Caulerpa

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#21
I saw it growing in a cove near Morro Bay they covered big areas with tarps and nuked it killing all marine life. The problem is that Germany made a hybrid at their fish farms late 80s early 90s of the rooted algae and sent some to the Monaco Aquarium and the rest is history.
There is a big difference using a rooted algae in a refugium vs chaeto the difference is night and day.
 
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#22
I saw it growing in a cove near Morro Bay they covered big areas with tarps and nuked it killing all marine life. The problem is that Germany made a hybrid at their fish farms late 80s early 90s of the rooted algae and sent some to the Monaco Aquarium and the rest is history.
There is a big difference using a rooted algae in a refugium vs chaeto the difference is night and day.
^^^I didn't know that. Interesting...

I'm not phycologist but I thought Caulerpa didn't have true roots. I thought those were technically just holdfasts????? Like kelp.
 

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#23
No they have roots and can kill corals with their roots if given a chance by growing between their tissue and skeleton with LPS and into the mouths of sps. Thats how it is wiping out our reefs and so far besides hand picking it out nothing kills just it so it will be trouble for a long time.
 
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#27
Many tangs will eat it, but they can't live in the rather cold water off California. The Caulerpa, unlucky for us and every native critter, can tolerate it. The tarp-covering method used in CA to kill it kills everything else too because they actually have to inject chlorine under the tarps to do the job. The only other thing shown to be effective is hand removal with vacuum systems to suck up any broken pieces - successful in some Mediterranean areas but far too expensive for a cash-strapped state like ours to do.

Caulerpa also reproduce sexually, which can make them a big problem in aquariums. Yes, they grow fast absorbing lots of nutrients, but eventually they may decide to spawn - releasing tons of gametes which deplete oxygen at an incredible rate, and then the plants themselves die, further polluting the water. It can "nuke" a tank. Not all Caulerpa do this, though - it's suspected that CA and Mediterranean invasions of C. taxifola started as all-male plants, and only spread as "clones" via broken-off pieces. Meanwhile, C. racemosa has been observed spawning all over the Mediterranean.

Also, irresponsible aquarists are not the only source of this - the stuff can also spread via pieces attached to boat anchors and nets, and some think the gametes may survive in ships' ballast water.

What we all need to do is do our best to make sure the illegal species (those kinds that tend to be invasive and can survive in our local water temps.) are not in our tanks - and get rid of them very carefully if they are. (They can be brought in unknowingly, as hitchhikers on Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico live rock and corals. No one will ever intentionally ship you species C. taxifola in particular, as it is federally classified a "noxious weed" and all interstate transport is prohibited.)

Oh, and regarding roots - they don't have roots, but rather attachments called rhizoids. Unlike the true roots of things like seagrasses, these do not absorb mineral nutrients, hence are not roots - but they do look very much like actual roots, so it's easy to be confused.
 

Six2seven

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#28
The one I have attaches itself to the glass walls and roots itself into the sand. It grows 5x faster than my chaeto.

When I remove it from my tank I throw it in a 5 gallon bucket and leave it outside to dry out. Once it's completely dry I throw it in the trash. I didn't know about freezing it
 
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#29
Many tangs will eat it, but they can't live in the rather cold water off California. The Caulerpa, unlucky for us and every native critter, can tolerate it. The tarp-covering method used in CA to kill it kills everything else too because they actually have to inject chlorine under the tarps to do the job. The only other thing shown to be effective is hand removal with vacuum systems to suck up any broken pieces - successful in some Mediterranean areas but far too expensive for a cash-strapped state like ours to do.

Caulerpa also reproduce sexually, which can make them a big problem in aquariums. Yes, they grow fast absorbing lots of nutrients, but eventually they may decide to spawn - releasing tons of gametes which deplete oxygen at an incredible rate, and then the plants themselves die, further polluting the water. It can "nuke" a tank. Not all Caulerpa do this, though - it's suspected that CA and Mediterranean invasions of C. taxifola started as all-male plants, and only spread as "clones" via broken-off pieces. Meanwhile, C. racemosa has been observed spawning all over the Mediterranean.

Also, irresponsible aquarists are not the only source of this - the stuff can also spread via pieces attached to boat anchors and nets, and some think the gametes may survive in ships' ballast water.

What we all need to do is do our best to make sure the illegal species (those kinds that tend to be invasive and can survive in our local water temps.) are not in our tanks - and get rid of them very carefully if they are. (They can be brought in unknowingly, as hitchhikers on Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico live rock and corals. No one will ever intentionally ship you species C. taxifola in particular, as it is federally classified a "noxious weed" and all interstate transport is prohibited.)

Oh, and regarding roots - they don't have roots, but rather attachments called rhizoids. Unlike the true roots of things like seagrasses, these do not absorb mineral nutrients, hence are not roots - but they do look very much like actual roots, so it's easy to be confused.
Thanks for all the info!!

I've had mine in my tank for a year with out any issues.

I mean my friend has had his in his tank for a year.
 
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#35
WTF did NOT happen here?
Lol...don't take it personal. I think what he means is that most of us do our best to keep algaes outside of the DT and keep them in the sump. Honestly, IME it's rare to find a tank that intentionally has that much algae. But I do think it looks nice. I would rather have corals or clams to look at but to each his own...
 
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#36
Lol...don't take it personal. I think what he means is that most of us do our best to keep algaes outside of the DT and keep them in the sump. Honestly, IME it's rare to find a tank that intentionally has that much algae. But I do think it looks nice. I would rather have corals or clams to look at but to each his own...
LOL I know. What I meant was, what else could go wrong with the tank? Everything that could go wrong, did.

That was my 50 gallon tank from about 8 years ago.
1. It was mostly neglected other than occasional water change.
2. No RO/DI. All municipal tap.
3. No skimmer.
4. No media reactors.
5. Canister Filter and two HOBs only.
6. Caulerpa came in as a hitchiker on a rock. I would clean it out but little buggers come out from everywhere.
7. I had a kole tang that helped me keep caulerpa in check, but when the tang died it went really bad really fast.
8. After pulling out caulerpa almost on a daily basis, I just said f*ck it. I'll just leave it alone and let it crash.

Well, the tank did not crash. But sometime later the caulerpa went BOOM! (went sexual) and it was pretty much impossible to remove or even control it after that.

This tank was eventually torn down and I gave the corals to a fellow reefer who said he would try and get his tangs to clean up the rocks in a QT tank.

This is what that tank looked like prior to the caulerpa infestation.


It looked relatively decent (LOL), despite being neglected. And yeah, it had a minor GHA issue.


So don't do what I did. Do not even touch caulerpa.
Friends don't let friends get caulerpa.
 

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