How to deal with bubble algae

[nano reef]

I have a mssive outbreak of buuble alage in my nuvo 20! I woant oknow of others experience in getting rid of it! its attaching to my coarls and it all over rhe place!

It got much worse when I took all the rocks out and scrubbed them with a metal brush and I read to do that. I just got an emerald crab and cant find him in the tank! I wish I would have place him directly on the algae!

I just watched a youtube with Reef bum interviewing Jack Kent from brightwell and he says that MB clean can get rid of it. I think he may have said combined with Razor. I have to go back and watch the video. I dose it once a week and hasnt done anything but I read the bottle and it says to dose daily for bad infestations so I think I will try that unless someone give me some better advice.

He also mention carbon dosing combined can help but kind of scares me because I need to change Gfo and that scares me in its self because I have got dino changing it before so adding carbon dosing along with it will lower nutrients even more plus the bacteria should also lower them!

Appreciate any advice!

Also can anyone help id this algae? I have looked all over internet and Julian Sprung algae book. Its dense and flowery looking.

 

[Matt Bravo]

Most people use emerald crabs to gobble them up. Some say to manually pop, others say not to. I personally try getting small chunks out without popping them and sucking them out during water changes. The battle has not ended yet though!

 

[kvansloo]

Emerald crabs, Fox Face and manually removing with hose during water change. I have heard to not bust them and heard it does not mater.

 

[Gman83]

Outside of my tank, I used a butter knife to pry it off

 

[nano reef]

Emerald crabs, Fox Face and manually removing with hose during water change. I have heard to not bust them and heard it does not mater.

Outside of my tank, I used a butter knife to pry it off

I think it matters! I have read that a lot and I have proably busted them and spred the spores when I scrubbed them some how BUT I scrubbed in tank water from a water change and it got much worse!

Iiwll try the butter knife and take rocks out and make sure nott o bust any! I think maybe when I scrubbed them it must have left small fragments behind and went nuts after!

I am kind of hoping for a chemical fix or bacteria because I dont see how I will get them all otherwise. They are in tiny crevices and on corals. I keep taking corals out because they arent glued and picking them off! Mostly on Zoas!

Thanks for advice!

 

[Gman83]

I think it matters! I have read that a lot and I have proably busted them and spred the spores when I scrubbed them some how BUT I scrubbed in tank water from a water change and it got much worse!

Iiwll try the butter knife and take rocks out and make sure nott o bust any! I think maybe when I scrubbed them it must have left small fragments behind and went nuts after!

I am kind of hoping for a chemical fix or bacteria because I dont see how I will get them all otherwise. They are in tiny crevices and on corals. I keep taking corals out because they arent glued and picking them off! Mostly on Zoas!

Thanks for advice!

After knocking them off, I hit the areas with hydrogen peroxide. (Sorry I didn't finish this thought above, something required my attention at work). I tried emerald crabs, they would eat everything else.

 

[DanyL]

They do not spread from popping, however by brushing them you are essentially tearing the tissue apart and lead to vegetative reproduction, just as with any other algae.

The spores are actually located underneath the bubbles, at the base.

When people recommend popping them it is because instead of tearing the tissue into tiny free floating parts, it’ll preserve the tissue as is - but now fish are more likely to nip them.

While it’s not known for sure, it has been suggested that the bubble is simply a deterring mechanism to make nipping harder for fish.

 

[Reefer911]

I’m pretty sure any crab that eats it pops the bubble, so I say it doesn’t matter.

 

[DanyL]

After knocking them off, I hit the areas with hydrogen peroxide. (Sorry I didn't finish this thought above, something required my attention at work). I tried emerald crabs, they would eat everything else.

I wanted to include this in my comment as well, but forgot.
That’s an important point if you do scrub it or remove it manually.

 

[Pntbll687]

I think it matters! I have read that a lot and I have proably busted them and spred the spores when I scrubbed them some how BUT I scrubbed in tank water from a water change and it got much worse!

Iiwll try the butter knife and take rocks out and make sure nott o bust any! I think maybe when I scrubbed them it must have left small fragments behind and went nuts after!

I am kind of hoping for a chemical fix or bacteria because I dont see how I will get them all otherwise. They are in tiny crevices and on corals. I keep taking corals out because they arent glued and picking them off! Mostly on Zoas!

Thanks for advice!

