Bubble Algae and Ulva Help

[dettmerr]

Hey all,

I am having a huge struggle with battling Ulva and Bubble Algae. I have a 20G Waterbox AIO (picture below) and I’ve been fighting with the Ulva pretty consistently but the bubble algae is starting to becoming a bigger issue.

Bubble algae is to the point of every frag that I pull out, I can find at least a bubble on it.

I’ve looked into many different threads to find out what I can use. And would not like to use Vibrant, the tank is way too small for a fox face or tang, and I have a lot of high end pieces that I really don’t want to risk with an emerald crab as I’ve seen them pick at about everything my tank is comprised of.

If anyone has any ideas on how to help, I’ll also drop my tank parameter spreadsheet below. Large bumps in my phos hasn’t helped by any means but working on getting that down slowly. But this issue has been fought for well over 3 months with the Ulva and the bubble algae is now about a month and a half. I do manual removal with a siphon and no flow in the tank to prefer spore spread.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jaybeastin]

following , I have a huge problem with bubble algae . Foxface is currently in QT and just a few more days until i can put it in LOL

 

[JoJosReef]

I am having luck with a 4x dose of Flux Rx that I got from @Eric Cohen 's tankstop.com. Chatted with him and worked out a protocol to trial based on some prior R2R threads.

Started the new tank with no bubbles/ulva and tried to keep it clean by manual removal, but it got ahead of me. This is what some of my worst rocks looked like:

Did a ramp-up dosing adding 33% of the full dose for 3 days. This was to be on the safe side and start water changes/carbon if I saw the corals go south--I have over 50 corals and nems in a 40gal. I didn't notice any adverse events for the corals/nems/fish/inverts even at full 4x dose used for bryopsis. So if doing again, I will go straight into full dose.

Note: pulled large clippings of all display macroalgae and put them in a holding tank:

After 3 weeks (I went over a bit), 30% water change and add in an equivalent amount of Flux Rx lost + 50% (assuming some spent during the 3 weeks).

Notes:
1. During treatment, added an airstone to keep oxygen and pH normal (put some floss over it to prevent splash/salt creep)
2. I periodically dosed bacteria, PNS ProBio
3. I kept tabs of nitrates and added nitrates so they didn't bottom out.
4. No visible results during the first week (expected). Bit of GHA that was growing on a stylo withered.
5. Week 2, bubbles started going pearly dark and then clear, mostly at end of week. Remaining macro in tank also started withering, except for codium. Spread of bubbles clearly halted.
6. Week 3-4, bubbles clearly disappearing, mostly gone by week 4.
7. Didn't observe the ulva withering, it was just gone.
8. I missed water change/refresh Flux date. In week 4-5 started seeing a few new bubbles. Knew it was past due. Water change, added Flux Rx and they went away again.
9. Bubbles in shaded areas don't die quickly.
10. Week 5, codium finally starting to wither at the ends.

Going to run it 2 more weeks and then big water change + carbon + skimmer and see if it comes back. Currently don't see any bubbles, but we'll see!

 

[Eric Cohen]

Thanks for the detailed update. Sounds promising!!!

 

[Kenneth Wingerter]

I am having luck with a 4x dose of Flux Rx that I got from @Eric Cohen 's tankstop.com. Chatted with him and worked out a protocol to trial based on some prior R2R threads.

Started the new tank with no bubbles/ulva and tried to keep it clean by manual removal, but it got ahead of me. This is what some of my worst rocks looked like:

Whoa!

 

[tbrown]

+1 to Flux Rx. I used a single dose for Bryopsis. Bryopsis was gone in 4 days, Ulva was gone in 12 days. Foxface and Emeralds are keeping the Bubble Algae in check but there was a noticeably decreased amount of it after the Flux and I'm fairly certain that it's not a coincidence.

 

[Jaybeastin]

I am having luck with a 4x dose of Flux Rx that I got from @Eric Cohen 's tankstop.com. Chatted with him and worked out a protocol to trial based on some prior R2R threads.

Started the new tank with no bubbles/ulva and tried to keep it clean by manual removal, but it got ahead of me. This is what some of my worst rocks looked like:

Did a ramp-up dosing adding 33% of the full dose for 3 days. This was to be on the safe side and start water changes/carbon if I saw the corals go south--I have over 50 corals and nems in a 40gal. I didn't notice any adverse events for the corals/nems/fish/inverts even at full 4x dose used for bryopsis. So if doing again, I will go straight into full dose.

Note: pulled large clippings of all display macroalgae and put them in a holding tank:

After 3 weeks (I went over a bit), 30% water change and add in an equivalent amount of Flux Rx lost + 50% (assuming some spent during the 3 weeks).

