Big bubble algae!

zeroinverse

New member
Saw this stuck at base of my bird of paradise SPS!

Wow! Size of the nail on my thumb.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1354174528.389333.jpg
 
Honestly, I've never seen one that large, and just one at that. I have bubble algae elsewhere but they are small bubbles. I should have two emerald crabs, I know I have at least one.

But yeah, it would get clobbered by that big bubble!
 
Personally, I'd be careful with emerald crabs. I had one that tore apart my gonipora lobata and stripped ORA frogskin to the skeleton.

There's no rehabilitation after they aquire a taste for corals.
 
Interesting! I have not had coral death that I can tell of from emerald crab.

@coralfarmer: yeah, I popped it like a bad zit in the sink. At the last BAR meet, a speaker said bubble algae spores are on outside.
-----
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/hcj/feature/index.php

Much has been said about the danger of liberating spores when popping the vesicles of bubble algae. This is particularly true for members of Order Valoniaceae, but even then, the vesicles are said to be a sporulant risk only when having reached at least a third of their full size. Even if spores escape when you botch the job of vesicle-removal ('vesectomy', anyone?), those escapee spores have to run the gauntlet of herbivorous filter feeders, filtration equipment, and the wild lottery of hitting a good, unoccupied spot to settle and grow. Those spores will eventually be released anyway if you don't remove the vesicles.
-----
 
We employ emerald crabs to eat them. And they don't eat them whole. The algae spores are in the tissue. Feel free to remove them any way you can. If you pop them your tank will not turn into a bubble algae tank.
 
Back
Top