noooo...bubble algae

remove yourself first. emerald crabs may eat them. I went through 9 before I found a couple that did eat it. Unfortunately they got big and ate my shrimp and attacked my prized wrasses(fish are ok). So it's a gamble. Can you get them out when they turn omnivorous?
 
Ditto--another option is to leave them, wait and see if more grow. As long as you aren't clumsy and bump into/break them, I don't believe there is any harm in letting them grow. Plus, the bigger they are, the easier to break off.

I have a few small emeralds, they don't seem to touch the bubble I have in my nano
 
One is on a rock I can remove, the other is on a big rock that would be difficult. Whats the best way to remove - use your fingers/scrape/??
 
fingernail WITHOUT bursting the bubble--which could spread spores.
I'd lift the rock out of water, then remove.

have a bucket with a few gallons of water made up.

If you accidently burst the bubble, get the remains off, dunk te rock a few times to get spores off rock.

I'm a clutz, and accidently burst about 25% of the bubbles, so I always have dunking water ready to go.
 
If you could use a screw driver and small hammerand chip the piece of rock out so you not risk busting it like the other person said. I had it and my sailfin tang ate it I didn't think they would/could but he did and no more so I never had to deal with it. but If I couldn't remove the rock I would cut it off the rock or chip it out. Jonathan
 
tweezers work. Also some people take rigid tubing and cut one end at 45 degree angle to make a sharp point. Start siphon and poke the valonia and suck out all the spores. Works better on medium to large sized ones. Small ones I hear may have immature spores and not be able to spread. I've never been able to verify that so take it for what it's worth.
 
fwiw, I punctured on IN my 12g nano about 4 months ago. It definitely did spread spores, but...not a disaster. About 20 have grown, I'm just lettin' grow....and as they get big enough, I pluck them out. #'s are starting to go down.
 
I had a couple awhile back. I just took the rock out, walked over to the sink and knocked them off with a fingernail and put the rock back in the tank. Haven't seen any since. They were fairly rigid on the outside.
 
I'm unclear how this statement relates to pulling off the bubble algae intentionally. I read this comment to mean if let to nature, spores are not released until the bubble is clear.

However, how about if you burst the bubble underwater in removing it? Does the clear bubble idea still apply? That is, does this comment mean you just rip your bubbles off underwater and don't worry about bursting the bubble (unless it's clear)?
 
I just leave the BA to grow in my tank. If the bubbles get big enough and are in a position where I can pull them out without breaking a bunch of stags, I remove them. Otherwise I let them be, they don't seam to hurt anything.
 
Ditto--I think I've only ever seen one tank where they hideously overgrown. Tank was in a hospital, clearly had a "service" taking care of it. Less than stellar service--there were hundreds, many many hundreds. Not attractive.
 
I try twisting them off,They seem to come off pretty easy this way.As long as the are conected to the rock at one spot.if it is two spots I use a hypodermic to drain it and then pull the empty skin off outside the tank.
 
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