What are these?

[Socaldayz]

Hi there, I am newer to reefing and my tank is only 7-8 months old. I am still learning the basics but am getting there. I have 2 juvenile black and white clowns, 1 conch snail, 3 small turbo snails and 3 very small hermit crabs. These showed up on one of my Zoas. I am not sure how long they have been there, but can’t be more than a week I don’t think. I check my tank at least twice a day and haven’t noticed them before tonight. Any ideas? I’ve had this zoa for about 2 months, I just don’t know where I want it permanently yet so it’s still on a plug, lol.

 

[James M]

Bubble algae , there are easy to remove

 

[JoJosReef]

Remove them outside of your tank. If they get inside your tank, it can become problematic.

Try to pry them off as one piece, like a bunch of grapes without rupturing them/leaving any pieces of them behind.

 

[Socaldayz]

Fabulous, lol. Ok, and how do I keep them from coming back?

 

[JoJosReef]

Fabulous, lol. Ok, and how do I keep them from coming back?

Is that the only place you found the bubble algae?

Here's what I do when I find Valonia on a frag plug: scrape off the bubbles out of water, over a small tub or large cup of saltwater. As I'm scraping, dunk the frag to get pieces off if they aren't coming off as a whole or being stubborn and sticking to the plug. Afterwards, I spray/drop hydrogen peroxide on the frag plug taking care not to make direct contact with the coral polyps--for zoas/palys, the sides are fine, I just avoid spraying on the top so it doesn't get inside the polyp. Give it a minute for the hydrogen peroxide to work (if zoas, no problem out of water, if something more sensitive, I keep a dropper with fresh saltwater to keep it wet). Then put the plug into another cup with new saltwater (not the one you were dunking in with Valonia bits floating in it). Watch the fizziness on the frag plug. After a bit, return to tank.

I also do this for GHA on frags.

If you have bubble algae elsewhere in your tank, then it'll be some elbow grease picking them off every surface and sucking it all up so it doesn't spread.

 

[cloak]

Just manually remove what you can before each water change. You can remove them much faster than they can reproduce, so stay on top of them. GL.

 

[Socaldayz]

Is that the only place you found the bubble algae?

Here's what I do when I find Valonia on a frag plug: scrape off the bubbles out of water, over a small tub or large cup of saltwater. As I'm scraping, dunk the frag to get pieces off if they aren't coming off as a whole or being stubborn and sticking to the plug. Afterwards, I spray/drop hydrogen peroxide on the frag plug taking care not to make direct contact with the coral polyps--for zoas/palys, the sides are fine, I just avoid spraying on the top so it doesn't get inside the polyp. Give it a minute for the hydrogen peroxide to work (if zoas, no problem out of water, if something more sensitive, I keep a dropper with fresh saltwater to keep it wet). Then put the plug into another cup with new saltwater (not the one you were dunking in with Valonia bits floating in it). Watch the fizziness on the frag plug. After a bit, return to tank.

I also do this for GHA on frags.

If you have bubble algae elsewhere in your tank, then it'll be some elbow grease picking them off every surface and sucking it all up so it doesn't spread.

Thank you so much! This is the only place they are, thankfully.