Bubble Algae

[Tyrinius]

I am developing a pretty serious red and green bubble algae problem. Any solutions? I have had rabbitfish in the past that seemed to work well, but what chemical components contribute to this growth and how can I get rid of it? Thank you.

[Drewcipher]

Nothing worked for me. I had to take everything out of the tank pull the bubbles off, rinse the rock and replace it. Then watch very closely for any new bubbles and remove them right away. I am almost done with it now I think. Some folks say emerald crabs will eat it, I tried, no good. My tank is too small for the other 2 possibles. One is the rabbitfish, and the other is a red sea sailfin tang. Any of these 3 animals seem to be a maybe on eating it. In the end, scrub the rock.

[Tyrinius]

Thanks for the info. I will try a rabbitfish. Obviously breaking down the tank is a huge undertaking.

[jasper24]

I did what Drew siad. I had a lot of green bubbles so I took out each piece of LR and pulled the bubbles off and inspected them. Put them back and it looks a lot better. With the large pieces that I could not remove I took my syphon hose and cut the end to a point. I then sucked out the bubbles using the pointy end as a pick.

[Tyrinius]

I wonder if a small syringe will work also Jasper? Ever tried it?

[Driftwood]

I have a few of these bubbles. So far I just scrape them off when I see them. The problem now is I have a few on giant base rocks and really don't want to remove them from the tank. Maybe I'll give that sharpened syphon a try. Thanks!

Dave

[Shadowramy]

Crabs did not work for me either, they actually sit on them eating something else.

What worked was siphon methond. I would use a small screwdriver to "un-wedge" the bubbles and when they either popped or free floated siphoned them out.

Those rocks I could get to, I pulled out, picked of and threw them away.

Only thing I got to work.

[Tyrinius]

I will let you know how my syringe works out, but if anyone knows if it will please let me know. I don't want them to spread any more than they are already. I am going to use a stop aptasia applicator to try and draw out the algae.....we'll see.

[David Grigor]

Once you have a significant amount, manual extraction is usually the only real way. While it doesn't sound like it now, spending an evening and removing the rock to clean and get into those very difficult crevices will probably be quicker and in the end more effective vs. several rounds of trying to scrub and siphon the areas you can reach.

Also to consider, if you used just the stacking method for your aquascaping you will probably end up knocking rocks over trying to reach areas and/or the pressure and end up having to rework your aquascaping anyways.

[Tyrinius]

Do you clean the rock by taking it out of the tank and scrubbing in salt water? What do you do if corals like star polyps are growing on two or three diferent rocks?

[TwistedTiger]

I have had great success for years with emerald crabs, but if your tank if full of bubble and other algae it will take a lot of time or many crabs.

[PatMayo]

I have 2 emerald crabs in my tank, they don't touch the bubble algae in my tank. Never had and I have had the crabs about 6 months. I wish they would. I can only see 2 but they are so small I can't get to them effectively. At least not without ripping out a truckload of rock and I'm not going to do that.

Regards,

Pat

[David Grigor]

Green start polyps are extremely hardy. Your not going to kill them by taking the rock out of the water. Obviously your not going to scrub directly on the GSP. Manually try to pick any there are on or near the matt.

After you've picked/scrapped them off then swish the rock good in a bucket of Saltwater before putting back in the tank.

[Tyrinius]

Thanks for the reply David. I guess to clarify...for example I have a star polyp that is attached to three separate, fairly large rocks and by removing a single rock I am afraid it will severly damage the polpy by tearing it off the other two. Can you cut these polyps with a razor blade?

[smatter]

Congratulations, you are cultivating one of the Earth's largest unicellular organisms. They require impeccable water quality to thrive.

[maginter]

I had to pluck mine out....

[Tyrinius]

smatter, I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not, but I do my best.