Sea Lettuce

[Lyss]

Short backstory: After my cycle, which was a year ago now, I put some sea lettuce in my DT to help w/high nitrates, then removed it when I was over it and started adding soft corals. Well a year later I have sea lettuce all over my rocks.

At first it didn’t bother me b/c it outcompetes bad stuff like GHA, and it grew in tall patches that were easily plucked off rocks and discarded. But now…

Now I’m dealing w/an explosion of a different kind of growth pattern since turning up my whites slowly over the past month. It is carpeting in patches on the rock, and I can’t have that.

My corals were loving the lighting change and have adjusted well, but b/c of the sea lettuce I’ve turned the whites down a bit and bumped up the blues. I’m also wondering what kind of creature I might be able to add that would eat this carpeting growth. Abalone? Urchin? I already have a lot of inverts in a Max Nano so if not a creature, is there a better way to remove it/keep it from getting more out of control?

 

[Spare time]

Urchins will definitely eat it. Different fish may eat it too but the urchin might be better to start off with. I think fluconazole kills it so that is something to consider too.

 

[Lyss]

Urchins will definitely eat it. Different fish may eat it too but the urchin might be better to start off with. I think fluconazole kills it so that is something to consider too.

I always wanted a tuxedo urchin, but held back. Maybe now is the right time…

 

[Labridaedicted]

Most herbivores looooove Ulva. Sea hares, Urchins, Tangs, rabbits. Snails won't eat it when it gets long just because it's hard for them. Sea hare might be one of your better options.

 

[stovenut]

Can we see a tank photo? I bet it looks really interesting. If an urchin or two doesn't knock it out, I bet you would make a small yellow or sailfin tang soooo happy to come aboard!

 

[mandarin417]

I had a tank that this popped up in hitch hiking a coral rock. I couldn't pull it out fast enough. I went into full defensive mode with a Naso tang, Fox Face and Sea Hare. In two days - all gone!

 

[Lyss]

Can we see a tank photo? I bet it looks really interesting. If an urchin or two doesn't knock it out, I bet you would make a small yellow or sailfin tang soooo happy to come aboard!

My tank is a Max Nano, so def not right for a tang, but I could potentially fit a small tuxedo urchin.

I'll try to get a good shot later -- it's always tough b/c I get a lot of glare where the tank sits. The sea lettuce is not awful b/c it does look natural, but I can see it needs tending to.

 

[stovenut]

lol Yes. Don't let the tang police see that suggestion. Hope the urchin works. It's not something you want to be battling as your corals grow in.

 

[Lyss]

FYI here’s a pic where you can see how it began to carpet all over the rocks. This kind of growth pattern is new and much more difficult to remove! I ordered a red tuxedo urchin so hopefully that will help me keep it from enveloping the entire tank. The long bits are easy to pluck off at the root, but this short carpeting growth is no bueno.

 

[Lyss]

Update: I ordered the urchin and have since received it. Omg this little thing is hilarious — he’s already wearing an empty shell and some of the sea lettuce in question, and has mowed through a good bit of the lettuce on the rock where I placed him after acclimation.

 

[Dan_P]

Most herbivores looooove Ulva. Sea hares, Urchins, Tangs, rabbits. Snails won't eat it when it gets long just because it's hard for them. Sea hare might be one of your better options.

Mexican turbos can rapidly devour the seaweed.

 

[Lyss]

Mexican turbos can rapidly devour the seaweed.

I got 4 big daddy Trochus in my nano already, so no turbos. The urchin is perfect and he was on my original stock list — glad to finally have an excuse to have him!

 

[ReeferLou]

FYI here’s a pic where you can see how it began to carpet all over the rocks. This kind of growth pattern is new and much more difficult to remove! I ordered a red tuxedo urchin so hopefully that will help me keep it from enveloping the entire tank. The long bits are easy to pluck off at the root, but this short carpeting growth is no bueno.

Tank looks pretty good actually . I think it will work out fine with the urchin. Just lock all your LR down - they can get big and strong.

 

[Lyss]

Well, the urchin appears to be going around eating coralline, and not the ulva, which is making things worse. I’m not sure what happened. I placed it on a patch of ulva when I first introduced it, and it mowed a path through it, but it has only eaten coralline since. Now I’m kinda in mild panic mode b/c this was why I never got the urchin initially. Now I’m losing coralline, and I still have the ulva problem.

 

[Lyss]

Any ideas? The tuxedo urchin is definitely eating coralline and avoiding the ulva, so now my rocks look worse and are primed for more ulva takeover. Is it okay to pick an urchin up and move it to where you want it to eat? I don’t want to hurt it, but this is ridiculous.

 

[Duncan62]

Short backstory: After my cycle, which was a year ago now, I put some sea lettuce in my DT to help w/high nitrates, then removed it when I was over it and started adding soft corals. Well a year later I have sea lettuce all over my rocks.

At first it didn’t bother me b/c it outcompetes bad stuff like GHA, and it grew in tall patches that were easily plucked off rocks and discarded. But now…

Now I’m dealing w/an explosion of a different kind of growth pattern since turning up my whites slowly over the past month. It is carpeting in patches on the rock, and I can’t have that.

My corals were loving the lighting change and have adjusted well, but b/c of the sea lettuce I’ve turned the whites down a bit and bumped up the blues. I’m also wondering what kind of creature I might be able to add that would eat this carpeting growth. Abalone? Urchin? I already have a lot of inverts in a Max Nano so if not a creature, is there a better way to remove it/keep it from getting more out of control?

Emergency urchin situation! Lol. Get a couple and you'll love them.

 

[Duncan62]

Any ideas? The tuxedo urchin is definitely eating coralline and avoiding the ulva, so now my rocks look worse and are primed for more ulva takeover. Is it okay to pick an urchin up and move it to where you want it to eat? I don’t want to hurt it, but this is ridiculous.

Yes. Be easy and he'll let go.

 

[moz71]

Any ideas? The tuxedo urchin is definitely eating coralline and avoiding the ulva, so now my rocks look worse and are primed for more ulva takeover. Is it okay to pick an urchin up and move it to where you want it to eat? I don’t want to hurt it, but this is ridiculous.

No problem moving urchin around. I do it all the time and I even move to sump once in a while to clean that out. I had a massive problem with the ulva. I really regretted putting it in my refugium. I have foxface, hippo tang, snails and they really couldn’t keep up. I also experienced what you are saying is the urchin clears rock so we’ll of coraline that creates new space for more algae. If possible to remove rock and spray with hydrogen peroxide and let sit for 2 minutes rinse and put back in that works. But I have a way to big of tank to do that for the whole tank. Regrettably it took vibrant to knock back but that creates other problems. And it is starting to grow back in some spots but hopefully fish will be able to keep up this time

 

[Lyss]

Yes. Be easy and he'll let go.

I moved him to a patch of ulva… And he speedily moved to hide motionless under an overhang for like an hour, then went right back to the coralline spot I moved him off of this morning lol. I’m like, these guys don’t even have brains, how did it remember where to go. Anyway, I’m over it — I like the little guy a LOT, it’s just unfortunate for me that he will only eat coralline

 

[vetteguy53081]

Tangs would eat that like candy