd seriously shy away from fixing the "problem" with a fish. The caulerpa is growing fast because there are plenty of nutrients for it to grow (they require very little light and can absorb nutrients like from both the water column and substrate) having a fish eat it will just keep the excess nutrients in your system, while manual removal will export the crap out.

Also, caulerpas can leech toxins into the water when torn or nibbled on, so be sure to remove a complete runner if manually removing or running carbon if you plan on going the fish route.

 

[theplatypus]

daveatl;58016 wrote: I'd seriously shy away from fixing the "problem" with a fish. The caulerpa is growing fast because there are plenty of nutrients for it to grow (they require very little light and can absorb nutrients like from both the water column and substrate) having a fish eat it will just keep the excess nutrients in your system, while manual removal will export the crap out.

Also, caulerpas can leech toxins into the water when torn or nibbled on, so be sure to remove a complete runner if manually removing or running carbon if you plan on going the fish route.

QFT

Treat the problem, not the symptoms.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

daveatl;58016 wrote: I'd seriously shy away from fixing the "problem" with a fish. The caulerpa is growing fast because there are plenty of nutrients for it to grow (they require very little light and can absorb nutrients like from both the water column and substrate) having a fish eat it will just keep the excess nutrients in your system, while manual removal will export the crap out.

Also, caulerpas can leech toxins into the water when torn or nibbled on, so be sure to remove a complete runner if manually removing or running carbon if you plan on going the fish route.

Ive heard this argument before, and I dont quite get it.

First, let me state my agreeances (is that a word?). I agree that manual removal is good, and I strongly agree that fish are not the solution to nuisance algae issues. However, I do not necessarily consider caulerpa to be a nuisance algae. More than likely, it was introduced as a decorative, and once eliminated more than likely wont show up unless introduced again.

If Caulerpa can release "toxins" from fish feeding, how does manually pulling and tearing not also release these "toxins"? In fact, I would argue the fish would do a much more precise and "clean" technique.

Finally, I dont quite understand the "Algae that is fed to fish doesn't help" argument. We are constantly adding nutrients to our tanks- fish foods, additives, dust, our oily dirty hands going in the tank. The algaes fix that nutrient into their tissue. If you feed that plant tissue to your fish, it is still bound- which means that nuisance algae wont have it available. Only after the fish digest and defecates does the nutrient become "free" again. But what is the alternative here? Don't feed your fish? Poppycock! We all feed our fish, and thus we all add that nutrient back into our tank.
To look at it another way, lets say we have 20 pounds of caulerpa growing in our refugium as nutrient export. We cut out 10 pounds, so only 10 pounds is left- how much cleaner is our water after that? No more than previously, because the nutrient was bound by the algae. Now, if we're talking letting this caulerpa decay in the water and release those nutrients- I agree, that's bad. But I dont undertsand where feeding macroalgae cultured for nutreint export is a bad thing.

I am not trying to be a smart a$$, I am just lookig for other viewpoints and opinions- let me know yours.

 

[theplatypus]

jmaneyapanda;58060 wrote: Ive heard this argument before, and I dont quite get it.

First, let me state my agreeances (is that a word?). I agree that manual removal is good, and I strongly agree that fish are not the solution to nuisance algae issues. However, I do not necessarily consider caulerpa to be a nuisance algae. More than likely, it was introduced as a decorative, and once eliminated more than likely wont show up unless introduced again.

If Caulerpa can release "toxins" from fish feeding, how does manually pulling and tearing not also release these "toxins"? In fact, I would argue the fish would do a much more precise and "clean" technique.

Finally, I dont quite understand the "Algae that is fed to fish doesn't help" argument. We are constantly adding nutrients to our tanks- fish foods, additives, dust, our oily dirty hands going in the tank. The algaes fix that nutrient into their tissue. If you feed that plant tissue to your fish, it is still bound- which means that nuisance algae wont have it available. Only after the fish digest and defecates does the nutrient become "free" again. But what is the alternative here? Don't feed your fish? Poppycock! We all feed our fish, and thus we all add that nutrient back into our tank.
To look at it another way, lets say we have 20 pounds of caulerpa growing in our refugium as nutrient export. We cut out 10 pounds, so only 10 pounds is left- how much cleaner is our water after that? No more than previously, because the nutrient was bound by the algae. Now, if we're talking letting this caulerpa decay in the water and release those nutrients- I agree, that's bad. But I dont undertsand where feeding macroalgae cultured for nutreint export is a bad thing.

I am not trying to be a smart a$$, I am just lookig for other viewpoints and opinions- let me know yours.

What is causing rapid growth of a macro algae in his aquarium? Excess nutrients. By adding another fish all he has done is increased the bioload. In doing so he's just treating a symptom(algae) as opposed to cause(high nutrients). Another fish is heavier bioload. Which in turn creates even more excess nutrients. Then you have more algae. So what comes next? Just run out and buy another fish it will fix the problem. Oops look where we are again.

more poo > more fish food> more phospates> more algae

Caulerpa has been known to go "sexual" and wipe out tanks.

 

[nano_reefer92]

ok i do not want to offend you in any way ok i just want you to know that if a fish would be bought for clean up, and it eats what it cleans that would mean that it would not need to be feed, and if feed not alot because it would munch on the stuff it needs to clean. Please do not get offended but that would make sence wouldn't it.

 

[dough]

I wondered about the statement of release of toxin but that can go both ways.

I consider grape caulerpa to be a nuisance algea in my tank. Purely from aesthetic view though. I don't like the stringly arms nor the matts that form. I understand that it can be looked at as a potential nutrient exporter, but that is fine in a sump or at least for me.

Brandon and I did some recent tests of the water quality and both results where well within desired parameters. So the symptom maybe party overfeeding when I was on vacation but the caulerpa was there before I left. I just was able to control it by plucking it on a daily or week basis. Now I consider it out of control and in places that my fingers or twizzers can't get to.

As much as I like tangs I do have some reservations about them. If I go the fish route I may consider a Foxface. I am looking into inverts as a potential. My sallylight foot has not touched the stuff as far as I can tell.