ugh

[the Undone guy]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/mons00n/fish/bubblealgae.jpg

maaaaaan, im scared to touch this stuff and spread the "spores" =(

advice on how to proceed? oh yea today is my bday=P no more age restrictions on where we go!

[opihi]

happy birthday Bob!

fwiw, i've read that the spores are not mature until the bubble becomes transparent. so breaking the ones like in your pic is supposed to be okay. another way to remove it is to take the entire rock out of the tank, pluck off all the valonia, and then rinse it before putting it back into the tank.

definitely get them before they spread though!

[the Undone guy]

i cant take this rock out, it took days of tweaking to get it back in the same place last time i moved it! i'll see if i can research popping them....anyone else confirm the popping story?

[orionsmamma]

I've heard/read the same thing about them not being mature when I was dealing with the same problem. Is this in the same tank as Mr. Eel? I threw in a few emerald crabs, and the stuff is gone!

[opihi]

Originally posted by orionsmamma
I threw in a few emerald crabs, and the stuff is gone!

what was the time frame for you? i've added a pair of emeralds to my tank, but i think i still have to remove more than they eat. maybe i should get another one to improve my odds.

[orionsmamma]

Well, I ordered 5 (I had and still have a LOT of algae growing in my tank. I haven't fed the algae eaters in over 6 weeks because of all the algae growing in there!)from live aquaria, and they actually sent me 6. I've pulled 2 out that died, so I have at least 4 in there. I didn't place the order that long ago....I'd say the bubble algae was gone in about 3-4 weeks.

I have heard/read that there are at least 2 different kinds of crabs that are sold as emerald/mithrax crabs...and only one eats the algae. I wouldn't be able to verify this though.

Opihi; do you wanna trade me some chaeto for 2 crabs? That is if I can ever catch the buggers!

[the Undone guy]

yea it's Mr. Eel's tank=( man, he needs a new diet., no shrimp, no crabs, not to mention that Mr. Eel never leaves the rocks and i never see him, this tank is proving to be no fun!

[orionsmamma]

Well, you could go get a small gravel suction hose (petco by my house is clearancing them..I got one for 3 bucks). Find something reef safe to pluck the bubbles off, and make sure you have that gravel hose right there to suck up any of the spores that may be released. Its a really good time for a water change as well :D

Oh, and sorry for the slight highjack of your thread Bobby!

[opihi]

you can also buy vinyl tubing by the foot at any hardware store (HD, lowes). i find that 1/2" ID tubing works best for me. anything bigger than that fills the bucket too fast.

a bamboo skewer works pretty good for plucking those things off.

donna: about the mithrax, i think i've read that the ones with the white discs on their pinchers are the proper ones. is this along the lines of what you've heard?

[orionsmamma]

I didn't read anything specific..just that there were a couple different kinds, and not all of them ate the Valonia. My emerald crabs do have the white disk like things on thier pinchers.....It could be true.

[the Undone guy]

haha i dont mind the hijack

[EvilInSin]

hmm I didnt know those were a bad thing. My hubby thought they would look "cool" so he left em on the rocks we had. They are all gone tho, 3 emerald crabs ate everything including our coraline alge, only one will make it to our new tank I think.

[Shak]

Use the hose trick, here is how i do it:

Use small diameter hose, i use 1/4" ID or thereabouts. I start the siphon, then put the end right up against the bubble, which stops the siphon but the suction keeps the hose stuck to the algae. Then i take a skewer (I use the stainless steel shishkabob skewers for bbq's since i can bend it yet it is still very rigid) and gently try to pry the algae off the rock. If you accidently pop it the suction starts back up again on the hose and sucks it out along with any spores that may be inside it. If you dont pop it, once its off the rock you can use the hose to lift it out of the tank.

This method works well if you only have a few, I wouldnt trust the theory that there are no developed spores unless it is opaque, although I have read that as well.

I had one piece I ordered about 2 months ago that had one small bubble algae on it, but i used this method and havent seen any since.

Just what I do, doesnt mean its the best way. HTH

[dallast]

the immature algae and spore theory, imho, is bunk. i have them and have removed very small bubbles, only to have twice as many spring forth from the same spot. i think if any part of the algae remains, there is a possibility for it to regrow. i have one mitrax crab and i have yet to see him even near the stuff, much less eat it. but perhaps i have the wrong type. i may purchase another to see if i can get some results.
but on the flip side, the kids who come into the office find it very cool! they think i have glued marbles to the rocks.