Grape Caulerpa is evil...

psychedelic · #1 03-17-2006, 06:27 AM

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with removing grape caulerpa from their system? some of mine got out from the refugium and has propagated itself all over my tank. I've had enough picking at the rocks with a tweezer every week. Would I just be better off selling off my rocks to someone with a larger tank and a tang?

SeaHorse_Fanatic · #2 03-17-2006, 07:33 AM

In a refugium its fine, but once it gets on your LR & corals, yes, huge PITA. Sea hares like it, so do all sorts of herbivorous fish (tangs, rabbitfish). Maybe try a sea hare first & sell it when the job is done (always people looking for sea hares). Mine cleaned off 100lbs of LR no problem.

Anthony

Funky_Fish14 · #3 03-17-2006, 07:36 AM

Sorry to hear about that! I love mine.... in my fuge!

Unfortunately, you'll need to get some sort of critter that eats it, because they make very thin roots that can burry deep into the pores of a rock. As Anthony suggested, a searhare, or tang should do the trick.

Chris

TheReefGeek · #4 03-17-2006, 04:11 PM

My foxface took care of mine.

Murminator · #5 03-17-2006, 04:48 PM

Sea hares eat it??? I need one of those cause I have a ton of it

Denis · #6 03-17-2006, 04:50 PM

I have read on RC that this is a SPS poison, get rid of it. The only way is to get predator or cook the rocks.

untamed · #7 03-17-2006, 09:20 PM

[quote]I have read on RC that this is a SPS poison, get rid of it. The only way is to get predator or cook the rocks[\quote]

No..I can't support that statement. I have a lot of grape caulerpa that grows right in my main display tank and the SPS have no problem with it at all. In fact, if it starts to grow near the SPS they are quite efficient at defending their turf by killing the caulerpa the moment it touches the coral.

The statement probably comes from the habit that caulerpa has of dying off 'enmasse' releasing all those tied up nutrients in the water all at once. I would agree that doesn't sound good, but I've experienced it many, many times and my tank has never shown any signs of distress as a result. My system is also quite small, so if there was seriously poisonous my tank would certainly show it.

Unfortunately, the caulerpa never COMPLETELY dies off in these events. Some pieces of it always survive. I would recommend that you wait for one of these events, then attempt to remove the survivors. It will be a smaller job.

Murminator · #8 03-17-2006, 10:05 PM

I have SPS totally covered in it

2 birdnests, cactus coral and portites(not sure if this is SPS) that don't show any signs of killing each other.

Denis · #9 03-17-2006, 11:00 PM

.....Hmm, just as I thought I knew what caused my troubles with SPS few years back.
Luckily everything is good now.
Thanks guys.

Beverly · #10 03-18-2006, 02:22 AM

In our very first tank, a 75g, many years ago, I made the mistake of putting some "lovely" grape caulerpa in various places in our mixed reef. Under MHs, the stuff grew like wild fire

Each week, I would pull out handfuls of the stuff, only for it to grow right back! One day, I decided I'd had enough. I pulled out each rock, one by one. With tweezers, a strong light to make sure I was getting it all, and a pail for dipping the rock in to keep it moist, I carefully picked the caulerpa out by the roots, some of which were deep in crevices. It took me two full days of going over each rock to get it all out. The extreme effort was worth it. It never grew back.

Good luck with yours