Fish that eat Bubble Algae/Valonia.

[hahnmeister]

I have bubble algae. Its like a mat of small bubble wrap bubbles that are covering some rocks. I have removed it on some rocks, but its very invasive.

I dont do crabs.

My previous solution was going to be to use a Magnificent Foxface... but I read something in my Baensch Atlat last night that might have killed that plan. It mentioned that the magnificent can feed on GSP, Xenia, pipe organs, etc... I have all those things, and the funky orange/green clove polyps, so I dont think I want to risk it. For anyone who has a Lo magnifica, do you notice it eating polyps like I have mentioned? Maybe its not as common as the Atlas made it sound.

So I am going to look for a different fish to control bubble algae. I read that the Scopas Tangs eat valonia...
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/brown...sh--tangs.html

So just in case, I want to see what other fish I can get that will eat valonia. Do rabbitfish eat it, as well as foxface at least? I suppose I could just get a fiji or regular foxface and play it safe, but if spinefoots/rabbitfish can do a number on bubble algae... I'd go for some of those species. But this article seems to suggest they too might mow down my zoas...
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...nftt/index.php

This article also suggested a desjardini tang for valonia removal:
http://www.petsforum.com/cis-fishnet...e/01SS1806.htm

(It also links those small starfish to mowing down coral polyps... interesting).

Suggestions? Experiences with the above-mentioned species would be appreciated. It seems the magnificent foxface might not be the best idea.

[wrott]

My "regular" Foxface keeps valonia under control. It needs seaweed and eats most of the food i put in the tank.
I believe it may nip at SPS every now and then--no big deal.
It's well worth having and I love my Foxface Lo--I've seen it eat Bryopsis as well.

[hahnmeister]

Do you have zoas, GSP, pipe organ, xenia, etc? If so, do you notice it ever going after that?

Here are some pics... I know that this may not be 'Valonia' technically, but a similar related species:


Its even taking over my snails!

[kawicivic]

wow... thats a lot of bubble algae

[Toddrtrex]

While I never actually saw him eat it, I noticed that when I moved my purple tang from one tank to another that the bubble algae seemed to sprout over night. No other changes where made to the tank at the time.

And now in the tank that he is currently in, I only notice bubble algae in spots that he wouldn't be able to get too. But, all other open ( accessible ) spots are free from it.

Like I said I have never actually seen him eat it, I feel confident in saying that he eats it.

[hahnmeister]

I have a Red Sea Purple Tang, a Yellow Tang, a Pac Blue, and a Striated Tang as well (until a couple weeks ago when it just vanished... kind of odd for a 4" tang to just go missing like that... didnt jump out either). None of them touch it.

kawicivic, yeah, thats only a part of it... its all over the place.

On a good note, perhaps I could just put my pipe organ, GSP, zoas, and backup xenia in another tank... I do have some pesky pink pom pom xenia that I could stand to lose. It keeps popping up here and there for no reason. I try to keep it on one rock only, but it never works like that.... does it? Lol.

[Hurdicuss]

I feel you on this issue. I have the exact same stuff growing in my girlfriend's 20g. When i initially set the tank up, i introduced the generic emerald crab in with the clean-up crew...but of course it didn't help. It started to take over several of her rocks and it irritated her to the point to where she began removing the rocks and taking a toothbrush to them and then finishing off with a R/O bath ( makes me proud...I love her so!). This has been a sucessful aesthetic remedy for now (it's only been less than a week since she started doing this) so we will have to see how it works long-term.

I cannot back this up with any reference articles, but after discussing this same issue with several of my reef buds i received several suggestions that Naso tangs will eat this stuff. Now obviously, we will not be placing a Naso in the 20g but i have a much slighter case of valonia in my 75g (but not the same in your picture or in her 20g, the more "typical," rounded type). Hope this helps in some way, i would be interested in an update with any success or failure you might have with different treatment options. Good luck!

~J

[Frick-n-Frags]

FWIW, that is definitely a species of Valonia.

So are the balloon animal shaped ones.

Not just the large spheres.

I unfortunately had to suffer all three at once.


ps: get that doodoo off the acro frag there.


pps: i pulled all my LR. it was hopeless.

[dodgersfan25]

HOLY CRAP! i never thought there could actually be a blanket of bubble algae!

all i can say is good luck.............give crabs a chance

[Frick-n-Frags]

crabs aren't able to break larger bubbles. they are really tough hided. brutal fricking algae. as it grows it just "hydraulics" whatever is around it, basically crushing it. It has broken epoxy loose for me. it will force shrooms to bail or attach to the top of the valonia and flat crush zoos.
it will kill the growing edge of SPS because the SPS juice that can sort of burn up normal stuff has no effect, so the valonia crushes the growing edge. if anything, the sps will try encrusting the valonia.

it will get into the branches of things like birdsnest and poci then grow, and probably eventually break the branch, but for sure kill where it was pressing.

