That awful caulerpa

[Abarnswell]

My tank is overrun with caulerpa, which I know is bad stuff because it can go sexual (crash) and really screw up your water params. I've been trying to pull the stuff out in handfuls, but it's slow going. It has very tightly embedded itself through my rocks.

Well, just yesterday it went nutso on me. Most of it "died" - turned white, and the water was clouded with lots of green. I did an immediate large water change, hoping to minimize the damage, and I siphoned out all of the wilted white caulerpa. Everybody seems fine today, so far. Is there anything else I should or could do? Any way to get rid of caulerpa?

 

[Jennie]

Unfortunately it is very hard to get rid of once it has tangled in your rockwork. I've used tweezers to remove the roots from the crevaces in the rockwork before. As for the macro going sexual the tank should clear back up soon.

 

[drty811]

which tank is it growing in?

IMO i would buy a small yellow tang and let it go to town. after he finishs the calipera off, take him back to the LFS.

 

[aromano]

Abarnswell,

I'm having the same problem in my refugium, where my caulerpa has gone sexual this week and it had a big impact in my reef. The natural life cycle of most species of Caulerpa falls within three to six months and it finally started to go bad, after four months my tank has been setup.

I removed all the algae that was visually going bad, which leached undesirable elements that it had absorbed into its great mass in the days and weeks prior to this, and suddenly purged into the water during this vegetative event. I will remove it all the remaining Caulerpa once find some Chaeto to substitute it.

 

[Abarnswell]

which tank is it growing in?

IMO i would buy a small yellow tang and let it go to town. after he finishs the calipera off, take him back to the LFS.

Sounds like a good idea in theory, but in my case I don't think it would work. It's just a 15 gallon reef tank, with a pair of clowns who think they own the entire tank! Oh, wait, they do. I've tried adding another small fish to the tank, and they went ballistic on it and I had to remove it. So I think the tank's too small, even for a temporary fish.

Most of the caulerpa died off, so I think it's manageable for me to try to pluck out what remains. But I'm wondering if there are a trillion caulerpa spores in my tank now that are going to take root and start growing. Is that what happens after it goes sexual?

 

[djconn]

Is it grape caulerpa? If so, I hate to say, I'd just start over. Keep the rocks that were untouched (if any) and trade the rock with caulerpa infestation to reefers that want some for their fuge or something. I fought a caulerpa outbreak for a long time in my old 20 gal then just gave up on it and trashed the rock.

This is all just my opinion and I'm not sure what your infestation level is or even what kind of caulerpa it is.

Adding that devil-weed to my main tank was actually my biggest reefing mistake yet. Boy did I learn.

 

[NemoNano]

Hi Guys,

I must be a bad reefer, I killed my grape caulerpa and it has never came back :neutral:

I was keeping it in my seahorse tank, It looked like a nice plant for that tank. I have heard a lot of bad stuff about it so I would never put any more or that stuff into my tank.

Eric

 

[Abarnswell]

Is it grape caulerpa? If so, I hate to say, I'd just start over. Keep the rocks that were untouched (if any) and trade the rock with caulerpa infestation to reefers that want some for their fuge or something. I fought a caulerpa outbreak for a long time in my old 20 gal then just gave up on it and trashed the rock.

This is all just my opinion and I'm not sure what your infestation level is or even what kind of caulerpa it is.

Adding that devil-weed to my main tank was actually my biggest reefing mistake yet. Boy did I learn.

Yep, it's grape. I'm afraid trashing the rocks isn't an option, because a) I don't have many rocks to begin with, and b) my rocks are covered with Pulsing Xenia, which is the host for my pair of Clowns, as well as the main focus of my tank.

Quite a lot of the caulerpa died off when it went sexual, so I'm hoping that I can pluck nearly all of what's left. I guess it will always be a battle of some kind, but at least most of it did die off this time around.

Man, did I enjoy siphoning out the dead caulerpa!!!!! That was really gratifiying. I'm actually glad it went sexual.

 

[TimSchmidt]

Hmm Maybe a uv filter will kill the spores? Not sure if it would work but what's the worst that could happen?

Tim

 

[leakyfaucet]

Are all caulerpa potentially bad? I got quite a bunch of purple ones from a friend tonight, and found this thread... now i don't know what to do with them lol.

 

[leakyfaucet]

Actually scratch that. It was described to me as caulerpa, but i did a little bit of googling on my own and it turns out I think I might have Purple Grape Kelp (Botryocladia sp). If so I hope it's not as bad as caulerpa sounds to be.

 

[Coralreefdiver]

Breakout for me too!

I have a major outbreak of it in my tank also....the grape kind and the flat kind. The major rock I bought had it growing on it, and now it has really exploded. I cannot really get rid of the rock, because almost all my corals are growing on it also.

I did not realize it was bad for the tank when I bought the rock. I keep pruning and pruning, and the grape stuff tends to keep in one area, but I am having the flat stuff coming out of all the little crevices now, and i keep breaking it off.

Other than pruning, regarding the idea about getting a small yellow tang....does this work?

If I purchase a small one, do they eat the macro algae? Do I have to worry about them picking on my corals or anything?

I am tight on fish space, but if this type of fish could get rid of the bulk it would be nice. I have 2 firefish and a bi color blenny in the tank now.

Would this be okay to do? (24 gal Nanocube DX)

I would send you pics, but I am sure you guys know what this stuff is like!!

 

[mutt]

The yellow tang will only manage your caulerpa, it will not harm your corals or algae, just the stuff you don't want. 15 gallons is small for a yellow tang in the long term, but it should do the job sufficiently.