Valonia

[bigmanny]

Valonia aka bubble algae.. what is the best way to remove it from a well established reef tank. I tried emerald crabs with no luck.

Thanks:confused: :confused:

[budhaboy]

Rabbit Fish have a reputation of eating it, but honestly the only way I have ever been able to defeat it is to harvest harvest harvest, and reduce the amount of nutrients in the water to as close to 0 as possible, eventually you'll notice less and less regrowth.

[SPC]

Originally posted by bigmanny
what is the best way to remove it from a well established reef tank

Darned if I know:D .

What I have read is to remove the infected rock from the tank, pick the algae off, swish the rock in a seperate container and return rock to the tank and repeat as needed (may not get it all the first time). The reason for doing this is that when the "bubble" is broken it releases spores.

Now having said that, there is no way that I am going to pull all of the rock out of my 180 with a DSB in order to do this (until I move to my new tank).

IMO probably the best way to eliminate this crap is with a properly sized UV. My thoughts are that the algae could be removed in the tank and then eventually the UV may kill all of the spores.

As far as an animal that eats this stuff, think about it, if this spore release is true, then the spores will be released when the crab, fish etc... rips it off the rock.
Steve

[reelheel]

I thought I'd read here that the spore thing was just a myth...that the valonia spreads very quickly when left alone, not just when a piece or two is "popped"

Anyone else care to chime in?

FWIW, bigmanny, I haven't found anything to really eat this stuff either.

[hcrk]

Foxface and rabbitfish will eat velonia (smaller bubbles). I've seen them do it.

The porblem that I encountered with rabbitfish is that they will sometimes develop a taste for coral as well.

I therefore keep a foxface in each of my aquariums.

[BigDaddy]

I also recommend the rabbitfish.

I have a one spot that took care of all my valonia problems.

[Fizz71]

If you want to remove it manually and can't remove the rock, you can do a water change.... I did it a few weeks ago and just used some 3/4" flexible tubing. I'd rub the algea off and suck it down the tube (gravity syphon). I was surprised how easily the stuff broke off in one piece..I hardly broke any bubbles. Had to use my figers to break the stuff off though..since it was a mission against the clock to clean a 105g tank and only lose 20g of water. :)

And nobody has ever proven whether breaking it releases spores or not..or atleast..I've never read a scientific study on it. I still try to avoid it though. Just in case.

--Fizz

[Fizz71]

Btw...if you have a sump (I don't) you can do the same method I just described and run the line through a nylon bag right into the sump...then toss the bag of algea. No water loss!

--Fizz

[SPC]

Originally posted by Fizz71
And nobody has ever proven whether breaking it releases spores or not..or atleast..I've never read a scientific study on it. I still try to avoid it though. Just in case.

--Fizz

Hi Fizz, http://mabma.thereeftank.com/ventricaria_ventricosa.html
I am sure there are other links like this but this was the first I ran across.
Steve

[jerryb]

If you have any doubts about whether or not there are any spores in those bubbles, do what I did: I pierced a big bubble with a syringe and out came a green liquid. I assume that it was green because of the spores.

[giantxtc]

I am in the losing battle right now myself.This seems to be the only "pest" I can't get out of my tank.I pick it off whenever I can,and noticed when I introduced macro algae to my tank the bubbles were disappearing.The macro was getting rid of the nutrients that the bubble algae needed.But....the macro went sexual and had to be removed.The bubble algae really likes to get into the hard to reach places where the detris settles too.Good luck!

[visualscapes]

Zebrasoma desjardini or Red Sea Sailfin Tangs have been reported to eat Valonia. They do get large though. The best luck Ive had is through manual removal. That and a fairly large UV Sterilizer on my tank (like Steve said) has seemed to help keep it in check.

[SPC]

Originally posted by visualscapes
That and a fairly large UV Sterilizer on my tank (like Steve said) has seemed to help keep it in check.

Ah thats good to know, visualscapes, thanks.:)
Steve