Relentless bubble algae, anyone have luck with vibrant?

[Piper27]

I have always had bubble algae. But recently after I got the tanks back in order from a crash almost two years ago it has gotten worse even with manual removal and low nitrates and phosphates, which never seems to make a difference anyways. This stuff is growing over my sps within days, I am at my the end of my temper and am facing completely redoing everything or just keeping liverock in the dark and having only frag racks. I have lost to many corals to keep going. Normally it comes and goes in waves just like all algae. But this time it's nuts. I have completely went back to the basics and it's only gotten worse. The bubbles will get close to a coral and not even touch it and it will cause the coral to recede back while it encroaches up the coral, like it's releasing something to kill the coral it's near. I have got all my rodi filters right and everything so I am not sure what's causing this blow up but it's been many months of fighting and I am about done.

I am wondering if anyone has had luck with vibrant. I have seen a few videos where a small infestation would have a few bubbles die and wilt. The thing is I run a bacteria driven system and dose a lot of vodka and vinegar, is this going to cause a problem? I would like to try this stuff while I am cutting up corals that are infested and moving them to a tank where I can keep an eye on them easier. But I am not even sure it's possible at this point with the growth rate of this stuff. Only other option would be to get rid off all the fish and only put in fish that eat it, even that's not a guarantee.

For now I am going to do a large overhaul and manual removal but I am so fed up, I feel like selling everything! I love this hobby but I don't have the funds or time to deal with all this. I think I am going to take all the rock and fish out of my display tank and make it a coral rack, that's all I can see working out until I can get it back under control or find another means of keeping it in check.

Please chime in if you have had luck with vibrant or any other products. Or chip in with how you got rid of a bad infestation with manual removal and animals that eat it. Or even words of encouragement because i have been in the hobby for about 15 years, my wife longer, and we have never seen it get this bad.

 

[ClownNut]

redsea sailfin tang. depend on the infestation lvl, you might want to include manual removal to help along the way.

 

[dutch27]

Smallish tank here, but had it pretty bad, rocks were all bubbles. I took them out, sprinkled some peroxide on the algae, lit it sit for a minute or so, then rinsed in water change water. Then I added about 6 or 8 emeralds to a 40B. I still have a couple of patches, but it's not spreading and is largely under control. I fought and beat huge infestations of it twice, been in the hobby 7 years or so. It's beatable if you're determined enough, just takes a long time.

 

[lmforbis]

Vibrant has been working well for me. rocks were covered with bubble algae. After 6 weeks of once weekly vibrant there are only a few bubbles left and they are not very green any more. It isn't a quick fix but it has worked for me.

 

[Piper27]

So you had rocks covered and the vibrant killed off all but a few bubbles? Also, did it pale your sps at all? Do you dose any carbon sources?

 

[Piper27]

redsea sailfin tang. depend on the infestation lvl, you might want to include manual removal to help along the way.

I have had luck with a number of fish including, foxfaces, purple tangs, red Sea sailfin tangs, scopus tangs and a umber of others that eat it out of the water coloum but not much off the rocks. I have removed huge amounts of bubbles, half the tank, and in a few weeks it's worse than before. Done this so many times. It's insane, and the tank would need to be taken apart to remove the fish to be able to add any new fish to control it.

 

[Piper27]

Smallish tank here, but had it pretty bad, rocks were all bubbles. I took them out, sprinkled some peroxide on the algae, lit it sit for a minute or so, then rinsed in water change water. Then I added about 6 or 8 emeralds to a 40B. I still have a couple of patches, but it's not spreading and is largely under control. I fought and beat huge infestations of it twice, been in the hobby 7 years or so. It's beatable if you're determined enough, just takes a long time.

Yea I have beat normal infestations a bunch of times with manual removal and emeralds with a fish or two. It's not going to cut it this time. I have to cut up a lot of colonies and remove every single rock. Hopefully I can find a few people to answer a few of my questions about vibrant.

 

[Hentz]

I had to give up and reboot. It was literally uprooting encrusted SPS and all.

 

[tmantaylor18]

Vibrant and emerald crabs took care of all of it for me.

 

[Piper27]

Nice, did you dose at the recommended dose? Any paling in your sps? Got any before and after shots, or shots of the bubbles dying off? Anything bad things I should look out for when I start dosing?

