Bubble algae on new coral

[shoelaceike]

I got a beautiful colony of pink birdsnest today....the issue is that the base and all through a lot of branches there is a ton of bubble algae.

Right now this is in my tank, will it spread? If it does is it easy to get rid of? Any ideas or advice? I never dealt with bubble algae. TIA

 

[Retro Reefer]

Do you have a picture? I would manually remove all visible bubbles that you can and if its mounted on a ceramic plug you can mix a small cup of half tank water and half 3% hydrogen peroxide, then carefully dip just the plug for a few seconds holding your coral out of the solution, brushing the plug with small brush will help between dipping, Getting a little of the mix on your birds nest shouldn't hurt it.. It will effectively prevent BA from coming back on the ceramic plug.

 

[TheEngineer]

Bubble algae spreads pretty rapidly. I'd be careful about putting that in your tank. I was going to suggest peroxide also.

 

[shoelaceike]

This is a big colony...the bubbles are all inside and are not reachable.....

 

[TheEngineer]

Yikes. Definitely research peroxide dipping SPS

 

[Retro Reefer]

I would still try to dislodge all you can.. Fill a small container with tank water that will hold the coral and find something you can reach between the branches with and dislodge them, they will come off easy.. A small stick, toothpick, piece of stiff wire, dental pic or anything else you can find will work, "swoosh" around the piece in the container of water to remove all lose bubbles before placing back in your tank.

 

[shoelaceike]

Will they pop easy? To make myself more comfortable I put it in my QT but I have a really bad light there.....thinking about throwing in a few emralds and see if they can clean it up.....I got an incredible deal on some corals today but they came with a few nasties...

 

[Fin]

I would definitely go with the manual removal. Don't count on the crabs to clean all of that up. That stuff can become a plague of epic proportions in your display. Not kidding.

 

[shoelaceike]

Ouch well I don't really care about the QT so let's see what happens....are they difficult to pop? I don't want to pop them in my tank....

 

[Fin]

Don't pop them - especially in your tank. Just dislodge them and scrape them off.

 

[shoelaceike]

Will they pop when trying to dislodge? I have at least 2 bubbles in my tank now on the LR....how can I scrape them without popping them

 

[Retro Reefer]

They are pretty tough and usually will not pop but that's where rinsing them in a separate container of water comes in so any potential spoors from a popped bubble are rinsed off before butting it back in your tank.. Quarantining is a good idea after you finish cleaning it

 

[shoelaceike]

Ok cool.....thanks

 

[Alisha]

I have bubble algae in my 29g and they often pop when I try to remove them, is there anything that's eats bubble algae?

 

[shoelaceike]

Emrald crabs ate all of mine

 

[Alisha]

I'll have to give that a try, did they bother any of your corals?

 

[shoelaceike]

I'll have to give that a try, did they bother any of your corals?

I didn't put them in my DT. I placed the coral with the algae in my QT and then put the emralds in there.....people say mixed things with Corals but I think most have had good experiences.

 

[Alisha]

Good enough, thanks!