Bubble Algae Help Needed

[King Nine]

I now have two different types of bubble algae growing in my tank. I have three emerald crabs but they don't seem interested in eating it. What is the best way to get rid of it??? I've searched this forum and the web and don't seem to find much info on it. The two types I have have are the true looking round bubble shape and the kind that grows in little thin tubes from one central looking point. Any advice would be helpful.

[alan214]

There are several hot or miss approaches but there are no sure fired methods out there that I'm aware of. If possible, you could try to remove the rock with the bubble(s) and scrub the affected area in a bucket of RO water.

[King Nine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10048416#post10048416 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alan214
There are several hot or miss approaches but there are no sure fired methods out there that I'm aware of. If possible, you could try to remove the rock with the bubble(s) and scrub the affected area in a bucket of RO water.

I thought about that but they seem to be on the frags I bought from the LFS. Wont the RO water be bad for them??

[Reefmack]

RO might kill the life on the frag. Can you take the frags out and just pluck them off or use a toothbrush to scrape them off? I've only had a couple and I've just knocked them loose in the tank and used a net to remove them. The few I had were too heavy to be sucked up by my siphon.

[pinniger]

when I had a lot of bubble algae, i got 4 emeralds, and reached in an popped all the bubbles. emeralds eat the spores if the algae, not the bubble itself. that was about 6 months ago and I haven't had any come back since.

[Sk8r]

Generally, it's just a cyclical plague---it comes and it goes, it doesn't respond to ordinary measures against algae, most things won't eat it, the crabs can't eat it until they grow big enough to pop the bubbles, and in general, you just have to learn to think of it as one of the textures your rocks occasionally have. It's a LOT better than some of the other algae plagues, because it doesn't rise up and smother corals. I'm interested in pinniger's spores and crabs theory...and the next mithrax I get is going to be big enough to grab hold of the smaller bubbles.

[King Nine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10049449#post10049449 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pinniger
when I had a lot of bubble algae, i got 4 emeralds, and reached in an popped all the bubbles. emeralds eat the spores if the algae, not the bubble itself. that was about 6 months ago and I haven't had any come back since.

You popped the bubbles releasing thousands of spores and didn't have an outbreak? I have three emerald crabs but I would be scared to just pop them in the tank and hope they all get caught by the crabs. The frags are still not permanent in the tank so I might pull them out and knock them off in a bucket and try the pop method on my larger live rock.

[pinniger]

I'll be honest, I was scared to pop them too. I did a lot of reading on how to get rid of them. I couldn't find anything to prove that popping them would cause them to spread. I removed some of the bigger ones, that could just be pulled off the rock, but he smaller ones were almost impossible to just pull off without popping them.

Two other people at work told me they popped theirs, and I saw both of their tanks (bubble algae free). I was convinced, and started popping mine.

Then again, I had it so bad that I didn't have anything to lose, my tank was already over run with it.

[taillonjohn]

yeah, I'm doing a lot of research too on bubble algae, and basically there is no proof that popping the bubbles will release spores and have the tank overrun with bubble algae.... its an unknown. but based on your experience, I think I'll just do, since I'm close to the point of having nothing to lose

[AmosUSA]

I just start a siphon going when I am ready to do a water change . I use a pair of long tweezers I just pull them off breaking them open sometimes. But it does not matter your siphoning them up. fixes my problem every time. easy and simple .

[King Nine]

Well I didn't pop them in the tank. Since most of mine came on the rock frags the coral were on I pulled them out and broke them off in a bucket. I had no idea they were as tough skinned as they were. After I did that to the round bubble ones I plucked off the tubular shaped ones using tweezers in the tank. They stayed together in the clumps they were growing in without breaking. I missed a couple which I'll go back and get soon but the tank looks better with out them. Thanks for the advice on plucking them out!!!

[allenpantino]

WHAT I DID TO GET RID OF MY BUBBLE ALGEA WAS TAKE THAT ROCK OUT PUT INTO A 5 GAL. BUCKET AND SCRUBS THE HELL OUT OF IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN THENWHEN I THOUGHT I DID ENOUGH SCUBBING I DID SOME MORE. THEN YOU NEED TO DO SEVERAL WATER CHANGES THATS A START