 

[Piper27]

By the way, I only have a small amount of bryopsis which always has stayed on the return or overflow teeth. So I am hoping the bubble algae is affected easily. I saw a lot of people have other algae die off but bubbles didn't do much.

 

[ClownNut]

I have had luck with a number of fish including, foxfaces, purple tangs, red Sea sailfin tangs, scopus tangs and a umber of others that eat it out of the water coloum but not much off the rocks. I have removed huge amounts of bubbles, half the tank, and in a few weeks it's worse than before. Done this so many times. It's insane, and the tank would need to be taken apart to remove the fish to be able to add any new fish to control it.

depend how much you feed i guess. i dont have any issue with the sailfin eating them off the rock, the only area will have the bubble algae are the area the tang cant get to.

 

[tmantaylor18]

Nice, did you dose at the recommended dose? Any paling in your sps? Got any before and after shots, or shots of the bubbles dying off? Anything bad things I should look out for when I start dosing?

Yeah I started at 1ml per 10 gallons I believe. I was using it weekly. The stuff had no effect on my SPS. I also had bryposis and that stuff was eliminated too. I added the 2 emerald crabs around the same time so Im not sure how much of the work was thanks to them. I did see them picking at the bubble algae though.

 

[Rakie]

One thing I will say (I haven't used Vibrant) -- A lot of people who talk about Vibrant claim their problems came back eventually, either after they stopped vibrant, or just one day even WITH vibrant algae's just started showing up.

So while it will potentially help you greatly in the short term, it may be a big issue in the long run -- So if you get it down to very low numbers, think of it as a lull in the war, and keep trying additional treatments until it's gone for a lil while.

 

[Big E]

Algaefix worked well from me........I used it back in 2012. I didn't have a bad infestation, but enough of it to annoy me to no end.

I manually removed most of it and then started dosing per directions.

A couple of watch outs............because it kills other algae as well, your nutrients may rise a bit, so keep a check on that.

You also have to keep an eye on alk as well.

All my Sps were fine throughout the process. I dosed for about 5-6 weeks.

A friend with a larger infestation just started dosing with no removal and it worked good too, it just took longer.

 

[ali1]

Im reading snails die. Is that the case for you guys too?

 

[Piper27]

One thing I will say (I haven't used Vibrant) -- A lot of people who talk about Vibrant claim their problems came back eventually, either after they stopped vibrant, or just one day even WITH vibrant algae's just started showing up.

So while it will potentially help you greatly in the short term, it may be a big issue in the long run -- So if you get it down to very low numbers, think of it as a lull in the war, and keep trying additional treatments until it's gone for a lil while.

Yea by no means would I hope it's a permanent fix. Like I said before I have had luck all these years keeping the right fish and with manual removal but this time it's coming back each time twice as bad twice as quick. And nothing about the water has changed. I am almost about to pull all my fish and sell them and restock with some new fresh rocks for the top layer where light hits. It seems to be more attracted to the older rocks that have been in my system for a longer amount of time. It will always be in my tanks unless I star over completely.

I would love to see any pictures of bubbles dying off with either algaefix or vibrant.

BigE was there any negative impact on the sps for your friend? Do the bubbles just become light and pop?

 

[Big E]

BigE was there any negative impact on the sps for your friend? Do the bubbles just become light and pop?

No negative effects on Sps..........the bubbles just turned light and then slowly disintegrate. This is a permanent solution, as it's killing the algae spores.

Like I said, you have to monitor nutrients and alk levels.

I don't know if it will work with all types/species of algae, but I had the smaller type bubble algae that encrusts like a mat.

In my case I only had pockets of bubble algae and I wanted to get it erradicated before it became an issue. I didn't have massive algae issues nor did my friends tank.

There's a ton of info this this thread-----

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1595003&highlight=algaefix

 

[jimmy n]

Anyone use both Algaefix and Vibranz? I have a massive bubble algae issue. A swarm of emerald crabs hasn't touched them. I have both algaefix and Vibranz. I started both. Any issue using both?

 

[lolgranny]

i didnt read anyones post, but i will say this. I had a MASSIVE invasion through 180g, a couple years ago. It showed up out of no where all on the underside of my rocks. I had massive 60lb rocks in there that were shelves. It was horrible. Everything was epoxy togehter. I manually removed it, bought 30 emerald crabs, and watched my tank params and after maybe 6 months i had none. Still to this day i see zero.

Best of luck, i know the pain of it!