Force Calerpa to go asexual

[Tacticalbaton]

I'm trying to approach this from a different angle. I have calerpa coming out of my ears in the main tank and only want it in the refuge. I'm aware about the phosphates and the nitrates and I know it is because of my feeding the fish and the corals. I skim heavily and do water changes with R/O on a weekly bases. I know that Yellow tangs would help get rid of some of it but I would like to eradicate it from the main tank. I can split the tank off from the sump and just run a canister on both. How can I make calerpa go asexual in the main tank to wipe it out so it does not effect my corals

 

[hyperfocal]

I'm not convinced that allowing/forcing caulerpa to spew gametes would wipe it all out. I suspect you'd just be trading one problem for two.

 

[gatohoser]

Agree with the last comment. When caulerpa goes sexual you don't guarantee that it will all go sexual. When caulerpa goes sexual you basically release a large portion of the nutrients into the water at once and cause problems for water quality. Your best bet is to just pluck it out whenever you see it. You both remove nutrients thus cleaning the water as well as keeping your tank clear of any visible signs of it. That is why caulerpa is so great.

And a side note. Your mixing up sexual and asexual. The sexual stage is what spews out gametes, killing the algae.

 

[bristle]

Which caulerpa is this? I thought taxifolia in our aquariums (and most of the Mediterranean) was only male and reproduced by fragmentation?

 

[ScarabRa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11105368#post11105368 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bristle
Which caulerpa is this? I thought taxifolia in our aquariums (and most of the Mediterranean) was only male and reproduced by fragmentation?

1) Caulerpa taxifolia is toxic to herbivores such as sea urchins and fish

2) Most Caulerpa will grow from a fragment, or if pulled out of a tank, will re grow from any "root like" appendages left behind
{The general structure of a Caulerpa includes a runner (the stolen), with roots (rhizoids) and a leaf structure (fronds). }

3) a Single strand is capable of sporing on you, if its "happy" so to speak.

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Getting it to "spore" on demand, would be like getting a plant to flower. "make it happy" and it will propigate.

BUT if it IS Caulerpa taxifolia I would do as suggested above, and just "cull" it from the tank, manually.

 

[gatohoser]

I may have it backwards. The only link I bothered to look at supports what I said. http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/caulerpa.htm

As for the poison aspects, I learned about that after reading this link on wikipedia just now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caulerpa
For the lazy it says that most tropical species in which caulerpa normally exists have evolved a resistance to the toxin in caulerpa. So unless you have a cold water tank dont worry about poison. As for if its taxifolia without seeing it or hearing about how his is that's just a guess. It could be racemosa or mexicana which are the two I usually come across in the hobby.

 

[ScarabRa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11107257#post11107257 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gatohoser
I may have it backwards. The only link I bothered to look at supports what I said. http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/caulerpa.htm

As for the poison aspects, I learned about that after reading this link on wikipedia just now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caulerpa
For the lazy it says that most tropical species in which caulerpa normally exists have evolved a resistance to the toxin in caulerpa. So unless you have a cold water tank dont worry about poison. As for if its taxifolia without seeing it or hearing about how his is that's just a guess. It could be racemosa or mexicana which are the two I usually come across in the hobby.

I was not disagreeing with you at all.

The toxins are acceptable when eaten "yes" but if you have a massive spore session (the topic of this thread) that would be more toxin than I believe would be "acceptable".

Even when Grape spores it can wipe out a tank if it was overgrown with it. I have read that Caulerpa taxifolia is stronger in its toxins than others. my bullet number 1 was specific to Caulerpa taxifolia.

Also, I would not take wikipedia as a end all be all source.
Search "Caulerpa taxifolia is toxic to herbivores such as sea urchins and fish" in google, and there are several .edu sites that have done studies. It is more of a big deal in invasive locations like off our pacific coast though. But it will be a problem in florida also (Warm water areas). http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/sg/sg07200.pdf

Caulerpa taxifolia also contains caulerpenyne extract, which inhibits or delays the proliferation of several phytoplanktons of the marine food chain (Lemee et al. , 1997)

So agreed "dont" attempt to "force" it to spore. Pull out as much as possible, and watch to controll it.

 

[gatohoser]

I'm sorry Scarab, I should have linked the reply to which I was talking in response to. I had been replying to the post about if it is male and that it is taxifolia right before yours.

And for the poison, that is good to know about the poison. But all the info I found when I looked at a search for "caulerpa toxic fish urchins" came up with how they are toxic in the mediterranean for the native species which are not the the native species of the habitat caulerpa normally comes from and are also not the types of animals we keep in our tanks. I think wikipedia had it right but I guess you could still be right. I just didn't find any info on that.

 

[greenbean36191]

The aquarium strain of C. taxifolia is all one sex. That is not a characteristic of all C. taxifolia, just the mutant strain. The rest of the species still reproduces sexually as does the rest of the genus.

All species have caulerpenyne and other antiherbivory compounds that are noxious to grazers. The levels vary from species to species and strain to strain. IIRC the aquarium strain has the highest concentration of caulerpenyne known. The tolerance of grazers to the toxins also varies. Some fish and urchins won't touch the stuff. On the other hand some snails can eat it and be unaffected. If you have a species with high levels of caulerpenyne, it's an issue regardless of where the rest of the livestock came from.

 

[Caulerpanator]

On a related note for you California folks, nine species of Caulerpa, including all grape and feather Caulerpas, are illegal to possess, sell, transport in California. http://www.sccat.net/banned_species.php

 

[gatohoser]

But that doesn't stop it from being in every store in the state