Caulerpa racemosa

[castiel]

A zoa rock I picked up recently had a nice leafy macro on it (haven't yet IDed that, but it seems to be slow growing ... large brown coloured leaves). I also noticed a tiny shoot that looks like caulerpa racemosa, which I initially though was cool up doing some research seems to be pretty invasive.

 

Do you think I should get rid before it grows, or just keep an eye on it? The zoa rock is currently separated from the main rock so it shouldn't spread very easily.

 

[edit]here's the brown algae:

[atoll]

caulerpa racemosa can be difficult to remove once it becomes well established esp if you can't remove the rocks its growing on. I can't see any racemosa in your pic to be honest. as racemosa is green and forms grape like bunches attached to runners. However IMO it is very attractive but can get in between corals hence making it difficult to remove completely. Guess its your call but many like to keep Caulerpa out of the main display tank for the reasons given.

[castiel]

It wasn't visible when this pic was taken a couple of weeks ago, but it's definitely there and I am fairly sure that is what it is. It's a thread currently about 1/4" long and 'bobbly'. Will try and get a better pic at some point.

 

As it is on a separate rock I am going to leave it for now - in time I may try and frag the zoas off the rock and use the macros in my future display fuge (still a couple of months away), or vice versa.

[RESONANCE]

That brown macro is a type of Sargassum that'll develop spherical air bladders as it grows bigger. It's nice to have around.

 

Caulerpa racemosa - REMOVE ASAP. Use tweezers and a magnifying glass. Once it gets a root on your other rocks your battle is as good as lost. Even if you pull it out you'll find it comes back every few months. All it needs is a few cells clinging to any surface to re-emerge later on.

 

Regardless of how nice you think it looks, if you plan on keeping other macro algae, this variety will out grow them and choke them out. There's a person in British Columbia, Canada who kept the grape version of C. racemosa amongst her collection of macro algae and corals. If I recall correctly she had to do regular pruning of C. racemosa 2 to 3 times a week just so it wont choke out the other plants. Sometime last year she got busy and neglected her tank a few weeks. Guess what happened? C. racemosa took over and choked/ killed off most of her macro algae and even some of her corals (lack of light, etc...).

 

If it were up to me, I'd chip off the part of the rock the sargassum is attached to and try to save it while throwing away the rest of the rock with the zoas and C. racemosa. I don't mean to sound wasteful, but that type of zoa is actually very common, while the sargassum isn't.

 

It's your prerogative though.

 

On a side note, you're in Melbourne right? Wow, why not just go to the beach and pick up some cool macro algae in the drift that washes up? . Also, being in eastern Australia, wouldn't it be easier to get cooler corals with the great Barrier Reef practically in the neighborhood? I mean from your local stores and legal collectors of course. LOL, I was just curious.

 

 

 

 

A zoa rock I picked up recently had a nice leafy macro on it (haven't yet IDed that, but it seems to be slow growing ... large brown coloured leaves). I also noticed a tiny shoot that looks like caulerpa racemosa, which I initially though was cool up doing some research seems to be pretty invasive.

 

Do you think I should get rid before it grows, or just keep an eye on it? The zoa rock is currently separated from the main rock so it shouldn't spread very easily.

 

[edit]here's the brown algae:

[drunkenmonk21]

The brown looks like Sargassum Hystrix , and im not sure it gets air bladders. Very nice looking macro and very slow growing as well.

[castiel]

That brown macro is a type of Sargassum that'll develop spherical air bladders as it grows bigger. It's nice to have around.

The brown looks like Sargassum Hystrix , and im not sure it gets air bladders. Very nice looking macro and very slow growing as well.

 

Cool, I will definitely keep an eye on its growth rate. It seems to collect a lot of crap from the tank, almost like it is sticky? I plan on cleaning the leaves as best I can at the next water change.

 

 

Caulerpa racemosa - REMOVE ASAP. Use tweezers and a magnifying glass. Once it gets a root on your other rocks your battle is as good as lost. Even if you pull it out you'll find it comes back every few months. All it needs is a few cells clinging to any surface to re-emerge later on.

...

If it were up to me, I'd chip off the part of the rock the sargassum is attached to and try to save it while throwing away the rest of the rock with the zoas and C. racemosa. I don't mean to sound wasteful, but that type of zoa is actually very common, while the sargassum isn't.

Hmm okay, I'll try to remove ... though not sure about throwing my zoas away! These are not as common as you would think down here ... which brings me to my next point:

 

On a side note, you're in Melbourne right? Wow, why not just go to the beach and pick up some cool macro algae in the drift that washes up? . Also, being in eastern Australia, wouldn't it be easier to get cooler corals with the great Barrier Reef practically in the neighborhood? I mean from your local stores and legal collectors of course. LOL, I was just curious.

