Crafty Caulerpa Taking Shelter Under Corals

Caulerpa is a tenacious weed. My caulerpa in my display tank is easy pickings for my halloween tuxedo urchin most of the time but it has managed to squeak out an existence by cleverly making camp under some of my SPS coral as shown below.





The caulerpa was introduced when I broke down my external caulerpa refugium. I now have an in-sump chaeto refugium. The feather caulerpa under my acropora has survived for some time but I recently discovered grape caulerpa under my Birds Nest coral. Hopefully the urchin will circle it as it has with the feather caulerpa which gets mowed as soon as it lays new root down from the coral.

I have learned to have faith in my urchin and live with the small patch of caulerpa in my display tank. It is an odd feeling to do so. Peroxide is tempting but would be hard to apply without hitting the coral. So mow on urchin, mow on. And don't think about moving caulerpa. That way I will think of you less.

 

Longnose Black Tangs can get there, Just sayin Matt.

 

Are you trying to invite the Tang Police? My tank is 26 gallons.

 

Yeah thats tough. I thought I would have that dang sawblade calurpa FOREVER. Took my tang 6 months to start eating it but he took care of it. try using some forceps with the curved end.

 

Nuke the tank and take NiceWrasse.com's offer of $1200 for the Marineland 300 Deep Dimension tank. Don't look back!

 

And their Gem Tang. Gems don't let that junk grow free.

 

Do the tuxedo urchins make good work of that caulerpa that they can reach?

I introduced at least 2 species into my 30 gal seahorse tank thinking it would be a cute plant... Been picking ever since...

And is your urchin a bulldozer/frag picker? I've considered a tuxedo, but my rockwork isn't tied down and I do have a fair number of mobile frags.

Rick

 

If you can get the rocks out use a dental pick and a magnifying glass to see and scrape the runners out of tight areas. It's too bad this stuff is so out of control. A few strands here and there would make our tanks look much more natural.

 

Better tools would be nice. Perhaps it's time.

Sure do. At least in my case.

Yeah you have to glue everything down Rick. It finds them all.
matt

 

I only have two patches. It's not bad. I really don't want to get dental yet.