sgould

Anybody know of any reliable control methods for Botryocladia skottsbergii - red bubble algae? 29 gallon tank, approx 10 months old. I'm reading different things when I , so I thought I'd see if anyone here has successfully dealt with the stuff, other than thru never-ending manual removal. I'd love to find something to eat it, but it would need to be reef compatible.

Wolfgang8810

I have a few spots of green bubble algae and i pulled off a small frag of my GSP and put it inbetween them. now the GSP are growing over the bubble algae and snuffing them out. You could try emerald crabs but in my experience they are evil and will eat everything but.

offminded

emerald hater!

sgould

GSP...green starburst polyps?

Wolfgang8810

yup you got it both of your lol

GSP Green Star(burst) Polyps.

I also have some Blue Star polyps growing now. they are really cool

sgould

Just an update. Having been completely unsuccessful at getting rid of the red bubbles by less drastic methods, I have begun taking out the live rock and scrubbing the bejesus out of it while submerged in hot water. I'm doing 2-3 rocks per week so as not to completely fry all of my bacteria at once. The good news is that it is definately ridding me of the problem. The bad news is about what you would expect...it's ridding me of everything else too. Numerous feather duster casualties, bleached out rocks, etc. The rocks I started with a couple of weeks ago are actually beginning to show some color again already, so that's good. Another week or two at this pace and the tank should be bubble free again for the first time in months.

Rbacchiega

a few of the pygmy angel species have been known to nip at bubble algae....same with certain tangs...I have a book around here somewhere that I know lists the species...let me get back to you on that

Rbacchiega

no luck finding the book in my bookshelf...weird.

Do you have any other reefer friends who would let you borrow a small tang? That's an option.

Emerald crabs, not my favorite of reef crabs, but sometimes you've gotta get em in there.

Tuxedo urchins will eat bubble algae (as well as alot of types of slime algae), but unfortunately will also eat coraline...so sometimes I wonder if it's really worth it there.

sgould

I have not found anything that will eat the red bubbles. Emerald crab wouldn't touch it (messed with everything else though so I got rid of him), I have a tuxedo urchin now who doesn't touch it either. At any rate, I've got it about beat now with the hot water scrub mentioned above.

Rbacchiega

it's just a shabby situation that you've got to do that....a shame it's happened in a 29 too...otherwise I know for SURE that certain tangs/sturgeon fish eat it...bummer. Sorry about your luck