Haha don't get me started. Okay, I'll start ... but keep it brief.

1) I live in Melbourne, which is on the south coast on a bay. Water temperature on the coast here is much, much cooler than reef requirements. There is macro that washes up on the beach, but I would not be confident of its pollution content (not that the bay is dirty, but you know ...)

2) Melbourne is just under 2,000 miles away from the barrier reef ... a bit further than Chicago to LA

3) The vast majority of our beautiful corals, from reefs 'on our doorstep', get shipped straight to the US. I guess volume, demand, willingness to pay high prices ... you say those zoas are common, yet I struggle to find any nice looking zoas in this country. Not to mention some of the other corals you all have easy one click access to that i can't track down in the whole country!

 

Anyway, thanks for the advice, I'll take care of it and keep a close eye on regrowth.

[drunkenmonk21]

Im not entirely sure but I also think that caulerpa may be illegal to have in Australia? I would check into it if I were you.

[castiel]

That's C. taxifolia, a noxious weed apparently!

[RESONANCE]

Most forms of caulerpa can be considered a 'noxious weed' - they grow way too fast and choke things out. Some do grow way faster than others. The State of California bans all forms of caulerpa EXCEPT for Palm caulerpa (Caulerpa paspaloides) as its very slow growing.

 

That's C. taxifolia, a noxious weed apparently!

[RESONANCE]

Cool, I will definitely keep an eye on its growth rate. It seems to collect a lot of crap from the tank, almost like it is sticky? I plan on cleaning the leaves as best I can at the next water change.

 

I don't know about it being sticky, the surface of it's leaves are just broad so things just settle on it naturally probably. Just get a turkey baster and gently blow on it and that'll be enough.

 

 

Hmm okay, I'll try to remove ... though not sure about throwing my zoas away! These are not as common as you would think down here ... which brings me to my next point:

 

Haha don't get me started. Okay, I'll start ... but keep it brief.

1) I live in Melbourne, which is on the south coast on a bay. Water temperature on the coast here is much, much cooler than reef requirements. There is macro that washes up on the beach, but I would not be confident of its pollution content (not that the bay is dirty, but you know ...)

2) Melbourne is just under 2,000 miles away from the barrier reef ... a bit further than Chicago to LA

 

Thanks for the education! I'd forgotten the Antarctic was just around the corner from southern Australia lol. Regardless of pollution or not, it'd be cool if you set up another tank just for beach collected macros!

 

3) The vast majority of our beautiful corals, from reefs 'on our doorstep', get shipped straight to the US. I guess volume, demand, willingness to pay high prices ... you say those zoas are common, yet I struggle to find any nice looking zoas in this country. Not to mention some of the other corals you all have easy one click access to that i can't track down in the whole country!

 

Anyway, thanks for the advice, I'll take care of it and keep a close eye on regrowth.

 

Man, I'd be sooo pissed if I were you lol! Yeah I definitely under stand your frustration then. So close to the GBR and yet so far out of reach of its corals lol. I'm in Canada by the way. But those zoos are common here too. You can get them in any store ANY time lol. They tend to come in with shipments from Indonesia. In the U.S. they're called 'Green Bay Packers' - named as such since they've the same colors as the American football team's uniforms.

 

Funny thing is, I knew a reefer who moved from Canada to Australia last summer for a new job - he was looking forward to setting up an Aussie reef lol. I guess, he'll just have to settle for taking diving trips at the great barrier reef instead lol.

 

Well, if it's any consolation, Aussie corals here and in the U.S. do tend to be far more pricey than any other coral from other parts of the world. We generally pay anywhere from 3 to 5 times for Australian corals than those from Indonesia for example.

[RESONANCE]

The brown looks like Sargassum Hystrix , and im not sure it gets air bladders. Very nice looking macro and very slow growing as well.

 

I don't think it's Sargassum Hystrix. The one he's got has proportionally broader leaves while Sargassum Hystrix from my search on google, looks like it's got more narrow, elongated leaves similar to sargassum platycarpum.

 

Edit: No offense meant, but I think you might have been confused by the white detritus on the leaves of the Sargassum from the op's picture for some markings supposedly on Sargassum Hystrix according to google images.

 

The pictured sargassum the OP posted looks very similar to a sargassum I have (which has air bladders) that came from the indo-pacific area. I'll post a picture of mine later.

 

2 quick pictures I found, not the best, but they'll suffice.

 

Top down picture of the unidentified indo-pacific sargassum on the upper right corner of the image.

 

 

Picture of the same indo-pacific sargassum on the left of the picture - with air bladders. Picture was taken a few weeks ago in my tank.