Notes:
1. During treatment, added an airstone to keep oxygen and pH normal (put some floss over it to prevent splash/salt creep)
2. I periodically dosed bacteria, PNS ProBio
3. I kept tabs of nitrates and added nitrates so they didn't bottom out.
4. No visible results during the first week (expected). Bit of GHA that was growing on a stylo withered.
5. Week 2, bubbles started going pearly dark and then clear, mostly at end of week. Remaining macro in tank also started withering, except for codium. Spread of bubbles clearly halted.
6. Week 3-4, bubbles clearly disappearing, mostly gone by week 4.
7. Didn't observe the ulva withering, it was just gone.
8. I missed water change/refresh Flux date. In week 4-5 started seeing a few new bubbles. Knew it was past due. Water change, added Flux Rx and they went away again.
9. Bubbles in shaded areas don't die quickly.
10. Week 5, codium finally starting to wither at the ends.

Going to run it 2 more weeks and then big water change + carbon + skimmer and see if it comes back. Currently don't see any bubbles, but we'll see!

I tried FLUX RX before , barely noticed any difference. I used 3x dose and with hardly any results.

 

[Eric Cohen]

I tried FLUX RX before , barely noticed any difference. I used 3x dose and with hardly any results.

Jay

Amazing you didn’t get the results we hoped. I wonder if you happened to have performed a water change within the first two weeks after dosing? UV?

 

[JoJosReef]

I tried FLUX RX before , barely noticed any difference. I used 3x dose and with hardly any results.

I had read that fluconazole works best under bright light, so I increased light a bit and went from 2 LEDs over my 40long to 3:

Would love to say that helped. I don't know, though. 3x dose is close enough to 4x (what I read on R2R was working for others), so surprised it didn't work. I did make sure to remove all filtration except for filter floss and left it alone for ~4.5 weeks before a water change.

I'd love to have a surefire protocol, because Valonia is a major pain...

 

[Jaybeastin]

Jay

Amazing you didn’t get the results we hoped. I wonder if you happened to have performed a water change within the first two weeks after dosing? UV?

Yes I did do a water change . I was following steps from a video of a guy that had success with it on YouTube .

 

[Jaybeastin]

I had read that fluconazole works best under bright light, so I increased light a bit and went from 2 LEDs over my 40long to 3:

Would love to say that helped. I don't know, though. 3x dose is close enough to 4x (what I read on R2R was working for others), so surprised it didn't work. I did make sure to remove all filtration except for filter floss and left it alone for ~4.5 weeks before a water change.

I'd love to have a surefire protocol, because Valonia is a major pain...

Your tank doesn’t look close to as bad mine is LOL probably why it worked for you . Looks great though !

 

[JoJosReef]

Your tank doesn’t look close to as bad mine is LOL probably why it worked for you . Looks great though !

Haha, thanks! That first pic was when I was still giving the good fight. Once Valonia gets out of hand, though, it's hard to get it back to that clean look with manual removal. I'm aiming for eradication now.

 

[mosertree]

I am having luck with a 4x dose of Flux Rx that I got from @Eric Cohen 's tankstop.com. Chatted with him and worked out a protocol to trial based on some prior R2R threads.

Started the new tank with no bubbles/ulva and tried to keep it clean by manual removal, but it got ahead of me. This is what some of my worst rocks looked like:

Did a ramp-up dosing adding 33% of the full dose for 3 days. This was to be on the safe side and start water changes/carbon if I saw the corals go south--I have over 50 corals and nems in a 40gal. I didn't notice any adverse events for the corals/nems/fish/inverts even at full 4x dose used for bryopsis. So if doing again, I will go straight into full dose.

Note: pulled large clippings of all display macroalgae and put them in a holding tank:

After 3 weeks (I went over a bit), 30% water change and add in an equivalent amount of Flux Rx lost + 50% (assuming some spent during the 3 weeks).

Notes:
1. During treatment, added an airstone to keep oxygen and pH normal (put some floss over it to prevent splash/salt creep)
2. I periodically dosed bacteria, PNS ProBio
3. I kept tabs of nitrates and added nitrates so they didn't bottom out.
4. No visible results during the first week (expected). Bit of GHA that was growing on a stylo withered.
5. Week 2, bubbles started going pearly dark and then clear, mostly at end of week. Remaining macro in tank also started withering, except for codium. Spread of bubbles clearly halted.
6. Week 3-4, bubbles clearly disappearing, mostly gone by week 4.
7. Didn't observe the ulva withering, it was just gone.
8. I missed water change/refresh Flux date. In week 4-5 started seeing a few new bubbles. Knew it was past due. Water change, added Flux Rx and they went away again.
9. Bubbles in shaded areas don't die quickly.
10. Week 5, codium finally starting to wither at the ends.

Going to run it 2 more weeks and then big water change + carbon + skimmer and see if it comes back. Currently don't see any bubbles, but we'll see!

So how is it going?

 

[JoJosReef]

So how is it going?

Currently no bubbles in the DT that I can see. I've only been off the Flux for a week or two. Did a water change, added carbon. I don't have a skimmer running yet, but I kept an airstone going. I had a short bout with dinos right before finishing the Flux--prorocentrum, so I added UV and upped Nitrates, which were zero. Problem seems to be gone. Still, keeping a watchful eye for that first bubble to pop up...

 

[Panky]

Just pop them and move on