Getting Rid Of Halimeda Marcoalgae!!!

[timwijgerde]

Who knows of an animal which I can keep in my 80 gal tank which devours halimeda like there's no tomorrow?

I know of parrotfish, sea turtles and a certain species of urchin which feeds on the debris, but no animals which I can keep which eat live helimeda. It grows and grows, making my SPS corals miserable!!!

Who knows how to get rid of them? Manual removal works, to a point....

I cannot change the water parameters, they are ideal for stony corals (and also for Halimeda, high KH, Ca and low NO3- and PO43-....

I'm getting desperate...

 

[mastou]

Mayby you can find a slug to help you:

quote from:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-04/nftt/index.php

Some of the few predators that threaten Halimeda are the chloroplast-thieving sacoglossan slugs. Lettuce slugs steal chloroplasts from algae, killing or damaging the algae and rendering themselves photosynthetic. Halimeda are vulnerable to this robbery, but have developed, perhaps inadvertently, a defense against even this type of grazing. The chloroplasts of the green tissue, which are normally clustered near the surface of the thallus, migrate more deeply into the tissue at night, leaving little for a marauding slug to pilfer (Drew 1990).

/Magnus

 

[timwijgerde]

YES! I know.. Elysia viridis and crispata, my future allies in this war! I will try to find them!

thanks!

tim

 

[mastou]

You are wellcome, remember to post you experience with the slugs if/when you find them

/Magnus

 

[timwijgerde]

I will, but here in Holland I found it's not that easy to find them...