How to deal with Bubble Algae

[Scorpius]

1. Nutrient control
2. Manual removal- Tweezers and a tube to suck them up into a filter sock.
3. Lots and lots of patience.

If you can get your nutrients low enough it slows this stuff down immensely.

 

[Gopi]

What about red bubble? The crabs seem to have taken care of the green bubble but I have red bubbles everywhere.

 

[vetteguy53081]

after studying valonia invasions a long time I can safely say Vibrant has the highest statistical cure rate for valonia of anything including sally lightfoot/mithrax crabs etc. That doesn't mean Id use vibrant for everything, but its the best treatment for valonia Ive seen

anything else I could think of to recommend also has documented cures, before and after pics, but they're sparse compared to vibrant.

Just ordered Vibrant. I hope so.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Had a fairly severe case... bubble algae covering probably 80% of the exposed rock in my tank. I used a three pronged attack: 1) Reduced light intensity in the tank by half (8 T5's to 4 T5's). 2) Reduced light duration in the tank by 30% (10 hours to 7) 3) Purchased a new, more intense refugeum light (Zetlight) .

Took a while, but it worked. I won't say that you can't find any bubble algae in my tank today... but you'll have to look for it for a while.

I've pushed my T5's back up to 6 tubes during mid-day, duration to 8 hours, no problem. Corals don't seem to mind.

I do have a handful of Emerald crabs... but I'm not convinced they had much to do with the elimination of bubble algae.

I find emeralds Lazy

 

[L Sean Hubbard]

I currently have a pretty bad outbreak. I've heard some people have success with Reef Flux fluconazole, but it takes a while. Currently going that route, since I don't want to use vibrant and kill my chaeto in the process.

 

[TB Nano]

Just ordered Vibrant. I hope so.

after studying valonia invasions a long time I can safely say Vibrant has the highest statistical cure rate for valonia of anything including sally lightfoot/mithrax crabs etc. That doesn't mean Id use vibrant for everything, but its the best treatment for valonia Ive seen

anything else I could think of to recommend also has documented cures, before and after pics, but they're sparse compared to vibrant.

+1 on vibrant. I had a small outbreak throughout my tank and the vibrant along with manual removal worked. I haven’t seen any new ones in 1.5 months. I also stopped the vibrant a few weeks ago.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Scrape with suction. Better water quality. Done.

 

[Scorpius]

Scrape with suction. Better water quality. Done.

But it's easier to treat the effects and not part of the cause, right?

 

[ChiSox Rabbitfish]

My one spot foxface devours bubble algae I didn’t know they even ate that stuff but he eradicated all of it from my tank I also purposely but frags that have some on them just so he can have a snack

 

[vetteguy53081]

I agree on foxface. Only issue I have is they from experience can get aggressive with frags and pull and throw plugs all over the tank
Never want to go through that again

 

[HCl+NaHO=]

Bubble algae is one of those nuisance algaes that can take over a tank (ask @Rakie... he knows...). It can also be one of the most frustrating to eradicate because of trying to find predators that will take it out. The one predator I know of that is usually the go-to IMO is the emerald crab...but those guys can go rogue...

Have you found bubble algae to be a pain? What solutions have you found to be best?

This is one giant bubble algae bulb. Photo by @Mr V

Am I the only one who finds them oddly cool looking?

I wonder why they are considered a pest.

 

[Orm Embar]

I currently have a pretty bad outbreak. I've heard some people have success with Reef Flux fluconazole, but it takes a while. Currently going that route, since I don't want to use vibrant and kill my chaeto in the process.

Same. I dosed fluconazole at 4x the Bryopsis dose and it died over a month or so, but a few eventually came back and I was lazy with removal so I now have a minor outbreak. Will be re-dosing and picking up a few more hermit crabs. I'm leery of emerald or Sally Lightfoot crabs re: frags on the sandbed, a cleaner shrimp, and a royal gramma (emerald/Sally Lightfoot going after them).

 

[joeyamador]

Bubble algae is one of those nuisance algaes that can take over a tank (ask @Rakie... he knows...). It can also be one of the most frustrating to eradicate because of trying to find predators that will take it out. The one predator I know of that is usually the go-to IMO is the emerald crab...but those guys can go rogue...

