Bubble Algae
- Thread starter Warnberg
- Start date
I recently was able to keep three emerald crabs in my 75g. One got real big. Do not know if they were male or female but my bubble algae problem got under control enough for me. I recently lost all three of them. Do not know if it was lack of food or if my tang that is constantly chasing them did them in.
cwegescheide
YOU have been ignored!
I had a powder blue that literally ate EVERYTHING. Including nipping at toadstools, polyps, xenia and acros. He would eat the bubble algae though. Actually I was happy to see him carpet surf. What a PIA. He would have been great if he didn't insist on nipping everything!!!
Kubi
Active member
ok, in my experience I have tried all the so called remedies that are out there. I have a powder blue tang that eat the very small free floating bubble, but did not pick it off the rock I had a blonde naso and redsea sailfin nothing. I had about 15 emeralds at one time and they never did anything for me. Evan at one time I had this tang in my tank, I was told that it would take care of the issue, never did. Bought him small and he grow way too fast and had to get ride of him. He was very cool pic down below forgot the name. That is why I said hit or miss. Just sharing some experience tring to save you money and time.
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cschweitzer
New member
I have heard female emeralds do not eat bubble as often, though. For telling which is which, there are two main ways. A male will have one(or both) much bigger claws that the females. If you flip them over, one will have a triangle and one will have a rocket on their breast plate. The rocket, I believe, is the male.
Dave, I heard the same thing you have. I added a small regal to my tank after my 1st tang ( supposed to be a kole but is not) and he wanted to kill him. I ended up taking the regal back to the store the next day. My tang is a bristle toothed tang and I actually believe that my bubble algae is always under control because of him and I would not get rid of him because he and my foxface keep the tank spotless of algae. I would get rid of the regal and get a different tang if I were you and some emeralds. Just my 2 cents
nonna interested in what bristle tooth you have they are pretty cool. only problem is we have a word for them I can't say here. I will say they are jerks for the most part. they normally scrape smaller algea like diatoms that is why there mouths are different. It would be cool if you actually saw it eating some valonia. does your tang have a yellow eye ring? there are koles that are from different parts of the ocean that look slightly different. some with blue lines or spots and some with brown or yellow lines or spots. I like the blue best.
having the regal first you can add most any tang you want after it since they are more passive and the new one is less likely to attack the existing fish. not always the case but sometimes.
having the regal first you can add most any tang you want after it since they are more passive and the new one is less likely to attack the existing fish. not always the case but sometimes.
Rob,
He is a jerk and many a time my husband asked me to get rid of him. He has yellow lines and yellow dots around his eyes. I have sucessfully added a sixline wrasse, bangaii, and lately a orchid dottyback. The sixline he chased forever but the wrasse was too fast for him and he eventually gave up. The bangaii he was just annoyed with from time to time when he got in his way. The dottyback did not come out into the open for a week and then eventually came out a little at a time. He did catch food all the time though. The tang has never bothered him to this day and I think I bought the orchid from John 3 weeks ago.
He is a jerk and many a time my husband asked me to get rid of him. He has yellow lines and yellow dots around his eyes. I have sucessfully added a sixline wrasse, bangaii, and lately a orchid dottyback. The sixline he chased forever but the wrasse was too fast for him and he eventually gave up. The bangaii he was just annoyed with from time to time when he got in his way. The dottyback did not come out into the open for a week and then eventually came out a little at a time. He did catch food all the time though. The tang has never bothered him to this day and I think I bought the orchid from John 3 weeks ago.
cool. hard to say if it's really a kole or whatever scientific name it is but it could be. they are pretty hardy and when feed well are beautiful fish. I just don't like bullies. I flick em in the head a couple times and if they don't stop I toss em. did the six line bounce off your lights a couple times?
Warnberg
New member
Just to let everyone know, I have been trying to clean up my tank for weeks, last night I moved on to more drastic measures. While removing some of the rock I discovered I have several emerald crabs left (thought they all died). What I am doing is starting on one end of the tank and removing rock, scrubbing it clean, then returning it to the tank... little at a time but I'm working on it. Anyone want to come over for a beer a swim and a rock scrubbing party? LOL
The tang question was really not so much for algae removal just wanted another tang.....
Thanks,
The tang question was really not so much for algae removal just wanted another tang.....
Thanks,
poknsnok
New member
not to burst your "bubble".. no pun intended.. but I did the scrubbing and dunking method for my dictyota and bubble issues and it does come back. i ultimately ended up selling off all the rock that was covered by the crap in my old 90 gal. In my 200 my NASO is what keeps the tank clean along with the high water quality I keep..
Are you talking about Valonia or cyanobacteria? Valonia looks like shiny ball bearings and get well over 1 inch. One specie is small and green. They are fairly slow growing though. Cyano gets bubbles under it - that stuff is bad, purpleish, will cover the bottom and rocks if you have enough food for it. I would suspect cyano, when your stuff died off, it rotted and released nutrients into tank. Do water changes if so. Either in any case do water changes and test for anything amiss.
Kubi
Active member
I scurbbed my rock over a year ago and it was a chore. Now every once in awhile I find a little bubble growing. I just pick it off and I will not see another for 4-6 mos later. I can live with that.
I also do a 10ga weekly water change. What works for others might not work for you.
Paul
I also do a 10ga weekly water change. What works for others might not work for you.
Paul
