Any luck getting rid of Halimeda?

[JBendel]

Halimeda looked good in the nano, but it's a pest in the 180. Has anyone found a critter that consumes this stuff?

A couple of quotes from some web searches below, but nothing that seemed like a practical solution. I 'd consider setting up a fish only tank where LR with halimeda could be cycled through for "cleaning" .... anyone ever see a trigger eat halimeda?

a couple web quotes:

"Although Halimeda is considered inedible due to anti-herbivory compounds and its high levels of calcium carbonate, fish and turtles were observed grazing on Halimeda plants." ... a few articles mention fish eating Halimeda, but have yet to find out which fish.

"in this study, they investigated the feeding relationship between the sacoglossan Elysiella pusilla and its preferred food, the seaweed Halimeda macroloba"

"From your drawings and detailed description I am pretty sure I can identify your animal as Elysiella pusilla. It is not actually a nudibranch, but it is an opisthobranch sea slug belonging in the ORDER Sacoglossa. "

elysiella pusilla seems to feed on Halimeda, but I didn't get the sense it would eradicate it, and ... not sure what else it would start eating.

Any suggestions?

Thank you,

J.B.

 

[Joel A]

I would think a small filefish would be the best bet to be honest. Not sure that's ideal for you, but there are small filefish species found in grassy areas of the ocean that commonly graze on sea-grass.

I believe it was the Bristle tail filefish? Not positive though. IIRC it stays small, and will take care of pest anemones and algae for you, and its not much of a threat to anything in a reef tank but shrimp.

 

[JBendel]

That is an interesting fish ... and it seems to eat majanos. It wouldn't make the 180 due to the cleaner shrimp, but I 've got a 30 gallon with live rock, majanos, halmedia and a damsel that remains persona non grata ... I 'd move some of the live rock over to the new tank, if it didn't have all the "negatives" attached to it. Might see how a filefish behaves in that tank.

... in the 180, I have just started a weeding regiment to remove the stuff, but with good calc and alk readings ... barely keeping ahead of it.

 

[Joel A]

Well why not remove the shrimp and let the fish go crazy in the 180, then re add the shrimp later and let the fish do the work in the 30?

Just a thought.

 

[JBendel]

I can probably get the shrimp out, but they have been doing well for so long ... I would hate to disturb their situation. The cleaners are popping eggs all the time, which has got to be doing some good somewhere.

I would like to hear a file fish grind it's teeth ... might need a mouth guard?

"To discourage predators they can raise their first dorsal fin and/or grind their front teeth, i.e., incisors, producing a low-pitched growling sound. They are slow movers, do not do well in aquariums with swift water movement, and have extremely abrasive skin."

Have you kept filefish? .... I think I 've seen some down at TI.

 

[Joel A]

I have never personally kept a filefish, although i have cared for them as i used to work in a fish store.

I have never heard one grind its teeth, but i'm sure it would be cool =).

Probably something like a trigger grunt, not to disturbing.

 

[stevenp]

Have you identified what type of Halmedia you have? I had Halmedia Dictoya, and I wasn't able to rid my tank of it and ended up breaking down.

I know a couple other members had the same thing, and if I recall correctly, the only thing that would eat it was a unicorn tang.

 

[JBendel]

I have not gotten to the point of wanting to break the tank down, but when it's time to upgrade to a larger tank ... there will be a serious quarantine process. Unicorn Tangs get good reviews in Michael's Reef Aquarium Fishes (need one on the small side).

I cannot confirm the species, but it could be the same ... here's a pic. of one pulled from the sand bed. It's when it grows on the LR that the biggest pain.