Killing bubble algae with darkness?

[leveldrummer]

Can you cook live rock infested with bubble algae in trash cans to kill the bubble algae? how long would this process take?

[AZBigJohn]

I'll be interested in answers you hear. The only luck I have had is a combo of aggressive manual removal, emerald crabs, nutrient reduction, manual removal again, and, did I mention frequently removing it manually?

[sotomx]

IME no, I have done the 3 days blackout for Cyano and the bubble algae remains, it may not spread but it is no a remedy, my best bet is a fox face, I beat bubble with this fellow.

[leveldrummer]

Im not talking about a 3 day black out, Im talking about removing the rock, placing it into a trash can with a power head and maybe a heater, and letting it sit for a few months, kill all algae, and anything else dependent on light. But will it rid the rock of bubbles? or will the spores remain and regrow when introduced back into a tank?

[Allmost]

na the spores will remain.

its a hard algea to beat ... it requires very low light, and grows well in very low nutrient systems. manual removal + crabs.

[Tahlequah]

I had a problem with bubble algae before. Be careful with manual removal. Popping them releases spores so that they can spread. When removing the algae, I would remove the rock from my tank and use a toothbrush to get the little ones free. I would then rinse the rock very well in a bucket before placing it back into my aquarium. In the end I lost the war... I tried emerald crabs as well but mine never made a dent in them.

Not to sound harsh but if it has not gotten out of control you might try to remove the infected area all together. Better safe than sorry.

Good Luck!

[spy_spy]

I have a QT nano tank running without light for over 6months. The bubble algae is still alive and multiplying.

[snorvich]

I manually remove it via a siphon hose.

[MondoBongo]

I manually remove it via a siphon hose.

this is about the best method i've found too.

it feels like an uphill battle some days, but you do eventually make progress. i just tracked down (i think) the biggest part of my problem, which was a large patch growing on the hidden side of a power head.

no doubt those were blasting all over the tank, accounting for many of my patches.

[leetch]

If you are going to go through all that trouble to take a rock out, QT it for 6 months, etc., wouldn't it be easier to just get new rock and cycle it?

I manually remove it whenever I get it but I wait until the bubble is big enough to grab with chopsticks. They come out pretty easily without popping at that point. Any popping will cause a nightmare that you don't want.

[halcyonism]

IME no, I have done the 3 days blackout for Cyano and the bubble algae remains, it may not spread but it is no a remedy, my best bet is a fox face, I beat bubble with this fellow.

Agreed. IF your tank is large enough a Rabbit Fish is the way to go.

[leveldrummer]

If you pop the bubble, and syphon out the spores, will the remaining skin reform and grow a new bubble? or is it dead at that point?

[MondoBongo]

If you pop the bubble, and syphon out the spores, will the remaining skin reform and grow a new bubble? or is it dead at that point?

from what i've seen, unless you remove it down the hold fast it will grow back.

[asylumdown]

If you pop the bubble, and syphon out the spores, will the remaining skin reform and grow a new bubble? or is it dead at that point?

Bubble algae is a single cell. Once the cell wall has been violated or breached in any way, it rapidly dies. The remaining skin is basically crystalline cellulose, it won't re-grow. However, current dynamics in our aquariums are never truly random. In the long term aggregate, there will be places that are always getting blasted, and places that are always collecting crap. Valonia spores will likely keep re-germintating in the same few places because that's where they're statistically most likely to land based on your tank's flow dynamics, making it seem like popped cells are regenerating. I wouldn't be surprised if underneath any one large valonia, there are dozens to hundreds of microscopic anchored spores which collect underneath it, just waiting for the boulder above it to pop and provide them with enough light to grow.

I think there are a couple of species of valonia that do generate the bubbles from a common hold-fast and can branch, in which case popping a single bladder only kills that cell, not the whole assemblage, but the most common species, Valonia ventricosa, grows as a single cell, each with it's own anchorage to the rock.

FWIW, I've had valonia grow underneath corals. As in, in a cavity that is completely covered by an epoxied on base. Obviously a tiny amount of light is making it in, but I only become aware of them when the coral above them winds up on the sand. They can tolerate VERY low levels of light and still thrive. I'd be highly suspicious of any claims that says putting them in the dark for months could eradicate them completely. If your'e going to go through the trouble of black-out cooking your rocks, you may as well make sure it's going to work. I'd bleach, acid wash, and dry them completely. There's nothing on your rocks that won't re-colonize them through the normal course of running a tank. Is there something on them that you think you'd be preserving by doing the black-out cooking?

[MondoBongo]

Bubble algae is a single cell. Once the cell wall has been violated or breached in any way, it rapidly dies. The remaining skin is basically crystalline cellulose, it won't re-grow. However, current dynamics in our aquariums are never truly random. In the long term aggregate, there will be places that are always getting blasted, and places that are always collecting crap. Valonia spores will likely keep re-germintating in the same few places because that's where they're statistically most likely to land based on your tank's flow dynamics, making it seem like popped cells are regenerating. I wouldn't be surprised if underneath any one large valonia, there are dozens to hundreds of microscopic anchored spores which collect underneath it, just waiting for the boulder above it to pop and provide them with enough light to grow.

this is certainly an interesting theory, and could well explain why mine keeps cropping up in the same places.

it also seems that if i miss even one teeny, tiny, bubble, that it will slowly but surely regrow multiple other bubbles.

[Andyf30]

The siphon hose is my go to. And emerald crabs. The siphon will pop them and pull the spores out as well. That's how I've been controlling my problems with bubble algae

[leveldrummer]

Im thinking of taping an ice pick to a 1/4 inch syphon and just go on a popping spree, pop as many as I can find and suck the goods out of them. hopefully that will kill everything I can see without causing more outbreaks.

[davocean]

Siphon and emerald crabs have worked for me, I have seen valonia that was under rocks in total darkness for who knows how long still alive, so lights out will not do much of anything for you.

[Benson0219]

I had Bubble Algae so bad that it was even in my overflow, powerheads and covered many of my corals. I had a low nutrient tank. I finally bought new dry rock and cured it while I gave the tank a bleach bath. Now I have new live rock that was supplemented with some Fiji live rock. I am now very careful where I buy my corals. Checking the LFS tanks for it before I buy corals.

[Benson0219]

I did try all of the above too... syphoning, Emerald Crabs, Rabbit Fish, hydrogen peroxide, ect…

[rustyjames]

Benson, I guess the peroxide didn't work? I've only read a little about it. Did you tranfer
coral from the infected tank?

[zeebies]

I added seasoned dry rock to an established tank and bubble algae grew on it like magic. The older live rock had no bubble algae (that I could see, anyway...)

I took out the "dry" rock along with its bubble algae, did a good scrubbing, then an acid wash, then a bleach dunking, then a long air dry. Bubble algae returned. I added 2 emerald crabs and the rock was spotless in 8 days. And it's stayed that way.