Green Bubble Algae

[Big_Boss_77]

Hello everyone, long time no see! To make a long story short, my wife and I had a baby girl near the beginning of October and as much as I hate to admit it my aquarium took a back seat. Two days after she was born I happened to aquire some frags that I neglected to dip/qt due to the fact that I was in a hurry to get back to my wife and daughter.
Two months later and now I'm battling green bubble algae(yes, green bubble algae, not dino's). I have 2 emerald crabs, I use Rodi (tds 0 out from di), I rinse the food, I only feed half a frozen block every three days. I vacuum it out when I change water, basically I'm doing everything I've read every where. I'm skimming fairly dry so I'm getting the dark green nasty junk and running a fuge full of Chaeto.

Basically, I'm asking is there any kernel of knowledge, pearl if wisdom, ANYTHING at all I could be missing? I'm kind of tired of my aquarium looking like hammered s**t and I don't want to have to pull out and scrub every rock. Any advice is much appreciate!

 

[coralsnaked]

scrubbing rock probably wont work in the long run either. Besides what you are already doing time is the key factor. I have a 75 that had them beginning and I added only a single emerald. Took him a while to get to it as he preferred to go around to every rock and pick the nits, but when he get to them it didn't take long. I have heard about people bombing the reef with emeralds and then catching them all out when the bubble is gone. Should work much faster I imagine

 

[Big_Boss_77]

Ha ha ha... yeah, I've thought of that. But my track record in catching things out of my DT is dismal to say the least. Thanks for the response!

 

[gone fishin]

Jeez where are your priorities:lolspin:

In the past I have done what you are doing and tried to pluck off as many as possible. I try not to break them. There is always the debate about popping them or not. I don't know the answer so I try to pull them out whole. They eventually go away. It takes awhile though.

Congrats on the Baby girl.

 

[Big_Boss_77]

I know! My clown thought I had abandoned him, wouldn't even look at me for a week. So, basically I just need to keep on keeping on?
Thank you! She loves the tank, so her swing is right beside it. The same side my clown and his nem are on.

 

[cloak]

I would just start ripping out as many as you can before each water change. Don't worry about popping them. You can remove them much faster then they can reappear, so if you stay ahead of them you should be able to beat them. GL.

 

[m0nkie]

I tried manual removal and it made it worse.. I have it on every single rock.. bad outbreak coming.. I thought they were cyano air bubbles at first.. when cyano disappeared at night, nope... all bubble algaes

ordered 6 emerald crabs.. fingers crossed

 

[Big_Boss_77]

I tried manual removal and it made it worse.. I have it on every single rock.. bad outbreak coming.. I thought they were cyano air bubbles at first.. when cyano disappeared at night, nope... all bubble algaes

ordered 6 emerald crabs.. fingers crossed

When I first noticed mine, I thought it was dino's... I let it grow (don't ask, it made sense at the time lol) so I could get an accurate ID. It scaled the glass and pretty much blacked out my tank. My buddy and I scraped it clean, vacuumed it all out, and siphoned it off the rocks. There were a few spots that we missed and it slowly started colonizing again. Don't give up hope though, nothing in my tank seems to MIND it much, it just looks awful. Keep us posted on how you're doing and if I find any useful strategies, I'll post them here!

 

[Bpb]

Pay attention to water quality and manually remove as much as you can, emeralds and rabbitfish help. It'll pass with time. I had a 1.5" thick layer of valonia bubble algae covering every surface of the tank at one point. No drastic measures, just steady effort. I struggle to find a couple stragglers now. Most nuisance algae blooms will pass on their own unless something is really out of whack

 

[Big_Boss_77]

Pay attention to water quality and manually remove as much as you can, emeralds and rabbitfish help. It'll pass with time. I had a 1.5" thick layer of valonia bubble algae covering every surface of the tank at one point. No drastic measures, just steady effort. I struggle to find a couple stragglers now. Most nuisance algae blooms will pass on their own unless something is really out of whack

That's what had me stumped because before the outbreak my water parameters were more or less perfect. I know that doesn't mean much when the algae starts blooming, due to their consumption of nutrients, but perfect none the less.

How difficult are rabbitfish to keep happy once all the bubble algae is gone? I hate the thought of adding a fish for the sole purpose of removing bubble algae. I had the emeralds long before this was an issue but I don't want to use fish space for something that I can clean up other ways.

