Eggs...?

[Dustin07]

Sorry for the bad picture, I snapped this at 5am before the lights came on for the day but I've been getting clusters of these, usually a bit darker, almost blue and with a blue dot developing in the middle. they get very firm, not squishy at all and never hatch. Most of the clusters look sorta like clownfish eggs but they never hatch and never change shape etc. I do have 2 clowns in the tank, 2 blue damsels, and then mostly just turbo snails and nassarius. (no crabs)

thoughts?

 

[reefing102]

Bubble Algae - Valonia sp.

Can be invasive. It’s said not to pop the bubbles in the tank as it releases spores. Emerald crabs will usually eat it or pull the rocks and scrub. Or just let it be. I’ve had bubble algae in my tank for a while and never had huge issues but others it takes over their tanks.

 

[Dustin07]

Bubble Algae - Valonia sp.

Can be invasive. It’s said not to pop the bubbles in the tank as it releases spores. Emerald crabs will usually eat it or pull the rocks and scrub. Or just let it be. I’ve had bubble algae in my tank for a while and never had huge issues but others it takes over their tanks.

you think I could scrape it off some of these surfaces if I pulled it out of the water briefly to do so?
I've had horrible luck with crabs always rearranging and damaging my zoas, and I'm essentially building a 90% zoanthid tank so if I could avoid crabs.... I'd love to.

thank you for the ID! I just couldn't quite tell but it didn't seem like any eggs I recognized.

 

[kharmaguru]

you think I could scrape it off some of these surfaces if I pulled it out of the water briefly to do so?
I've had horrible luck with crabs always rearranging and damaging my zoas, and I'm essentially building a 90% zoanthid tank so if I could avoid crabs.... I'd love to.

thank you for the ID! I just couldn't quite tell but it didn't seem like any eggs I recognized.

Yes. In fact that would be the best way. I find removing them while outside the tank and then a light spray of hydrogen peroxide where they were and they don't come back.

While it is said not to break them in the tank, anything that predates them, such as an emerald crab or sailfin tang, will break them in doing so.

 

[Dustin07]

While it is said not to break them in the tank, anything that predates them, such as an emerald crab or sailfin tang, will break them in doing so.

once @reefing102 gave me the ID lead, I did a bunch more reading and was thinking the same thing about how crabs would probably break them. A lot of people swear by using Vibrant though so I'm considering throwing that into the mix.... any thoughts?

this new cluster would be easy for me to scrape off, but some of the clusters are nestled into weird spots on larger rocks that I probably don't want to remove from the tank. I find them in the middle of cloves etc. usually they're not green like these though, more bluish and that's what kept throwing me off trying to figure it out.

 

[reefing102]

I would discourage Vibrant. It seems to be an algaecide that can affect corals -

Warning: Use Vibrant at your own risk

It does not appear to be what UWC claims. Data clearly suggest it is an algaecide identical to Algaefix (see thread below) IMO, this as a very serious breach of trust from a company that has insisted it is not an algaecide. It is also a clear breach of the Reef2Reef terms of service (about...

www.reef2reef.com

That said, as mentioned, removing and scraping is likely best in this scenario

 

[griss]

I would discourage Vibrant. It seems to be an algaecide that can affect corals -

Warning: Use Vibrant at your own risk

It does not appear to be what UWC claims. Data clearly suggest it is an algaecide identical to Algaefix (see thread below) IMO, this as a very serious breach of trust from a company that has insisted it is not an algaecide. It is also a clear breach of the Reef2Reef terms of service (about...

www.reef2reef.com

That said, as mentioned, removing and scraping is likely best in this scenario

Yes, do NOT use Vibrant. I tried it once a while back and it nearly wiped out my corals.

ETA - While that thread states Vibrant is an algaecide identical to AlgaeFix, I am not so sure about that. As I mentioned, Vibrant had a horrible affect on my corals. AlgaeFix on the other hand did not have any effect.

 

[bandsaw2]

I'd try siphoning them out as you do a water change. Using something to get them lose without braking them up.

 

[bandsaw2]

Taking them out and scraping them off is the best way. But not always possible.

 

[Dustin07]

I would discourage Vibrant. It seems to be an algaecide that can affect corals -

Warning: Use Vibrant at your own risk

It does not appear to be what UWC claims. Data clearly suggest it is an algaecide identical to Algaefix (see thread below) IMO, this as a very serious breach of trust from a company that has insisted it is not an algaecide. It is also a clear breach of the Reef2Reef terms of service (about...

www.reef2reef.com

That said, as mentioned, removing and scraping is likely best in this scenario

Yes, do NOT use Vibrant. I tried it once a while back and it nearly wiped out my corals.

ETA - While that thread states Vibrant is an algaecide identical to AlgaeFix, I am not so sure about that. As I mentioned, Vibrant had a horrible affect on my corals. AlgaeFix on the other hand did not have any effect.

awesome thank you for the feedback! I had a bottle of Vibrant in my shopping cart but intentionally waited until I saw a response on that comment before ordering. I'll give it a go and if possible I'll try to snap better pictures since the bluer ones are sorta cool lol.

 

[Dustin07]

I'd try siphoning them out as you do a water change. Using something to get them lose without braking them up.

Taking them out and scraping them off is the best way. But not always possible.

I don't think I could siphon them out, I have run my fingers over them and they are very hard. I will scrape these new ones off tonight then try one of the older clusters and see how it goes.

 

[Dustin07]

I'm sorry these pictures aren't very good, I know I need to improve my phone/camera, lol.
I moved the rocks that I could, to a separate bowl of tank water to pluck off the bubble algae. it's sorta "crunchy" but flaked off easily (albeit tediously).

the larger rocks I really did not want to disturb too much so I picked off pieces to the best of my ability inside the tank and tried to remove them from the water column, surface, or sand (wherever they ended up floating off to)

 

[Dustin07]

I visited 4 different Salt focused LFS's Saturday throughout Puget Sound. Found a new one I fell in love with and discussed it with them. The gal working there told me that she (like me) does NOT like hermit crabs, but DOES like her emerald crabs. I was very hesitant to add any crabs because in the past, they've been so hard on my zoas, and I'm really focusing this tank on zoas. She said her emeralds have NEVER bothered hers, so I went ahead and added two emerald crabs to the tank in addition to trying to manually remove them.

after a few hours of letting thing settle down, the whole tank looked incredibly vibrant Sunday. (no pun intended).

fingers crossed.

 

[reefing102]

Let’s stay hopeful!

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I had very positive results eradicating bubble algae with a very fine needle syringe loaded with hydrogen peroxide. It is a bit tedious but my results were 100% eradication.

 

[Dustin07]

Let’s stay hopeful!

this morning checked on the tank at 5am before the lights turned on, with a flashlight. the emerald crabs were nestled into pockets of rock between zoas, but not at all focused on the zoas... so I'll see what today brings.

with hydrogen peroxide.

I have not tried hydrogen peroxide yet but am seeing more people mention it... if it starts to bloom again I might give this a try.