Success with eliminating bubble algae

[Peter Eichler]

This topic seems come up very often and I'm just curious to see what kind of success rates people have had with the various creatures often employed to control bubble algae (Ventricaria, Valonia, etc.).

You may choose multiple options when voting. If you select the fish or other please indicate in this post what species you had success with.

Thanks for voting!

 

[Peter Eichler]

Lets keep this one bumped for a while, I'd really like to see what kind of success rates people are having.

Also, a story of how bad your problem was and how long it took to be eliminated would be useful.

 

[Peter Eichler]

For you guys voting on having success lets hear some feedback please. Thanks!

 

[MTB]

Sorry but I just felt like voting in a poll. J/K

I tried emeralds but they didn't touch the stuff. They just walked around it!? I ended up taking the two rocks it was on and scrubbed the fecal matter out of it. Been 4-5 months and I still don't see any.

 

[Deuce67]

I stopped trying to rid my tank of it and just learned to live with it.

 

[supervdl]

I have Bubble in my tank, but only in hard to reach places. My Naso, Red Sea Sailfin and the Foxface all eat the bubble algae as long as they can reach it.

 

[Sk8r]

tripneustes gracilis urchin: won't eat it, but wears it on its butt, which has the same effect: it gets pulled off or shoved aside, and they're such efficient algae eaters otherwise, they help a lot.

Caution: if you're getting algae eaten, skim efficiently, and run Phosban, otherwise the fish is just dumping the bound phosphate back into your system.

 

[bower23]

what's phosban? I need help!!

 

[JohnF]

I had some bubble algae a while ago and when I added a Sally Light-foot crab, he proceeded to eat it all. Took him about 3 weeks to get it all and it's never come back.

 

[Ursus]

Had a small patch of bubble algae. Added an emerald crab. No longer have bubble algae. Either it was struck down by God, or the emerald consumed it.

 

[scrmbld33]

siphoned it out along with weekly water changes, 1 of three emeralds ate it but not enough to say get one to get rid of it

 

[dbraun15]

I have 2 emerald crabs who look at it and laugh, pulled it out(popped it mostly), siphon it out during water changes, still can't seem to make a dent--it's also in a lot of impossible to reach places--I also would like to hear what those who have had success do--

 

[O'Man]

Years ago I had bubble algae so bad that I took the infested rocks out of the tank & put them in the sun for 2 days. It killed the BA. Since I went to a bigger tank, a 90, my foxface seems to control it; not eliminate it, but it is not a problem. I do, however, manually remove any of the bubbles I see that are too big to fit in the fish's mouth. Once they hit a certain size, the foxface won't touch them.

 

[chicky]

is it bubble alge if the bubbles are kind of a brown looking?

 

[Hop]

My Naso took care of mine. Emerald Crabs never touched the stuff...

 

[Medaka]

I just let mine grow until they got big enough to pick out
Those hotdog shaped ones are a pain though, as they take forever to get big.

 

[TavisB]

I got rid of most of mine by moving the bubble covered live rock to the sump and letting it live there. An urchin helped clean up what was left. I have seen my emerald crab pick at it, but not sure how much he actually eats.

 

[mwwhite]

Two emeralds worked for us and are still keeping it back. It did NOT happen overnight though -- it took at least two months -- possibly those that haven't had any luck with them didn't give them time?

They are HUGE now though!

 

[A sea K]

I added a lot of emerald crabs to my 210 when I started seeing bubble algea and manual removal couldnt seem to keep it at bay.
It took them a little while but they managed to remove it and the tank is now bubble free.
The Emeralds though are another problem in thier own right, I have two left and am still trying to remove them.

 

[spence0416]

I found that manual removal worked best for me. I occassionally get another bubble or two, but I just pull them out once they become an eyesore.