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Coralgurl
08-22-2012, 12:50 AM
Found some green bubble algae growing in my tank. I've read through some information and would like to know best easiest way to remove. Should I remove the rocks and chisel off or can they be removed in the tank. I can only see 2 bubbles, is there likely more? I haven't touched them but assume they are attached.

PurpleMonkey
08-22-2012, 12:53 AM
Whenever I see these bad boys pop up, I just siphon them out. I use a piece of rigid airline attached to regular airline. I've cut the end of the rigid on an angle so I can get under the bubble and scrap the holdfast (algae root) off. I turn my pumps off, start a siphon and carefully get them out, just don't pop them.

If you can easily get the rock out, you could carefully use tweezers to pull the off, then rinse the rock off outside the tank before you put back in.

reefwars
08-22-2012, 02:03 AM
emerald crabs eat it:)

Enigma
08-22-2012, 02:38 AM
I had to remove one bubble.

I pulled the (so small it fit in a coffee cup) rock, plucked off the bubble (rupturing it in the process) and then set the rock in a mixture of 1:10 hydrogen peroxide to saltwater for 10 minutes to kill any spores.

That was four weeks, or so, ago. I haven't seen any others since then, but I think the time span is too short to know if it truly worked or not.

emerald crab
08-22-2012, 04:07 AM
They're difficult to fight, if you have them just on a small rock, kill the rock. I had to learn to live with them. :(

reefwars
08-22-2012, 04:14 AM
They're difficult to fight, if you have them just on a small rock, kill the rock. I had to learn to live with them. :(



dumb question but.....have you tried emerald crabs???

daplatapus
08-22-2012, 04:25 AM
+1 for emerald crabs. Eats any that ever pop up in my tanks.

Coralgurl
08-22-2012, 04:32 AM
Well I got lucky, it's easier to see when the lights are dim, it was on the side of a dead coral, so out it came. Good to know about the crabs if any more show up! Thanks

emerald crab
08-22-2012, 04:32 AM
Yes I did. They eat them, but they rip them open and spread the spores. Foxface rabitfish eats them, but not in quantities. In other words they don't make a dent in population. Tuxedo urchins won't touch them as long as you have coraline algae in your tank.
They need very little light and very little nutrients: nitrates not detectable, phosphates 0 (hanna colorimeter).

FWC
08-22-2012, 04:43 AM
My tank has lots :(

I read somewhere that algaefix marine will keep the spores from growing if the bubble is popped ,so I might start dosing that for a week and then go to town popping bubbles. Hopefully with continued dosing for a while after will kill all the spores and no more bubble algae !!

emerald crab
08-22-2012, 04:45 AM
Or you can learn to live with them like I did. :(:(:(:(

reefwars
08-22-2012, 04:49 AM
a sharp razor blade can also cut them off without popping them

emerald crab
08-22-2012, 04:51 AM
a sharp razor blade can also cut them off without popping them

Depends how smooth your rock is.

FWC
08-22-2012, 04:52 AM
The bubble alage is in all the annoying spots a razor can't reach :(

emerald crab
08-22-2012, 04:53 AM
The bubble alage is in all the annoying spots a razor can't reach :(

Welcome to my world.