Local sea weed from staten island shore ok for tank food?

[JonnyJ]

Hey when I run on the beach there is always bright green seaweed - is it ok for fish food? Pros cons?
Just rince in ro? Would tangs eat it even though it's not native to them

 

[Reeftanker3295]

Look around on the bottom for gracilaria, it's everywhere and my yellow tang loves it. It is usually growing off of small rocks on the floor in shallow water.

 

[jaa1456]

I wouldn't, you live there, so you gotta know that the water there is polluted. The run off from the dump leeches right in.

 

[e.muehlbauer]

In principle, the green seaweed you find, which I assume is Ulva, is excellent for tangs...as is the gracillaria that was mentioned. However, as the previous poster said, the water is not the cleanest. How it would affect your fish, I don't know....after all, fish live and thrive in those same waters...but I don't know how wise it is to introduce contaminants into a small contained system.

 

[jaa1456]

The fish that live in these local waters are not the same in the tanks either as well as the corals.

 

[Reeftanker3295]

I don't think collecting algae and feeding it to our tangs will cause a problem in our systems... If it thrives in our waters and those waters than it can't be that horrible. And plus it's algae, it's not eating living organisms out of the water to build up any sort of pollution in its system. I have a native tank going and i'm using all algaes and animals from around here and over the past almost year of me doing that I have had no problems with any of my fish or corals and I feed my tang the algae all the time, and he is the healthiest fish I have ever had.

 

[Imbarrie]

Quarantine it. Grow it out in a seperate tank and keep trimming it until the original has grown out.
The only way to be sure.
The algae is absorbing nutrients from the water. It is also absorbing chemicals. Is it worth the risk putting that straight in your tank?


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