What are these

[Jaymed331]

Can anybody tell me what are these glass like bubbles? They are hard like glass.

 

[Duffer]

Bubble algae

 

[Dr. Peter Venkman]

Bubble algae. Funny story... I once went to a LFS to buy some corals. The owner tried to sell me a rock that had a colony of Zoas on one side and bunch of bubble algae on the otherside. He told me that the bubble algae was a type of coral, and therefore the rock he was selling me had 2 corals for the price of one

 

[Jaymed331]

Are they bad for the tank? What causes them?

 

[moz71]

Get out now. Will not harm anything but can take over tank. I had such a problem covering everything. Scrape/siphon out all you can. Emerald crabs are known to help but could not keep up with growth and had to resort to using Vibrant which I did not prefer. If get to that point you will learn a lot about the pros and cons of that product.

 

[moz71]

You introduced to your tank at some point. Even with low nutrients will grow but keeping low nitrates and phosphate s will help

 

[SlugSnorter]

Are they bad for the tank? What causes them?

how old is your tank?

Params?

any corals?

they can bother corals and nems, but are basically harmless beyond looking ugly and spreading though the tank pretty fast. High nutrients can cause them among other factors.

 

[Just John]

Do not pop them in your tank! They release 'babies" and will spread. Remove the rock if you can, remove algae without popping if possible and rinse well before putting back in. If you can't remove it from the tank, remove algae gently with fingers, dental type tool (not pointy ones, obviously), q-tip with fuzzy part broken off, etc. Turn off the pump, etc first so they don't blow away. If you can, siphon out the water next to it as you remove them. If they pop it will be sucked out. The bubbles will too. Don't delay. It will become a total pain and get in your zoas, etc.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Do not pop them in your tank! They release 'babies" and will spread. Remove the rock if you can, remove algae without popping if possible and rinse well before putting back in. If you can't remove it from the tank, remove algae gently with fingers, dental type tool (not pointy ones, obviously), q-tip with fuzzy part broken off, etc. Turn off the pump, etc first so they don't blow away. If you can, siphon out the water next to it as you remove them. If they pop it will be sucked out. The bubbles will too. Don't delay. It will become a total pain and get in your zoas, etc.

Not really true. The spores don't come from inside the bubbles and popping them does not spread them. They don't even reproduce until the bubble is fully grown and mature and when they do it doesn't matter what you do.
You can siphon as you scrape if you want to be careful. Usually they end up outcompeted by corals and other algae for space and don't tend to take over unless the tank is empty and sterile.

 

[Just John]

Not really true. The spores don't come from inside the bubbles and popping them does not spread them. They don't even reproduce until the bubble is fully grown and mature and when they do it doesn't matter what you do.
You can siphon as you scrape if you want to be careful. Usually they end up outcompeted by corals and other algae for space and don't tend to take over unless the tank is empty and sterile.

Just going off of some research paper I had read about the spores, but I don't know myself. i know that I had a couple bubbles on a new frag and popped them. Two weeks later they were starting to show up on everything.

 

[moz71]

I think they spread regardless. Through segregation or spores (popped or not). I chuckle when people say get emerald crabs And Don’t pop them. Lol. What do you think emerald crabs do? They don’t eat them whole! Lol

 

[Cell]

Bubble algae. Funny story... I once went to a LFS to buy some corals. The owner tried to sell me a rock that had a colony of Zoas on one side and bunch of bubble algae on the otherside. He told me that the bubble algae was a type of coral, and therefore the rock he was selling me had 2 corals for the price of one

You should have purchased it and started trading back frags of it for store credit imo.

 

[Enkopaaisen]

They will grow all of the place, eventually cover corals….. not that good for some corals if they are out of control

 

[MaxTremors]

Do not pop them in your tank! They release 'babies" and will spread. Remove the rock if you can, remove algae without popping if possible and rinse well before putting back in. If you can't remove it from the tank, remove algae gently with fingers, dental type tool (not pointy ones, obviously), q-tip with fuzzy part broken off, etc. Turn off the pump, etc first so they don't blow away. If you can, siphon out the water next to it as you remove them. If they pop it will be sucked out. The bubbles will too. Don't delay. It will become a total pain and get in your zoas, etc.

This is a myth. They don’t release spores or ‘babies’ if popped in the tank. What do you think emerald crabs do when they eat them? Swallow them whole? Like any single cell algae that we commonly have in our tanks (caulerpa, chaeto, bryopsis), if any of the rhizoids are left behind (this is how they attach themselves to the rock and how they reproduce) they can grow into new individuals, if part of the rhizoid is pulled away from the rock and then floats away, it can grow wherever it lands. So long as you remove the entire bubble, popped or not, it won’t grow into a new bubble.