What eats bubble algae?

[NYC Joe]

Hey everyone.
Have a patch of bubble algae.
Was wondering what eats it?
I know the emerald crabs eat them. Bt I really don't trust them.

Anything else that can take care of it?
I heard raising mag. May work. But
Not sure. Asking here before I try anything.

I do just peel it and siphon it.

What are my options?


Thanx
-Joe

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Emerald crabs


Don't pop them inside the tank either then they will multiply even more in your tank.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

You can vacuum it out during a water change- they usually come out relatively easily

 

[rookie07]

I believe some asterinas eat bubble algae. Not sure about this, but i cant seem to find another possibility inside my tank.

 

[thirty5]

Is the algae on a large rock? Can you take it out. I am paranoid about trying to get bubble algea off while it is in the tank

I had a couple tiny pieces and my emerald took care of them.

If you can take the rock out, I would try to do that and then just pop them off the rock and then rinse with some fresh salt water.

If you bust a capsule in the tank the spores can spread in the water column. So it would either try emeralds ( i know you said you don't trust them). Or if you can get them off and clean them off manually.

 

[DJYoshi]

i've had emeralds in my tank since a small bubble outbreak 8 months ago.... no issues with them and all the bubble algae is gone

 

[Imbarrie]

Bubble algae is one of the easiest algae to remove.
Why bother with something that eats it when you can siphon it out.

The algae is eating something in the water and it would be better to track that down first and eliminate it. If you dont take care of that first and just remove the BA then another nuisance algae will raise up to take its place and this one may not be as easy to deal with. Like GHA or Bryopsis.

 

[NYC Joe]

Imbarrie you are correct.
Nitrates were high.

And I refuse to get a crab. Have had them go rougue before. And don't want to deal with it.

Just going to do water changes. And siphon them out. Can't remove the rock as its the bottom one. But no biggie. Got my dental tool and scape and siphon.

Also on regards to the popping them. Ever see an emerald crab eat bubble algae? They pop them and eat them.

Also read somewhere that popping them isn't directly related to spreading. And figures I can't find the link.


Thanx
-Joe

 

[Mattl22]

I have a bunch that r very hard to remove I hate the look of them too but it's better then hair algae and some others I even have sps encrusting over it in spots !
I do try and remove by hand if I can sometimes better to just leave it so u don't break any sps !

 

[Imbarrie]

Not a big fan of crabs either. Snails are just as efficient and some say even more. And many hide during the day.
Porcelain crabs are interesting though.

 

[jscarlata]

I made a little tool that helps scrape things off the rocks. I took a piece of 1/2" vinyl tube to use as a siphon tube, and I bought a simple hose barb fitting to plug into one end of the tube. I cut the end of the hose barb at a steep angle, like a baloney cut." to make the end pointed. I then scuffed up the tip with a dremel to
Make it somewhat serrated. So now when I do water changes, I use this to scrape the rocks to remove bubble algae and other stuff that's attached or in the nooks, like those annoying snails that cast those slimy nets, pieces of cheato etc. it works well IMO.