 

[m0nkie]

rabbit fish is a hit or miss... mostly miss. mine is fat and healthy, eats everything, just not bubble algae. reef safe with caution.

about to sell him and try a smaller baby rabbit fish.

I've read Desjardini Sailfin Tang are the best bet against BA. However, they require such a huge tank. I might try a baby one and return it later

 

[Bpb]

Just saw you were working with a 55 gallon. Probably too small for a rabbit. Though they're fairly easy going fish in general. Problem with bubble algae is it can grow in practically sterile water so hitting the tank with a bunch of gfo and water changes will not help at all. My bubble algae bloom was at the peak of my time running biopellets, carbon, and gfo. You just have to manually remove it as much as you can and eventually it'll pass. Popping them only means you're releasing fewer and under developed/non-viable spores into the water, vs letting them grow and become mature and releasing them on their own when they're really ripe

 

[Big_Boss_77]

rabbit fish is a hit or miss... mostly miss. mine is fat and healthy, eats everything, just not bubble algae. reef safe with caution.

about to sell him and try a smaller baby rabbit fish.

I've read Desjardini Sailfin Tang are the best bet against BA. However, they require such a huge tank. I might try a baby one and return it later

Yeah, I have no room for a tang. I might look into a rabbit fish, will depend if my local lfs has any next time I go. But you say your rabbit fish eats anything? I thought they were herbivores?

 

[Big_Boss_77]

Just saw you were working with a 55 gallon. Probably too small for a rabbit. Though they're fairly easy going fish in general. Problem with bubble algae is it can grow in practically sterile water so hitting the tank with a bunch of gfo and water changes will not help at all. My bubble algae bloom was at the peak of my time running biopellets, carbon, and gfo. You just have to manually remove it as much as you can and eventually it'll pass. Popping them only means you're releasing fewer and under developed/non-viable spores into the water, vs letting them grow and become mature and releasing them on their own when they're really ripe

You posted right as I was replying! Sorry for the double post lol
So I'm not a candidate for a rabbit fish. I wondered about how much bubble algae actually required to grow, because I'm fairly stingy with my feedings, I skim fairly heavy, and I have a fuge full of Chaeto. Glad to know it's not ALL my fault due to dereliction of duties

 

[m0nkie]

Just saw you were working with a 55 gallon. Probably too small for a rabbit. Though they're fairly easy going fish in general. Problem with bubble algae is it can grow in practically sterile water so hitting the tank with a bunch of gfo and water changes will not help at all. My bubble algae bloom was at the peak of my time running biopellets, carbon, and gfo. You just have to manually remove it as much as you can and eventually it'll pass. Popping them only means you're releasing fewer and under developed/non-viable spores into the water, vs letting them grow and become mature and releasing them on their own when they're really ripe

so you are saying it's better to pop them in tank while manual cleaning? hmmmm...

Yeah, I have no room for a tang. I might look into a rabbit fish, will depend if my local lfs has any next time I go. But you say your rabbit fish eats anything? I thought they were herbivores?

everything... flakes, pellets, nori, mysis.. he's the only fatty that swims to my hand and eats out of my hand.

a Foxface Lo is too big. A 1 spot Foxface is smaller.

 

[Big_Boss_77]

he's the only fatty that swims to my hand and eats out of my hand

My clown does that, and attacks me when I'm not holding food

 

[cloak]

Just for all of you who have tried to combat bubble algae with an emerald crab, what do you think happens to the bubbles when the crab does decide to eat them? They pop...
Being that there are plenty of success stories out there regarding emerald crabs & valonia, it just goes to show that they aren't doing anything that you couldn't do yourself... JMO, GL.

 

[Big_Boss_77]

Just for all of you who have tried to combat bubble algae with an emerald crab, what do you think happens to the bubbles when the crab does decide to eat them? They pop...
Being that there are plenty of success stories out there regarding emerald crabs & valonia, it just goes to show that they aren't doing anything that you couldn't do yourself... JMO, GL.

True, but emerald crabs are SO COOL lol

 

[m0nkie]

Just for all of you who have tried to combat bubble algae with an emerald crab, what do you think happens to the bubbles when the crab does decide to eat them? They pop...
Being that there are plenty of success stories out there regarding emerald crabs & valonia, it just goes to show that they aren't doing anything that you couldn't do yourself... JMO, GL.

Good point... so use a flat sharp object and start scraping the rocks?

 

[Big_Boss_77]

I was doing some research on it and it was saying to pull the LR out and put it in a bucket of salt water them scrape/brush/blast away