Have you found bubble algae to be a pain? What solutions have you found to be best?

This is one giant bubble algae bulb. Photo by @Mr V

He found a dragonball!!

 

[1stNoel]

+1 on vibrant. I had a small outbreak throughout my tank and the vibrant along with manual removal worked. I haven’t seen any new ones in 1.5 months. I also stopped the vibrant a few weeks ago.

+1000
My tank was overrunning with bubble algae. Emerald crabs weren't enough. Bought Vibrant and within 6 weeks the bubble algae was completely gone and has never returned.

 

[hockeyhead019]

The one emerald I have doesn't seem to touch it. I have a couple bubbles attached to a frag plug sitting on the sand bed. It hasn't spread to anywhere in the tank though, so maybe he is eating it and I'm just looking at the one place he hasn't hit yet.

I've had success with using emeralds in the past when my 55g was over-run by bubble algae they knocked it down to 10% after two weeks between two crabs.

 

[Cment]

My previous tank was over run with bubble algae, mainly do to me overfeeding bc I had 3 leopard wrasses and a tamarin wrasse that we feed up to five times a day. Tried vibrant, emerald crabs which didnt work. Got a magnificent fox face and after a month or so there was almost no bubble algae.

 

[jtl]

In my experience if you keep a clean tank and gently pick off the bubbles when you see them it will never be a problem. I have no faith in Vibrant and crabs puncture the bubble and the fluid inside causes more BA.

 

[Drew in Texas]

I have a small amount of bubble algae in my very established 125g reef (almost 10 years old). I don't want to do anything to harm any of what folks tell me is some very rare and expensive coral. It just popped up on it's own - I have absolutely no idea where any of the pieces folks are oooing and ahing over came from. I didn't add them. But I do appreciate them joining my little community...

3 questions... 1. Have some recently added 3 emerald crabs. They seem to be ignoring the bubbles. How long before they'll do any good? 2. What is Vibrant? 3. This week I put in a spiny urchin, and my wife thinks it killed the sally lightfoot. I thought they were algae eaters. Thoughts?

As always, thanks for all the knowledge and experience y'all provide...

 

[Drew in Texas]

I have a small amount of bubble algae in my very established 125g reef (almost 10 years old). I don't want to do anything to harm any of what folks tell me is some very rare and expensive coral. It just popped up on it's own - I have absolutely no idea where any of the pieces folks are oooing and ahing over came from. I didn't add them. But I do appreciate them joining my little community...

3 questions... 1. Have some recently added 3 emerald crabs. They seem to be ignoring the bubbles. How long before they'll do any good? 2. What is Vibrant? 3. This week I put in a spiny urchin, and my wife thinks it killed the sally lightfoot. I thought they were algae eaters. Thoughts?

As always, thanks for all the knowledge and experience y'all provide...

 

[Drew in Texas]

I have a small amount of bubble algae in my very established 125g reef (almost 10 years old). I don't want to do anything to harm any of what folks tell me is some very rare and expensive coral. It just popped up on it's own - I have absolutely no idea where any of the pieces folks are oooing and ahing over came from. I didn't add them. But I do appreciate them joining my little community...

3 questions... 1. Have some recently added 3 emerald crabs. They seem to be ignoring the bubbles. How long before they'll do any good? 2. What is Vibrant? 3. This week I put in a spiny urchin, and my wife thinks it killed the sally lightfoot. I thought they were algae eaters. Thoughts?

As always, thanks for all the knowledge and experience y'all provide...

 

[Mattman1977]

Vibrant did work for me as well. 0 bubble algae after 2 months. I feel into the false idea my tank was better then it looked. Didn’t continue my water change schedule I had been following ended up with a dino outbreak so if you do use vibrant please follow the directions and after it’s gone discontinue use and make sure to do your normal water changes. Even vibrant says that’s in the directions lol

Good luck and keep us posted
Matt

 

[Leslie Tabor]

But it's easier to treat the effects and not part of the cause, right?

I am not sure I get the question lol when I upgraded my tank I had a CRAZY bubble algae plague. I scraped and scraped and suctioned like crazy. I made no real progress until I got my water quality under control.