Emerald Crab for bubble algae control

[seanathen]

Has anyone used Emerald Crabs for bubble algae control? Did it work? Did it not work? Any other problems with using them for that?

 

[Sk8r]

Not useful. They'll eat a couple of bubbles in their whole lifespan, and then take a piece out of your fish.

 

[cubsFAN]

+ what sk8r said. They really disappoint. I would try manual removal and tweaking your water quality to limit phosphates. I've got some, but it's not going anywhere right now. It sure makes be nervous though. It helps if you can completely remove the rock and work it over in a separate container to make sure you get as much off as you can.

 

[seanathen]

That's not really an option, taking them all out. Stringy bubble algae is literally oozing out of all the rock all over. Phosphates are at zero and have been from day one. I think the bubble algae spores were already in the rock from the beginning...

 

[slosht]

I had 2 emeralds and just a little tiny bit of bubble algae, the emeralds ate all of the coraline algae off the live rock in a matter of days. Then the mantis shrimp came out from her molt and took care of the emeralds.

 

[cubsFAN]

That's not really an option, taking them all out. Stringy bubble algae is literally oozing out of all the rock all over. Phosphates are at zero and have been from day one. I think the bubble algae spores were already in the rock from the beginning...

is it valonia? could you post some pics?

 

[seanathen]

My camera sucks, but after some research that had pics attached, the follwing is definitely the type of bubble algae I have:

Valonia aegagropila forms small, densely packed, single-cell bladders with a tendency towards a long, distorted, curved-sausage shape. The dark- to olive green, clear vesicles, grow to about ½ inch length and maybe 1/6 inch width. The vesicles are NOT singular, branching off into successive tiers of bladders, up to five sprouting from the top of each. This branching can be difficult to detect visually, given the often very tight clustering of the vesicles. This alga is found widespread in the Western Pacific from Australia up to Japan, throughout the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean, about the Canary Islands in the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean The dense packing of vesicles can make careful manual removal of them difficult, though the anchorage to substrate is only moderate on strength.

 

[seanathen]

alright, update for those who want to know. I DID get an emerald crab tonight. I also took out at least a measuring cup worth of bubble algae tonight with my fingernails. Hopefully I'm not posting tomorrow morning about my decimated reef in the AM.

 

[bobbychullo]

how's the crab going? did he eat any algae?

 

[blide]

I agree with the previous posts... They don't eat much of the bubble algae at all. IMO, If you want to get rid of it you'll to lower the nutrients in the tank, manually removal it, or add a foxface (rabbitfish) to the tank.