Bubbles!?

fox0521 · Dec 22, 2020

Hello Hello!

I picked up some new corals a few weeks ago from a LFS and I've noticed what appears to be small brown bubbles on my zoa frag. I've found one similar bubble on the stalk of my trumpet coral as well (came from the same LFS, same day). Is this bubble algae? If so, how do I get rid of it?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Aclman88 · Dec 22, 2020

Definitely bubble algae. I like to siphon them out during a water change. I use tongs to loosen them and try not to pop them. Get them now while there are not many and keep and eye out. They can spread fairly quickly but if you stay on top on if you shouldn’t have any problems.

fox0521 · Dec 22, 2020

Aclman88 said:
Definitely bubble algae. I like to siphon them out during a water change. I use tongs to loosen them and try not to pop them. Get them now while there are not many and keep and eye out. They can spread fairly quickly but if you stay on top on if you shouldn’t have any problems.

Noted! I will work at it tomorrow when I have a water change. Advice should they accidentally pop? I'm going to do my best, but being my first go with these, I'm not super sure what to expect.

Aclman88 · Dec 22, 2020

fox0521 said:
Noted! I will work at it tomorrow when I have a water change. Advice should they accidentally pop? I'm going to do my best, but being my first go with these, I'm not super sure what to expect.

I’ve heard they can release spores but I’m not sure how true that is. That’s why I like too run a siphon to suck anything up should they pop. If you have extra airline tubing, that works great since you can run a tiny siphon for a long time without taking out a lot of water but it’s odiously big enough to suck up the bubbles.

fox0521 · Dec 22, 2020

Aclman88 said:
I’ve heard they can release spores but I’m not sure how true that is. That’s why I like too run a siphon to suck anything up should they pop. If you have extra airline tubing, that works great since you can run a tiny siphon for a long time without taking out a lot of water but it’s odiously big enough to suck up the bubbles.

Thank you, thank you! Small siphon, careful removal; got it!