bubble algae / emerald crab

[sbgreen]

Please share all experience, knowledge, anything please.
I have a huge outbreak of the stuff, i scrape it off and siphon it but it grows back so fast.

I have mushrooms, zoa's, xenia, gsp, frogspawn, green button polyps.

Do emerald crabs actually eat this stuff, or do they just pop it and spread it more.

I can't take the rocks out to scrub because the softies are all attached.

thoughts please.

tank has been set up since May 5, 2005. Tank Paramaters are great, Corraline grows like crazy. I use Natural Sea Water from UC Santa Barbara

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

IMO crabs are a 50 50 chance on bubble alage. you can take the rock out of the water to scrub the alage off if it is easy to reach without hurting your corals unless you leave the rock out for a while

 

[Pandora]

Emeralds are only really good for small bubbles, and even then in a very limited way as kau said. The way I control it is by hand, with a pair of forceps to carefully remove them at the bases without popping too many.

 

[crzy4reefs]

take the rock out and get them off your self, the crab just pops it and it spreads. i have an emerald crab but it's not for bubble algea

 

[Amphiprion]

My experience is mixed with these crabs. As said above, popping the "bubbles" will indeed spread algal spores that will eventually spread the algae. The emerald crabs will sometimes consume the algae (not always) and sometimes can be a threat to fish and other inverts (shrimp, other crabs, corals)--and maybe even your finger! IMO, I would try to do it manually rather than relying on a relatively unreliable thing to do it for you.

 

[marinenewbie]

I bought 2 emeralds to combat my bubble outbreak, about 2 months ago (??) and they have eaten every last stitch. The flipside is that now in the absence of the bubble, I am concerned what they might start eating instead! (I posted that question a while ago in a different thread and am going to actually "feed" them...)

I figure it's worth a shot unless you've got other livestock you are worried about. Worked well for me.

Good luck!

 

[Paintbug]

i have 2 in my tank right now. since the odds are 50/50 i guess one of them eats it, because the 5-6 bubbles i had were gone in days after putting them in the tank. i will now feed mine some algae strips about 1-2 times per week.

 

[sbgreen]

thanks for all the input. still not sure what to do. i have been trying by hand with no success. if i take the rock out to scrub, how long can it feesibly be out of water if there are mushrooms attached, or xenia?

 

[Amphiprion]

Long enough to get the algae off