Ulva/bubble algae issue. What should I do.

[Kzang]

So I have a problem. I got ulva and bubble algae in my new system. I got it from certain vendor I won’t name. (At least the ulva for sure)

Anyway I have a heavy stocked sps dominant tank, but I do have high end torches, wilsoni, zoas and mushrooms.

I have kole and yellow tang, 6 lyretail anthias, possum wrasse, bluestreak cleaner wrasse, 2 court jester goby, tailspot blenny, 2 clowns, springeri damsel, tiny flaming prawn goby, and I think that’s about all. I have a molly miller blenny, melanurus wrasse, and leopard wrasse should be coming in a month from dr reef. (Melanurus and leopard died within 3 days, everything else is fine but that’s a different story.)

That’s all the fish I have.

I’m not sure if I should try a fox face as I don’t want it to eat coral as they seem to be able to taste different corals and reports they can eat sps polyps, lps, shrooms, and zoas. I really cant risk it eating with my high end stuff.

So I really dont want to risk vibrant, but I do have it. The molly miller reportedly eats bubble algae. I had a tomini, hippo before and they didn’t eat ulva. I don’t know if I should wait and see if the kole and yellow (both decently small, especially the yellow) will eat the ulva.

I thought about reef flux, but read mixed thoughts on the affect on ulva and bubble algae.

I’m not sure the best path to go. I’ve had where ulva sexually went off and had thousands of shards go everywhere and nuke my nutrients and nothing would eat it.

Emerald crabs are a no go. Too much risk and I have an openly branch rocky scape so it would be out of their range anyway.

 

[Lavey29]

Pithos crabs are reef safe and love bubble algae.

 

[Kzang]

Pithos crabs are reef safe and love bubble algae.

I’ll do some research. I really do not trust crabs because crabs be crabbing.

 

[Lavey29]

I’ll do some research. I really do not trust crabs because crabs be crabbing.

Pithos are different from emerals in tank behavior.

 

[JoJosReef]

So I have a problem. I got ulva and bubble algae in my new system. I got it from certain vendor I won’t name. (At least the ulva for sure)

Anyway I have a heavy stocked sps dominant tank, but I do have high end torches, wilsoni, zoas and mushrooms.

I have kole and yellow tang, 6 lyretail anthias, possum wrasse, bluestreak cleaner wrasse, 2 court jester goby, tailspot blenny, 2 clowns, springeri damsel, tiny flaming prawn goby, and I think that’s about all. I have a molly miller blenny, melanurus wrasse, and leopard wrasse should be coming in a month from dr reef. (Melanurus and leopard died within 3 days, everything else is fine but that’s a different story.)

That’s all the fish I have.

I’m not sure if I should try a fox face as I don’t want it to eat coral as they seem to be able to taste different corals and reports they can eat sps polyps, lps, shrooms, and zoas. I really cant risk it eating with my high end stuff.

So I really dont want to risk vibrant, but I do have it. The molly miller reportedly eats bubble algae. I had a tomini, hippo before and they didn’t eat ulva. I don’t know if I should wait and see if the kole and yellow (both decently small, especially the yellow) will eat the ulva.

I thought about reef flux, but read mixed thoughts on the affect on ulva and bubble algae.

I’m not sure the best path to go. I’ve had where ulva sexually went off and had thousands of shards go everywhere and nuke my nutrients and nothing would eat it.

Emerald crabs are a no go. Too much risk and I have an openly branch rocky scape so it would be out of their range anyway.

If you don't want to try a foxface, fluconazole (Flux Rx or Reef Flux) works very well on ulva and bubble algae but requires a concentration 4x the recommended dose for bryopsis and a lot of patience. Likely need to run a full 6 week course to see the bubble algae disappear and it won't start fading until about week 4. But it works, and the mechanism of action acts on cell walls, which algae have but animals (like corals, fish, nems) do not (they have cell membranes, not cell walls).

 

[Cell]

Animals > Chemical

They all have risks, but an emerald crab isn't going to crash your tank or mess with its chemistry.

 

[Eggs]

I’m not sure if one or both helped, but I added a Molly Miller and then some Mollies that were acclimated to saltwater and my bubble algae is disappearing.
The Mollies are supposed to be big algae eaters.
Previously in another tank a Rabbitfish took care of the problem but the one I have now doesn’t touch it.