Caulerpa Mexicana

I got some frags about 4 weeks ago, and now im noticing some sort of macro algae growing off the frag plug. It appears to be Caulerpa Mexicana, i don't have a camera that is good enough to take picture of it. You can have a look at it at the link below. I'm wonder two things. First off, is it going to become a problem and overrun my tank? What can I do to get rid of it or at the very least keep it at bay. Is there a invert that eats this stuff? Any help or advice would be appreciated.

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Caulerpa Mexicana

 

skurious

if your ID is correct, then that is a very fast grower IME
but also IME, its not the most difficult Macro algae to remove

it does not have the complicated root system that the grape calerpa has
and I have converted a FOWLR to reef over 2 years ago that had a calerpa forrest in there , and removed it all without any assistance from CUC or chemicals

the trick is to allow it to grow a little bit so that you have something to grip hold of and then tease it away from the rockwork and it comes up roots and all

Steve

 

okay, sounds good. i will let it grow for a couple days and see if i can pull is all out. Thanks for the help Steve.

 

Get a foxface rabbitfish it will literally devour this stuff. My 90 gallon was over run and within 2 days of this fish being put in the tank I couldn't hardly find a trace of the stuff anywhere. Give it a try you will be impressed.

 

+1 to manual removal. pull out the frag plug and carefully clean it off

 

Real easy to pull out. Make sure it's not bryopsis, they both have a feathery appearance.

 

I've tried the manual removal and no matter how much I tried the stuff always came right back. The roots get down inside the live rock and it seems impossible to get all of it out... imho