bubble algae

[ctcorals]

the bubble algae is all over my tank n visiblly kill many of my corals,i have tried puting the emperor crab to the tank but it doennt works,crab die eventually. any member of our commuity who knows how to deal with that crazy algae,plz help thx!

 

[jackson6745]

Bubble algae killig your coral? Please explain how. I had some very bad bubble algae before but never saw it kill a coral. Emeralds work but many crabs are needed. Besides many emerald crabs, and manual removal, getting your water quality to "low nutrient" levels will slow new growth.

 

[piranhapat]

Siphon with a hose while removing water. Try not to pop any. If they pop that cause them to spread. Just keep getting as many as you can. Do it over in time and run GFO and you will see a big difference in no time. You can sometimes loosen than from rock and scoop with a net as there flow in water. Also while doing this run a sock.

 

[viplok]

Bubble algae killig your coral? Please explain how. I had some very bad bubble algae before but never saw it kill a coral. Emeralds work but many crabs are needed. Besides many emerald crabs, and manual removal, getting your water quality to "low nutrient" levels will slow new growth.

i use to have crazy amount of bubble algae as well. yes it will kill coral, if you dont pick it out from the coral it will suffocate it. my zoa was covered with it few polyps died after i pick it out the frags all happy again.

bubble algae is PITA, still regret the rookie mistake of not inspecting frags b4 putting in my tank =\

i siphon them out bi weekly try to keep in under control but it doesnt cut it.

 

[mheaven]

If I were you this is what I would do:
Remove anything from the tank that needs to be feed. Put in about 3-5 emeral crabs. Let them only feed on the algae. Give them about 2-3 months and your algae issue should be gone.

 

[jcdeng]

emerald crabs do eat bubble algae, but they do it by first popping them so that means ur tank will always have it but the crabs can keep it under control. Dont get too many emeralds cuz they are opportunistic so they will go after fish food and coral food. And if your coral is in the process of taking in the food the crab might damage the coral when trying to get to food out of it's mouth.

I use a pair of tweezers b4 WC to pry them off from the LR and then use my siphon to suck them in and I think I am keeping them under control pretty well. (all pumps are off during the process so the free floating bubbles just fall to sandbed waiting to be suck up)

 

[E.intheC]

Really the best way to handle bubble algae is manual removal when you're doing a water change.

I've also found that bubble algae isn't as effected by nutrient levels as other forms of algae. They'll do better in higher nutrient environments, but they won't disappear with low levels of phosphate and nitrate. You need to carefully remove them.

Good luck. Take your time. It could be worse.. you could have hair algae or cyano.

 

[ctcorals]

thanks guys! yes bubble algae already killed many of my zoas by squeezing the zoas colonys. i start using toothbrush today to clean them out manually as u guys show me, n the crabs r on the way to come by shiping. thanks again!

 

[PolandSpring]

get a plethora of emerald crabs. works for me everytime

 

[Tonyscoots84]

the only true way to getting rid of bubble algae and its not 100% is to take the infected area out of the tank take all of the bubble algae off and then rinse/swish the piece in saltwater(not in your tank but a separate saltwater that you are going to throw out) to try to get rid of any spores. Inside every bubble there are a bunch of spores that will spread like a wildfire i have not noticed a emerald crab take care of mine back in the day when i had both. i had to manually remove the algae. its very annoying :sigh:

 

[ctcorals]

thanks guys i appreciated! the bubble algae eating crab should arrive soon n i nalready manually clean out bubble about 50% haha! feeling good to get rid of my biggest enemy lol