Red bubble algae cure?

[Runner]

I have come up with a few red bubble algae spots in my tank. They look like Botryocladia skottsbergii. I've removed them, but they come back. Is there anything that eats this stuff so I don't have to keep pulling 'em out with every water change?

Pic from internet search:

 

[acrodave]

ive never been able to find anything that eats it . but i just got a baby yellow tang little bigger than a 50cent piece and it cant get enough of it. i had a few patches of it and now its gone

 

[Runner]

Heh. Want to loan him to me?

Or perhaps I could get one for a little while before passing it on to somebody with a bigger tank.

 

[acrodave]

man i would but catching that thing out is going to be a nightmare. but its something im going to have to do in the future.. maybe if i dont feed it i can stunt it growth.lol

 

[Runner]

Heh. No problem. Anything I put in there has to be able to outrun or out-armor a territorial hawkfish -- or I remove the hawkfish (after pulling every bit of rock out, I am sure).

 

[Runner]

Heh. No problem. Anything I put in there has to be able to outrun or out-armor a territorial hawkfish -- or I remove the hawkfish (after pulling every bit of rock out, I am sure).

 

[Runner]

Heh. No problem. Anything I put in there has to be able to outrun or out-armor a territorial hawkfish -- or I remove the hawkfish (after pulling every bit of rock out, I am sure).

 

[Runner]

Heh. No problem. Anything I put in there has to be able to outrun or out-armor a territorial hawkfish -- or I remove the hawkfish (after pulling every bit of rock out, I am sure).

 

[Runner]

Well, that worked well.

 

[Runner]

I just found an unlikely predator of my red bubble algae: asterna starfish. I saw one bowed up on the side of my frogspawn and wrapped around and latched on to what I thought was a new little frogspawn bud. I popped him free -- and it was red bubble algae he was engulfing. Not sure if it means he was really eating it, but that is what I assume by where I found him. I'll keep an eye on the few I have and see where they go. All I can say is their hunger has no chance to keep up with growth, but any help is welcome.

 

[Runner]

Wow. It wasn't just a fluke. I just caught another in the act:

I'll watch this one and see if it totally removes or just deflates the bubble...

 

[Runner]

Looks like they are lightly scraping the surface -- this one took a little color off the top, but then moved on. I suppose if I had about 1000 or so of them for each bubble, I'd be in business.