Red Bubble Algea??

[Mikester311]

I have a really bad outbreak of this stuff and I don't know exactly what it is or how to get rid of it. I was thinking it was some sort of red bubble algae? It's filled with slime, it grows fast and on everything. I keep manually taking it off and scrubbing the power heads and rock with a brush to get as much off as I can, but within a few weeks it grows right back. Will emerald crabs eat this stuff?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[ErinCahir]

Welcome to the site!

I have no idea what that is... but ew. :D

 

[AmberSunrise]

Wow I have never seen that either but I personally thing the crabs might just make it worse. If they break it and pop it the spores are just going to spread even more.

What kind of lights do you have and how long do you leave them on, what kind of water do you use for changes, what kind of food do you feed the fish?

You have to make changes to the way you do things, clearly something is off balance.

 

[AmberSunrise]

Here is a website with some info that might be helpful

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Nuisance Algae ID Guide

 

[fastrd400]

WTH? I have never seen anything like that. If it was me, I'd pull the powerhead out. Clean that crap off in the sink, then soak the powerhead in vinegar. If you have more than one powerhead do it to both (one at a time).

 

[fastrd400]

I also found this:

Red Bubble Algae is one of the Botryocladia species, (probably skottsbergeii or pyriformis) . Some of the Botryocladia species, like Botryocladia occidentalis, are desirable. The main difference between an invasive species of Botryocladia and a desirable one is how it grows. Desirable species grow up from branches, and invasive species creep along the rock just leaving hard to remove bubbles. Some are in between both in risk and branch development.

Manual Removal - Don't be clumsy and spread this one. Get em small, cover them with a baster, scrape the baster along the rock, when the bubble comes off release the plunger and suck it up. Discard and repeat. If you have a lot to do, by the time you are done you will be ready to add new mixed water to complete the water change. Be aggressive with your manual removal.

Clean Up Crew- Emerald and Ruby Mithrax Crabs will eat it, as well some Rabbitfish. Juvenile Mithrax are generally best for the task, the smaller the better.

 

[AmberSunrise]

I also found this:

Red Bubble Algae is one of the Botryocladia species, (probably skottsbergeii or pyriformis) . Some of the Botryocladia species, like Botryocladia occidentalis, are desirable. The main difference between an invasive species of Botryocladia and a desirable one is how it grows. Desirable species grow up from branches, and invasive species creep along the rock just leaving hard to remove bubbles. Some are in between both in risk and branch development.

Manual Removal - Don't be clumsy and spread this one. Get em small, cover them with a baster, scrape the baster along the rock, when the bubble comes off release the plunger and suck it up. Discard and repeat. If you have a lot to do, by the time you are done you will be ready to add new mixed water to complete the water change. Be aggressive with your manual removal.

Clean Up Crew- Emerald and Ruby Mithrax Crabs will eat it, as well some Rabbitfish. Juvenile Mithrax are generally best for the task, the smaller the better.

That is from the same link I put above! LOL I have the kind that grows on a branch and I love it the seahorses use it as a hitch and it just looks like a cool tree.

 

[Mikester311]

Thanks for the responses!

@AmberSunrise - I have 4-T5's that I leave on a timer about approx 8 hours a day. I use RODI water for my water changes, although I am probably over due on the filter replacements. And i use Ocean nutrition formula 1 & 2 small pellet food every other day.

@fastrd400 - pulling the Algae off of the powerheads & UV light and soaking them in vinager will be easy, but how do I neutralize the rest of the tank? There's a cluster of Algae on almost every piece of live rock in the tank. The stuff has spread out of control very quickly. It's also stuck to the rock pretty good, so a baster to remove them may not be an option. Before, I took the accessible rock out of the tank and cleaned then stuff off at the base with tweezers then scrubbed the remaining "roots" with the brush. I the tank, I used tweezers and took them out one-by-one at the base and it seems like they grew right back twice as bad.

My plan right now is to get new filters for my RODI, clean all the Bubble algae out of the tank, do a water change and add some Emerald crabs all a the same time.

My concern is still that I don't know what's fueling the stuff to grow out of control and that as soon as I do all this work cleaning it out again, it's going to grow right back.

 

[fastrd400]

Pull out what rock you can, and scrub it off in a bucket of tank water. Once scrubbed, wash it again in a bucket of clean salt water, this will help to remove any extra spores left be hind. Replace it in the tank after your water change, and add your crabs.

Like green bubble algae, it is not so much the water quality, or the lights, but the spores released by the popped bubbles that help it to spread so rapidly.