Green Bubbles

[Tonyle30s]

Just noticed these bubbles on my live rock. What is this?

[chris s]

Bubble algae. Carefully pluck it off with tweezers trying not to burst them. It can quickly spread. Emerald crabs are known to eat it but as with all creatures it's not 100%. I had three emerald crabs and only one would eat bubble algae.

[cloak]

I agree, bubble algae. (valonia)

Just try and remove as many as you can right before you do a water change. Don't worry about popping them. If you continue to do this on a regular basis, you should be able to get rid of them. GL.

[MellowReefer]

That my friend is bubble algae...you know, what at least one post a day on this forum is asking how to eradicate? (recent post by someone titled something like "starting over again" who got all new rocks) Carefully pluck it off now, make sure you dont pop the bubbles, and pray it doesn't spread. If it does you need emerald crabs. Just google bubble algae and you'll find out. Mine spread really fast and I have a big problem with it now. Just added more crabs and hoping they are better than the last batch I added.

[borderreef]

GET IT! GET IT! BEFORE IT GETS YOU!! Small amounts can be controlled. Carefully pull off what you can. What you can't, you can use one of those turkey injectors and inject hydrogen peroxide or a slurry of kalk. While hydrogen peroxide quickly becomes harmless to your tank in small amounts (it quickly turns to hydrogen and oxygen), I would not go crazy. Do it in small batches. You will puncture the bubble, but quickly kill the spores. This is how I controlled it in my 20g nano, and my later 45g. When I transfered everything to my 135g, I missed some. So yes, I am the one who let it get so out of hand that I bought 150# of dry rock to get rid off all my existing rock in my 135g.

[MellowReefer]

I had some of it in my last tank, a 55 gal, and before I moved everything to my new 125 a year ago I scrubbed the rocks and kept them in a dark 20gal container for a few weeks to make sure all algae was dead (yeah right). Then I guess I just didn't notice it was coming back with a vengeance and now its out of control. Even if you get all new rocks, what about your corals based on rocks, can you dip them all in hydrogen peroxide? I also have Marco rocks, and the bubble algae seems to prefer growing on those rocks for some reason.

[borderreef]

Bubble zonbies can survive low and no light. Just dipping them won't kill them. I've used hydrogen peroxide and kalk slurry and injected it right into the bubble. Peroxide turned them pale, then white, then deflated to be eaten (this is the only way I have ever seen them eaten in one of my tanks). Injecting with kalk made them shrivel up and die. Like I said earlier, get it whle it's manageable. Once it's out of control, it's a lot more work to erradicate.