Bubble algae

[jstraka1]

Wow,
This bubble algae is really getting the best of me. I have had every kind of algae from cyano to bryopsis, dino's, flourescent green film, diatoms, you name it I've had it, or at least it seems that way. I have been able to control every kind, to this point, au natural, with ro/di water top off and bi-weekly changes, scraping, scrubbing, the use of a refugium, snails, good flow, and skimming, but these bubbles are taking over.
Here are a few pics.....

It is beyond the point of manual removal, but I still try to remove as much as I can with every waterchange.

If anyone has any suggestions, methods. or dynamite:rollface: it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bigkev76]

Emerald crab will take care of it. they eat it like its their job!

 

[jstraka1]

Oh yeah, forgot to say, I have one, but it seems he only eats hair algae. How many could or should I have in a 65 gallon?

 

[SkiFletch]

Dunno how many you could/should have, but I do recall reading a lot that some crabs sold as "emerald" are really variations of of the bubble-algae eating type. It seems that not all emerald crabs are created equal

Edit: btw, what au naturale method worked for you on byropsis and dino?

 

[Teraphage]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7427904#post7427904 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jstraka1
Oh yeah, forgot to say, I have one, but it seems he only eats hair algae. How many could or should I have in a 65 gallon?

It's hard to say how many would solve your problem, especially since even if you get true emerald crabs (Mithrax sculptus), they're somewhat hit or miss for eating valonia unless that's the only food available to them. The only thing that ever worked for me was getting a foxface lo. I personally won't have a tank without one from now on since IME they control all algae they can reach.

Edit - SkiFletch, I've seen Foxface help with Bryopsis too, and for dinoflagellates the only thing I've ever seen help in controlling it is queen conchs. However for dinoflagellates your best bet really is to suction it out during water changes and get your tanks nutrient load in check (refugium/water changes/more skimming). Increasing flow in areas that the dino is growing can help minimize it's spreading too.

 

[jstraka1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7428785#post7428785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Teraphage
However for dinoflagellates your best bet really is to suction it out during water changes and get your tanks nutrient load in check (refugium/water changes/more skimming). Increasing flow in areas that the dino is growing can help minimize it's spreading too.

I agree, that is how I got rid of them.

As for the bryopsis, a lawnmower blenny and coral beauty ate most of it, I pulled the rest, and of course kept the parameters in check.


Jason

 

[dalbrecht]

a hungry rock boring urchin will do it. But they like coraline as well.

 

[Arik]

My foxface ignores bubble algae completely. It eats every other type of algae.

 

[jstraka1]

I guess I'm gonna just have to keep pulling as much as I can out, and keep up the water changes.

Thanks for all the input,

Jason

 

[moriartiholmes]

Not sure what you have in your fuge, but when I added chaeto it out competed the bubble algae. This allowed me to pull off the remaining bubbles and now I hardly ever see any bubbles. If this is not working for you, you may have to evaluate your fuge lighting and/or your nutrient load.
When you remove the bubbles do it out of the water and try not to pop them, they will release spores when disturbed. Two other options are to use foam prefilters on your power heads and/or a UV filter. The foam prefilters are a great attachment site for Bubble Algae spores and when they grow on them, they are easily removed. A UV filter may kill the spores in the water column before they can settle, although I have not tried UV on bubble algae myself.

 

[jstraka1]

I have razor caulerpa and chaeto both grow like weeds. I think the release of spores is what got me. It is pretty hard not to pop at least one when there are so many. I'm leaning towards the UV filter, I have heard a lot of positive points about them as opposed to negative.

 

[SkiFletch]

A UV would be a great trick to stop the spores... Hadn't even thought about that myself

 

[Mikefromaz]

Bubble Algae

Bubble Algae

I have forgotten the exact name of this stuff......Veronia,....Velonia.....whatever. I call it "sailors eyeball". Anyway. the ONLY success I have had with this problem was to export nutrients to the point where there wasn't enough nitrate, and phosphate for them to survive. The second half of what worked for me was to suck every last one I could see out with a siphon. DO NOT crush these little suckers as it will only multiply your miseries. You can get rid of them, but time is a factor. Good luck.