Bubble algae DOES NOT spread from "spores" inside the bubble. It is a single cell organism and only spreads from cell division, I.E it one divides into 2, then 2 to 4 and so on.

"The single-cell organism has forms ranging from spherical to ovoid, and the color varies from grass green to dark green, although in water they may appear to be silver, teal, or even blackish.[3] This is determined by the quantity of chloroplasts of the specimen.[7] The surface of the cell shines like glass when clean due to being extremely smooth with no texture.

Valonia ventricosa is among the largest known single-celled organisms. Its thallus consists of a thin-walled, tough, multinucleate cell with a diameter that ranges typically from 1 to 4 centimetres (0.4 to 1.6 in), although it may achieve a diameter of up to 5.1 centimetres (2.0 in) in rarer cases. The "bubble" alga is attached by rhizoids to the substrate fibers.[3]

Reproduction occurs by segregative cell division, where the multinucleate parent cell makes child cells, and individual rhizoids form new bubbles, which become separate from the parent cell."

I can see where people make the jump to "spores". The try to remove the algae, in the process of removing the large bubbles but knock some smaller ones (that aren't visible to your eye) loose. Then there's "more" somewhere else in a few days. The link popping the bubbles to it spreading, but that's simply not the case.


As for management, manual removal and clean up crew. In a tank as small as a nuvo 20, manual removal is going to be the best route. The key is to not let it take over and keep it under control where the clean up crew can take care of it.

 

[Moe K]

I am dosing Razor right now and I absolutely recommend dosing microbacter clean along with it as the instructions say. It has worked for me before but I completely cut off the dosing once my bubble algae was gone. This time I will try to continue the maintenance dose.

It specifically tells you the dose to treat issues in the tank on bottle and it's a lot more dosing than what you have done. Last time it took me about 2 weeks to eliminate the bubble algae that I could see.

The thing I noticed with this stuff is the water becomes crystal clear and my skimmer starts working overtime. Tank and corals actually look great and that includes acros and torch corals. No loss in color from what I can tell.

I am not 100% sure but I think there might be different types of bubble algae. Some more manageable than others. What ever I have this time can double in numbers in 1 to 2 weeks with thousands of new bubble appearing. Crabs are useless against it because it just grows too fast. I tried a couple times to get fish to eat it and no luck yet or they are just not able to keep up. Mine are dark dark green and the bubbles are small. Older tank I had, had larger bubbles that were more pearly but grew much much slower. Different types??

 

[Doctorgori]

I’ve never not had bubble algae…the few times it went off the rails I used a plastic fork to remove the masses followed by a syringe of dime store peroxide …

As for cuc, yes foxface works, some emeralds crabs eats it, some don’t …and pitho crabs, meh. …I got one doesn’t touch it

 

[DanyL]

I am not 100% sure but I think there might be different types of bubble algae. Some more manageable than others. What ever I have this time can double in numbers in 1 to 2 weeks with thousands of new bubble appearing. Crabs are useless against it because it just grows too fast. I tried a couple times to get fish to eat it and no luck yet or they are just not able to keep up. Mine are dark dark green and the bubbles are small. Older tank I had, had larger bubbles that were more pearly but grew much much slower. Different types??

There are indeed different types of Valonia, and they do have different reproduction rates.

That being said, the reproduction rate also highly depends on the environment - sometimes even a small change in the chemistry of the water, the spectrum or even temperature can make the very same strain to explode at high rates.

As for using chemicals - please be cautious.
There are many reports from both sides of that coin. One can easily eliminate the algae without any repercussions, while others may loose years worth of work.

 

[Moe K]

I agree with being very cautious about dosing chemicals. This was my absolute last resort after trying all the recommended alternatives. I also tried manual removal by hand. It says it is not an algaecide on the bottle but it sure does kill algae.

 

[drolmaeye]

I used Algaefix and it worked for me. I was VERY reticent to do so, but glad I went that route. I have an LPS tank with with fish and inverts.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Can someone tell me WHERE bubble comes from? Can it pop up spontaneously due to low or high nutrients? I had it many years ago and it was a nightmare. I am going to dip my frags in H2O2 moving forward, out of an abundance of caution.

 

[goody]

I started seeing bubble algae in my display. I already had 3 emerald crabs, but I read Pitho crabs are better. Just got 5 in today and during acclimation I decided to throw in some bubble algae from my sump. They devoured it within 15 minutes. I saw 4 of the 5 eating it.