Help ID MacroAlgae

[princer7]

This popped up in my tank.... have no idea what it is or where it came from. Can you help ID it? Will this be difficult to control? Will tangs eventually eat it? The leaves are about the size of a pencil eraser in circumference.

[johnmaloney @ Reef Cleaners]

caulerpa racemosa var. peltata - invasive variation of grape caulerpa a pain to deal with. Tangs will eat it. Macro algae eating inverts will too. What do you got in the tank? Manual removal is a must, but it is very difficult as the runner tends to break off when pulled form the rock. Do it anyway so the cleaners can focus on the harder stuff to remove rather than the entire plant.


This is funny - I just edited for a mispelling (I originally had caulerpa racemosa var. pelata - I am horrible with remembering all these scientific names) so I googled for the correct spelling. I have used the incorrect spelling so much that google has a list of threads, and no longer corrects my mispelling. That is bad!

[princer7]

caulerpa racemosa var. peltata - invasive variation of grape caulerpa a pain to deal with.

I was afaid it would be a pest. It is in my display tank and popped up near the top of a rock. Luckly the rock can be easily removed and pruned. I keep cheato in the fuge along with a few mangroves. The tank is mostly SPS and smaller fish. but I have added a few tangs lately.

[ErikH]

I have that stuff in my seahorse tank. It looks nice, but it sure does grow fast! I leave mine, but it's not my reeftank....