Anything for a caulerpa eating critter

[Europhyllia]

Has anybody ever been able to erradicate caulerpa from a display tank?
HOW?

[snfkotara]

I just keep pick it off and it is much better.

[Gseclipse02]

tangs will eat it ...

[Europhyllia]

I don't ever want to catch another tang! I'd rather gnaw it off myself. lol

[Gseclipse02]

lol hahah

[Big_Pun]

use a good dressing, lol, just pick it off

[Europhyllia]

I've been picking but it always breaks apart. I can never get it all

[Europhyllia]

PLEASE just somebody get that caulerpa out of my rocks! I'd even consider a tang -as long as it really eats it. Anybody want to rent me their tang?

What else would eat it?

[hobogato]

dont know how i missed this comment before - thanks for my first lol of the day!


I don't ever want to catch another tang! I'd rather gnaw it off myself. lol

what about a sea hare? not sure if they will eat it, but may be worth a try...

[Europhyllia]

I looked into those. Sadly they don't like caulerpa. :(
There is a sea slug that specializes in caulerpa but I couldn't find anybody that sells them (even on the internet).
I posted on RC about those slugs and they apparently are rather delicate and don't ship well.

[Bill S]

Tangs. Maybe a foxface. They not as hard to catch... But poisonous.

[corkyGramma]

I agree foxface are relentless algae eaters, they will even keep frags and powerheads clean without touching coral. These are actually introduced to reefs where culerpa starts to overgrow and kill coral!

[mikedelgado]

If its grape caulerpa most any tang will eat it. I have had some feather type that nothing would touch.I finally took the rocks out and cooked it in the sun. I didnt try a foxface on that algea though. Was the tang you had to catch eating it?If not you could take a sample of the algea and ask friends to offer it to thier fishes to see if they like it. just dont let any get loose in their tank in case they dont like it

[swiatrek]

Foxface will definately eat it, like mentioned above mine keeps everything clean. Very hardy, cool fish, and just poisonous if you let it spine you. I

[Europhyllia]

No the tang I had was a bristletooth (a Kole). It didn't eat caulerpa. I have the grape kind.
My problem with the tang (and potentially any fast swimming fish?) was that my clowns were terrified of it. Rather than enjoying their live in their little mushroom they just kept hovering near the overflow box and frequently leaping into it resulting in near death experiences on the wet/dry filter floss.
I don't want them to go through that again.

[corkyGramma]

Foxfaces are shy, you will only get stabbed if he gets startled and you werent paying attention to where he was. Unless you are allergic-its only a bee sting anyways.

[Europhyllia]

I am guessing it's totally different from a bee sting chemically though? Because I AM allergic to bee stings! lol
I was actually more worried about the clowns being afraid of the rabbitfish.

[kkiel02]

No the tang I had was a bristletooth (a Kole). It didn't eat caulerpa. I have the grape kind.
My problem with the tang (and potentially any fast swimming fish?) was that my clowns were terrified of it. Rather than enjoying their live in their little mushroom they just kept hovering near the overflow box and frequently leaping into it resulting in near death experiences on the wet/dry filter floss.
I don't want them to go through that again.

My sailfin and purple tang love that stuff. But if you dont want another tang I think either my hermits or emerald crabs eat it as it gets picked off in my fuge also. Emeralds might think it bubble algae? I cant grow it to save my life.

[Europhyllia]

I have a little crew of hermits but they don't like caulerpa. I also bought two Emerald Crabs but I haven't seen them again after about a day of adding them.
I even purchased a diadema urchin (which I was afraid of at first but at least it's slower than a fish and easy to catch). I do love my urchins but I haven't seen any of them eat caulerpa.

[mabel_photo6]

lol Yeah I wasn't aware I had Chaeto AND caulerpa. I thought it was all the same plant!
It does get a bit annoying 'cause it starts to grow in, around, and under everything.
What makes it a little difficult is that its growing in my 'fuge and I can't add anything to control it.
Well I can but that's the purpose of the 'fuge I suppose.

[marshall.read]

+1 for foxface, when caulerpa from my fuge makes it way into my display tank my foxface always eats it before it hits the ground.

regarding removing the tang/foxface when the caulerpa has been removed: may be a better idea not to remove the fish after the caulerpa is gone, i've never had much luck in completely removing caulerpa from a system, somehow it always comes back. you're better off just finding something to eat caulerpa and leave it in the tank indefinitely. you may always have caulerpa, but at least it won't be a problem.

[Richard]

You might give Marine Algaefix a try. I've read on some forums that some people have used it to eradicate caulerpa with success.

I've never used it but a friend of mine who does service has been using it on his service tanks (fowlr & reefs) for awhile now with no harm to any fish/invertes/corals. He says it works great on all green algae (hair, bryopsis, etc.) as well as diatoms. The only negative that he has seen is a small cyano bloom from the released nutrients when the green algae dies off. Like I said, I haven't personally used it (no sw tanks at the moment) but he sold me my first coral in the early 80's so I trust his opinion/experience.

[MeteorFlower]

I've heard that caulerpa sends runners/root into the rock, making it very difficult to completely remove. On that note, my Naso tang loves the stuff, so I've never had a problem with it getting a foothold in my display. And when I had to remove a coral beauty from the 156 gallon display, I just started feeding the whole tank mysis cubes out of a large net. After one week of training them to eat in the net, I not only caught the angel, but the naso as well!