Fish that eat Bubble Algae/Valonia. - Page 2

King-Kong · #26 12/06/2007, 04:12 PM

Well mine was a model citizen in my tank, hahn.. left everything alone.. LPS, zoas, clams, and SPS.

sjm817 · #27 12/06/2007, 04:28 PM

Hahn, I feel for you!

My 90G got infested with the same stuff an I never got it under control. My Foxface, Emerald crabs never touched the stuff. As mentioned, it will grow in low/no light, nutrient poor conditions. Once it has taken over like what I see in your pics, you have a tough road ahead. When I set up the new 180G, I got all new LR, transferred very little over from the old tank.

Rumor has it Nasos will eat it, but who knows.

fishdoc11 · #28 12/06/2007, 04:55 PM

FWIW I've had bubble algae for years and have managed it quite well with emeralds, water quality(it can live in nutrient poor conditions but it will grow much faster with more nutrients) and occasional mechanical removal.
When it gets to the point that you have it it's best IMO to remove as much as you can manually and put 10 or 12 emeralds in there and let them take care of what is left. That along with a series of water changes aimed at changing out the entire volume of the tank over a couple of weeks helped me the one time it got really bad in one of my tanks. I know you "don't do" crabs but I mention them because they have worked long term for me.
Fish, no matter what species/type, are hit and miss from what I have seen and read.
I have heard sailfin (Z. desjardinii) tangs sometimes will work well. I have also seen Siganus virgatus(I think that's the correct rabbitfish) work but I have also seen them wipe out a large zoanthid collection in a few weeks.

hth, Chris

Canarygirl · #29 12/06/2007, 04:57 PM

I have a sailfin tang and a foxface rabbit fish and one or both of these fish eat valonia if it's in an area where they can reach. The only surviving spots of it are in areas where the fish can't get at it.

bcwalz · #30 12/06/2007, 05:34 PM

Another possibility are puffers. Sorry, I don't remember the exact species but it was the smaller variety without spines. My LFS put a rock in with the puffer and he went absolutly nuts over the bubble algae and had it cleaned off in a couple minutes. Personally I've always had fabulous luck with Emerald crabs.

maxxII · #31 12/06/2007, 05:41 PM

Friend of mine had a Magnificent Foxface in her 120...also had Valonia. The fish did not eat valonia or SPS....

reptilemanmark · #32 12/06/2007, 05:53 PM

[B]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.

My tank also has some in hi flow areas. I had to take those rocks out and scrub them clean and return to the tank. I have a few bubbles but that is some serious bubble algae. I could not find any thing that would touch it even crabs? Good Luck

reptilemanmark · #33 12/06/2007, 05:53 PM

[B]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.

My tank also has some in hi flow areas. I had to take those rocks out and scrub them clean and return to the tank. I have a few bubbles but that is some serious bubble algae. I could not find any thing that would touch it even crabs? Good Luck

hahnmeister · #34 12/06/2007, 06:27 PM

Well, thanks for the support guys, and the consideration. Its reached a point in my tank where perhaps I should do manual removal, but on some rocks, it would be very hard to get it off (very porous w/ tunnels inside like Marshall Island) without killing the corals that are attached/encrusted. Otherwise, I have considered just 'boiling' the rocks whole to remove the buggers, or putting them in an unlit area (but that might release spores).

I have tried with some rocks, but it is so dense that I have to sit there with a tweezers and pick it out, and often then, I end up releasing them into the system (as well as spores I would imagine).

On another note... a long time ago, I used velvet nudis to control flatworms in a nano... perhaps there is a slug solution (actually I know there is, but I havent seen them for sale exactly).

Ercolania boodleae
Ercolania endophytophaga
Ercolania kencolesi
Ercolania coerulea
and other Ercolania sp. slugs.

http://seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=ercokenc

I know I would have plenty of food for them... they puncture the cell wall and suck out the contents, killing the algae as well as removing its ability to produce spores. But has anyone seen these buggers for sale anywhere? They dont seem common, but there are so many species Im shocked not one of them would turn up.

I suppose Im going to try getting a regular foxface, and see how it does. That way, if I have to harpoon the bugger for bad behavior, its not a $100 loss like with the magnificent. Otherwise, if anyone has seen those Ercolania slugs for sale anywhere, please let me know.

Just curious... can you put more than one rabbitfish/foxface together? I know with some species, like wrasses and peppermints, you need to add them in groups... I would imagine this induces a competitive instinct that makes them want to eat more. One peppermint may not eat aptasia, but a half dozen will mow them down. One wrasse may or may not attack flatworms... but a half-dozen fairy wrasses took care of many thousands of them within a week for me. Maybe adding 2 or 3 foxface or rabbits would also do this (or also result in my zoas being ravaged...lol). Im prepping for possible removal of my polyp corals though.

Canarygirl · #35 12/06/2007, 06:31 PM

the only thing my foxface nipped at that he wasn't supposed to was a frag of favia septa, which the tang also went for. Neither of them have ever bothered the rest of my SPS/LPS/softies.

