small green bubbles

[rthomas]

I have had my tank up and running for 8 1/2 months now and I started getting this patch of grennish bubbles growing on a couple pieces of live rock. Any idea of what this could be?

 

[Reeferdude]

Bubble algae. Valonia.

 

[twilliard]

Dont pop them.
Siphon them out.

 

[nasher8860]

Indeed...popping them will release more spores. Toothpicks work well in prying them off.

 

[rthomas]

Great thanks for all the help. What can be done to prevent them from coming back?

 

[dnjan]

Some emerald crabs will eat them when they are small like that. Note, I said some, not all. Sometimes a person gets lucky, and other times not. Either way, emerald crabs are interesting creatures ...

 

[mmkeeper]

Most algae growth is dependent on nutrients, lower the feed lessen the algae.

 

[rthomas]

will emerald crap be harmful to corals?

 

[rthomas]

Also for a 30 gallon tank would you recommend 1 or 2?

 

[dnjan]

I have never noticed emerald crabs actually harming corals. They can cause some temproary irritation while they eat algae close to the polyps, but I have never noticed them actually harming the polyps.

I would add two. Double the chance of finding one who eats the bubble algae.

 

[rthomas]

I will give this a shot. Thanks

 

[Gordonious]

Some people say emeralds bother corals, but if you read through the forums you can find someone saying every animal we keep bother corals. I have 4 in a 30g tank and everything is healthy for the most part.

 

[Reeferdude]

Take a piece of plastic tubing and shape the end of it to use as a scraper. Shape and size may vary. Use it on the end of your siphon hose to scrape off the Valonia while doing a water change. This will siphon out any spores and loose pieces that try to float away...

 

[csdoyle]

I had to remove 3 Emerald crabs from my tank that voraciously ate my mushroom corals.

Catching them was a chore. I devised a pretty good technique in the end though. I put in a large net and clipped some seaweed to it. I waited....... hours till one of them moved in to grab the seaweed, then pulled the net out. It took a couple nights, but I got all the crabs out.

For what it is worth.

Chris

 

[Jumpincactus]

Yea I am battling the Valonia too. Invasive type. It got so bad in my tank it started to strangle my acros. When I moved I did a good job getting it out but alas there must have been hiding in some crevases. It is not easy stuff to get out of a full tank either. They send out runners and when I try to pry them up it tears and I can only get a part of it.

I seem to always pop one or too which is not a good thing either. I have tried emeralds to no avail. Really scratching my head on this one.