I'm still pulling the &^$%^ things out of my Briarium mats. they boil up to visible size, then I lance them ( as in gross)

yeah, and my little darling typhoid mary snails. I have to mug them and scrape their shells with a paring knife when a loaded one cruises up high on the glass

and this is now 2 months since I pulled all the infested LR. this is a serious battle holding off the remnants to this day, the sprouting spore flushes are over I hope (whatever makes like 500 little bubbles magically carpet a section of rock out of nowhere) but they are still blowing around here and there and the snails still have them, and they are still showing up on my frags


HEY everybody. Get someone you love some Valonia for the holidays. The timeless gift that keeps on giving [you nightmares]

[Frick-n-Frags]

and the darn things bounce. so I have a bunch all superballed around the basement from jumping out of the algae bucket thing whilst knocking them off frags/LR chunks whatever, and they shoot you in the face too

just pure ornery from a to z

[hahnmeister]

So nobody has tried a foxface even? The other thing I just thought of was to ask the Prodobio/Zeovit/Ultralith crowd... see if there isnt some bacteria/biological solution I havent used.

[Scissorhand]

For someone who has an input on everything.... dang man, you need to recheck your husbandry.

[maxxII]

Originally posted by Scissorhand
For someone who has an input on everything.... dang man, you need to recheck your husbandry.

Valonia's a little different than bryopsis and other nuisance algaes. I've got some in my tank, and I'm running a BB, high flow, low nutrient set up....

I've been keeping an H.magnifica anemone in the system fir almost two years, so my husbandry's up to par....any other witty remarks?

Nick

[DaveP]

Desjardini tangs will definitely help. I added one to my system and it helped out alot. However the bubble algae continued to grow in the little nooks and crannies of my live rock where the tang could not get to. This stuff is a real pain in the @$%@#.
I would add a desjardini tang and about 40 emerald crabs and let them work at it.

[corbett_n]

I have a red valonia algae and it is driving me crazy. Could I take out the rock, scrap off the valonia, then take a lighter and burn the area where the valonia was. Could this keep it from coming back? I have never heard of doing this.

[King-Kong]

Hahn: try a virgatus or doliatus rabbitfish. (Siganus sp.)

I had a hybrid,




and he would eat bryopsis, and even OCCAISIONALLY munch on bubble algae (though most of it was too big for his mouth). He was constantly grazing. Very kind fish, never aggressive. They have been the best algae eaters I have found.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I was actually going to suggest Zeovit. I wonder.....

As well, does this stuff tend to grow, perhaps, on areas of the rock where detritus might have particularly settled? Maybe you need to be more vigilant in keeping the rock clean? The old turkey baster trick...

Good luck. I'll be following this as I have a mini version of the same problem.

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by Scissorhand
For someone who has an input on everything.... dang man, you need to recheck your husbandry.

Bubble algae can grow/survive in the dark and shaded areas.

It can survive nutrient levels low enough to kill off your corals.

Bubble algae is something that just has to be mechanically removed... it is very good at staying a live.

[Reef'in Colorado]

My scribbled rabbitfish eats the stuff.....

[Flint&Eric]

i had a naso that ate valonia....

[Mark75]

I have an outbreak of the ballon animal kind. It grows in clumps of 4-6 each being about 1-2 inches long. I have not found any way of controlling it. It attaches with such force I can lift a 3 lbs. liverock out of my tank by it! I can not figure out what it is living on. I have very low nutrients and run phosban. I have not given up yet but it does not look good.

[hahnmeister]

Originally posted by Der_Iron_Chef
I was actually going to suggest Zeovit. I wonder.....

As well, does this stuff tend to grow, perhaps, on areas of the rock where detritus might have particularly settled? Maybe you need to be more vigilant in keeping the rock clean? The old turkey baster trick...

Good luck. I'll be following this as I have a mini version of the same problem.

Many of the sections where the bubble algae thrives are in high-flow areas. Those pics I posted show the stuff growing in the beam of my Tunzes. So its not a flow thing like cyano, I can tell you that much.

I did read that blue light may be what attracts them (not sure how true). This would hold true for my tank as well... the front section that bets blasted with all the flow is a section where the blue and actinic T5s outshine the halide... very blue.

[hahnmeister]

Originally posted by King-Kong
Hahn: try a virgatus or doliatus rabbitfish. (Siganus sp.)

I had a hybrid,




and he would eat bryopsis, and even OCCAISIONALLY munch on bubble algae (though most of it was too big for his mouth). He was constantly grazing. Very kind fish, never aggressive. They have been the best algae eaters I have found.

My buddy prugs has one of those... it does a job. It also eats more than all the other fish combined in his 210g... large red sea purple tang, achillies tang, tenetti, etc... its a funny pig of a fish to watch. My only concern, and one Im hoping to get feedback on, is with how they might tend to eat polyps and corals. After reading this about the Lo magnifica, I hit the brakes. From what I have read, the rabbitfish have been known to munch on corals here and there as well. Otherwise, a rabbitfish might be a consideration. Then again... if anyone has had a magnifica, and can comment, I would appreciate.

[sunfish11]

My Naso loves it.

Lisa