How do you get rid of Caulerpa prolifera??

If you have tangs eating it, then by simply picking
it yourself, it will make it easier for the tangs to
finish it off. Another thing that you can do, is to
keep an eye out for calerpa snails that eat the
stuff. Those snails are grean, and blend in, and
will multiply quickly. They tend to be picky about
what species of calerpa that they will eat. You are
not likely to see stores trying to sell them, but if
you watch for new shipments of calerpa, you can
often find some, and ask to purchase them.

If the species of caulerpa you have is
prolifera,(flat, not feathered leaves) then I have
not found any snails that eat that much at all, and
fish are less likely to eat it over other speices of
caulerpa. That's the bad news, but the good news is
that it is the easiest to remove from the tank with
your hands. It's also the toughest, and least likely
to crash.

Wayne Sallee


Susan wrote on 8/26/2007 11:01 AM:
Thanks for the suggestion! I didn't think about blocking an area. I've been
able to keep it under control in a small area in my previous tank where the
rocks with the caulerpa were beforehand (by pruning it and the fish keeping
it "mowed') but somehow or another it really took off when I set up my 75
gallon tank. I'm guessing since I now have VHO lighting on the tank it's
helping it spread. Several of my fish will pick at it but it's just not
enough to keep it controlled now. I guess I have a caulerpa picking day
ahead of me

Susan
"Patrick" wrote in message
news:OCdAi.1424$0_2.815@trndny07...
Hi Susan,

Don't know if this will help if it's running rampant, but in the past I've
"blocked" the light to a specific portion of my tank by temporarily
putting a a small piece of wood (I guess anything will really work though)
between the glass cover and the lights, over the area that I want
diminished light to. It just took some experimentation to find the right
size obstruction & placement on the glass, without casting too big of a
shadow and effecting anything else. This combined with manually pruning
some of it out may help.

I have to be honest, I've never tried this with caulerpa, but have
succeded with other lower forms of algae by doing this. This way there are
no animals introduced that need to be specially fed after the algae is
gone, and if desired (this is what I did), you can leave one section where
the algae continues to grow, which will make it easier to manually remove
by picking it off the rocks when needed, but maintaining it's benefits to
your tank.

If you try it, hope it works for you.

Patrick

Thanks Wayne for the info. I picked as much as I could yesterday. I've
managed to keep it under control in the past but I guess the VHO lighting
made it take off. Anyone want any it's free for the pickin

Susan
"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
If you have tangs eating it, then by simply picking it yourself, it will
make it easier for the tangs to finish it off. Another thing that you can
do, is to keep an eye out for calerpa snails that eat the stuff. Those
snails are grean, and blend in, and will multiply quickly. They tend to be
picky about what species of calerpa that they will eat. You are not likely
to see stores trying to sell them, but if you watch for new shipments of
calerpa, you can often find some, and ask to purchase them.

If the species of caulerpa you have is prolifera,(flat, not feathered
leaves) then I have not found any snails that eat that much at all, and
fish are less likely to eat it over other speices of caulerpa. That's the
bad news, but the good news is that it is the easiest to remove from the
tank with your hands. It's also the toughest, and least likely to crash.

Wayne Sallee


Susan wrote on 8/26/2007 11:01 AM:
Thanks for the suggestion! I didn't think about blocking an area. I've
been able to keep it under control in a small area in my previous tank
where the rocks with the caulerpa were beforehand (by pruning it and the
fish keeping it "mowed') but somehow or another it really took off when
I set up my 75 gallon tank. I'm guessing since I now have VHO lighting
on the tank it's helping it spread. Several of my fish will pick at it
but it's just not enough to keep it controlled now. I guess I have a
caulerpa picking day ahead of me

Susan
"Patrick" wrote in message
news:OCdAi.1424$0_2.815@trndny07...
Hi Susan,

Don't know if this will help if it's running rampant, but in the past
I've "blocked" the light to a specific portion of my tank by temporarily
putting a a small piece of wood (I guess anything will really work
though) between the glass cover and the lights, over the area that I
want diminished light to. It just took some experimentation to find the
right size obstruction & placement on the glass, without casting too big
of a shadow and effecting anything else. This combined with manually
pruning some of it out may help.

I have to be honest, I've never tried this with caulerpa, but have
succeded with other lower forms of algae by doing this. This way there
are no animals introduced that need to be specially fed after the algae
is gone, and if desired (this is what I did), you can leave one section
where the algae continues to grow, which will make it easier to manually
remove by picking it off the rocks when needed, but maintaining it's
benefits to your tank.

If you try it, hope it works for you.

Patrick

Take it to your LFS they may give you store credit
for it. It's great for someone that has a fish only
tank, and is looking for plants. It does not grow so
terribly fast under normal lighting.

Wayne Sallee


Susan wrote on 8/27/2007 4:17 PM:
Thanks Wayne for the info. I picked as much as I could yesterday. I've
managed to keep it under control in the past but I guess the VHO lighting
made it take off. Anyone want any it's free for the pickin

Susan
"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
If you have tangs eating it, then by simply picking it yourself, it will
make it easier for the tangs to finish it off. Another thing that you can
do, is to keep an eye out for calerpa snails that eat the stuff. Those
snails are grean, and blend in, and will multiply quickly. They tend to be
picky about what species of calerpa that they will eat. You are not likely
to see stores trying to sell them, but if you watch for new shipments of
calerpa, you can often find some, and ask to purchase them.

If the species of caulerpa you have is prolifera,(flat, not feathered
leaves) then I have not found any snails that eat that much at all, and
fish are less likely to eat it over other speices of caulerpa. That's the
bad news, but the good news is that it is the easiest to remove from the
tank with your hands. It's also the toughest, and least likely to crash.

Wayne Sallee


Susan wrote on 8/26/2007 11:01 AM:
Thanks for the suggestion! I didn't think about blocking an area. I've
been able to keep it under control in a small area in my previous tank
where the rocks with the caulerpa were beforehand (by pruning it and the
fish keeping it "mowed') but somehow or another it really took off when
I set up my 75 gallon tank. I'm guessing since I now have VHO lighting
on the tank it's helping it spread. Several of my fish will pick at it
but it's just not enough to keep it controlled now. I guess I have a
caulerpa picking day ahead of me

Susan
"Patrick" wrote in message
news:OCdAi.1424$0_2.815@trndny07...
Hi Susan,

Don't know if this will help if it's running rampant, but in the past
I've "blocked" the light to a specific portion of my tank by temporarily
putting a a small piece of wood (I guess anything will really work
though) between the glass cover and the lights, over the area that I
want diminished light to. It just took some experimentation to find the
right size obstruction & placement on the glass, without casting too big
of a shadow and effecting anything else. This combined with manually
pruning some of it out may help.

I have to be honest, I've never tried this with caulerpa, but have
succeded with other lower forms of algae by doing this. This way there
are no animals introduced that need to be specially fed after the algae
is gone, and if desired (this is what I did), you can leave one section
where the algae continues to grow, which will make it easier to manually
remove by picking it off the rocks when needed, but maintaining it's
benefits to your tank.

If you try it, hope it works for you.

Patrick




--
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Thank you for your suggestions! I do not want to block an area. I have been Able to maintain its control in a small area where my previous tank algae, respectively, and pre-rock fern , but in any case, it does take off another 75 when I set my gallon water tanks.