You should be fine with the foxface, although it might not solve your problem entirely. Maybe if you could take a rock out at a time and sit down with it and a 5 gallon bucket with correct temp SW, get out your tweezers and just pick and dip, pick and dip, take your time with it.

good luck

fishdoc11 · #36 12/06/2007, 06:41 PM

A method I used for manual removal in tank was to tape a butter knife with electric tape to the end of a hose with the edge of the knife sticking out maybe 1 1/2" to 2". You can use that to scrape it off while pulling the bubbles and most of the spores out while you are pulling a siphon. It does make it a lot easier if you can just remove the rock though. Just another idea.
Chris

barjam · #37 12/06/2007, 06:56 PM

I know this doesn't help you much but I have a patch just like yours that my yellow tang keeps in check. Sounds like they are hit and miss.

hahnmeister · #38 12/07/2007, 02:10 AM

Well, I went out and picked up a foxface tonight... about 3-4" long. The yellow tang tried to mess with it, but it spun humself around into a horizontal disk so his dorsal fin pointed right at the tang... end of problem! Other than that, its's in 'camo mode' for now, getting settled in. Well see!

No, I didnt QT this guy... shame on me. But I hear rabbits are almost bulletproof in this respect, not even sensitive to salinity changes like most fish. He came from a reliable source, and the rest of the fish in my tank are hardy enough, so I dumped him in right away.

King-Kong · #39 12/07/2007, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hahnmeister

Just curious... can you put more than one rabbitfish/foxface together? I know with some species, like wrasses and peppermints, you need to add them in groups... I would imagine this induces a competitive instinct that makes them want to eat more. One peppermint may not eat aptasia, but a half dozen will mow them down. One wrasse may or may not attack flatworms... but a half-dozen fairy wrasses took care of many thousands of them within a week for me. Maybe adding 2 or 3 foxface or rabbits would also do this (or also result in my zoas being ravaged...lol). Im prepping for possible removal of my polyp corals though.

The rabbitfish i am talking about are found naturally in the wild paired up.

In fact, here's a pic of two (not the exact species I recommended, but related) hanging out with each other at a dive site I was at in Japan:

hahnmeister · #40 12/07/2007, 10:54 AM

Yeah, I shy away from a full blown rabbitfish because they are more likely to nip at other things it seems. Of all the fish, it seems the regular foxface is the most reliable bet.

I also started a thread over a zeovit... asking if there might be a 'bacterial' or 'biological' solution involved...
http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11262

Truth is, I am not against the idea of trying zeovit, or prodobio, or ultralith. Aged Salt's response seems positive... although nobody might be able to say they battled a 'full blown outbreak' with this one of the methods mentioned.

King-Kong · #41 12/07/2007, 11:05 AM

I have lived with bubble algae for 3 years... the things that worked best were: manual removal with each water change, and emerald crabs.

The emerald crabs ate all of it, but due to my island structure, and strong flow, they would never hop between rocks, so I always had some small trace amounts of it. When the island they were on ran out of bubble, thats when they would begin to attack corals (especially zoanthids)/

tcmfish · #42 12/07/2007, 12:20 PM

There is a display or what they call a display tank here at school and it is a huge tank maybe 200 gal bowfront of some sort. I am guessing on gallons but they have a lot of liverock in it and it has covered every inch of the rocks. As far as herbivores go they only have emeralds, pincushin urchins, and a lemonpeel angel. So if you don't like crabs I wouldn't try them anyways. They might be good to keep it in check but I don't know about riding a tank of it.

King-Kong · #43 12/07/2007, 02:32 PM

1 emerald was able to come in and rid whatever island it was on of bubble... but I have heard mixed results from them, as well.

but, out of the available options, they seem to be the best bet.

Just use 1 or 2, get them in, and when the bubble is gone / almost gone, pull them out.

sjm817 · #44 12/07/2007, 02:53 PM

I put 7 emerald crabs in my tank. They had no interest in the BA at all, nor did the Foxface. Its either hit and miss or differences in the species of the crabs/fish/algae. Who knows. maybe the kind of BA I had was not very appetising?

Flint&Eric · #45 12/07/2007, 02:54 PM

i believe the females eat valonia?...but males are not the best, or so i've heard. females have a wide shaped abdomen, with males having a triangle one.

King-Kong · #46 12/07/2007, 03:29 PM

males have the washington monument on their underside.. females, the US capital

reefnut2790 · #47 12/07/2007, 03:37 PM

I just added a Naso tang about a week ago and he has cleared my tank of bubble algae. I had large clusters growing in a lot of places i could not easily access and he loves the stuff. Was not expecting it but was a nice perk lol

wharfrat48 · #48 12/07/2007, 03:43 PM

Yellow and blue tang, 1/2 dozen emeralds, sea hare, pencil urchin, long spine urchin-- none have touched my bubble algae.

hahnmeister · #49 12/07/2007, 09:12 PM

Thats what I was just thinking too... an urchin or two... I was thinking to myself 'duh, they eat rocks clean of everything'... but I suppose not from that last post!