What eats Padina algae?

[brobak]

I have some padina (http://www.biol.tsukuba.ac.jp/~inouye/ino/st/br/Padina.GIF )
that I am unable to completely remove from my live rock. I've had the tank and rock for about 2 years now, and the padina will go through occasional growth spurts and then lie dormant for a few months. Its begining to really take over one of my larger pieces of LR, and I'd like to find a biological way to remove it from the tank. To that end, what kind of fish is known to munch on padina? Or perhaps a crab will do the job? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Blue Devil]

According to http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/w ... 122900.htm Padina is a calcareous algae similar to Halimeda. I have never had any in my tank but I did have a beautiful clump of Halimeda. That is until I added an Emerald crab . Now there is no trace of any kind of macro algae. You might want to try one if you don't mind loosing all of your macro.

 

[Blue Devil]

Oh BTW...The LFS that sold me the Emerald said that it would only eat the 'bad' algae and was reef safe. I am starting to find a lot of empty snail shells. Hmmm....

 

[Anonymous]

Your LFS gave you a relatively simple answer but they were more correct than wrong. The Emeralds are not strict herbivores but they usually aren't terrors either. They will be opportunistic and likely take advantage of a snail on it's back or clean up someone else's mess. There have been the occasional rogues that like to nip at acroporas as well, they usually do not exhibit destructive behavior.

You have a reef aquarium, the term "reef safe" is a misnomer, it's NOT a guarentee as all animals are individuals and a reef aquarium is a duplication of an ecosystem, you will have death and destruction in your aquarium if you didn't it wouldn't be a natural representation of an ecosystem.

With regards to Padina, since it is a calcareous algae it will be difficult to find something to eat it. I don't know if I would make the leap that one Mithrax crab in one tank may have eaten some halimeda and thus it may eat Padina. If the tank is big enough you may want to try a Bristletooth type surgeonfish or a Naso but IMO you'll be better off just cropping it out by hand, or possibly try an urchin.

 

[brobak]

The tank is a 75g so I'm a bit aprehensive about putting in a tang of any size. I've tried taking care of the problem by hand, but its just a band-aid style fix, as the algae will not come off of the rock in one piece. Every now and then I can get ahold of a sizable chunk, but for the most part, its like picking smaller-than-a-dime sized chunks off of a 25# piece of LR. Its getting to the pount where its unslightly. The urchin idea isnt bad, but I suppose just like anything else I'd have to be careful about it attaching other corals in the tank. Do you have a secific recomendation as to the urchin?

 

[Blue Devil]

Sorry for the bad advice. Just sharing happened to me.

 

[brobak]

No shame in your game Dont sweat it. We all still learn new things every day.

 

[JeremyR]

Nasos definitely eat that stuff.. but not gonna help you in a 75.