What are these green bubbles?

[Jayson Ledbetter]

I bought a rock with colt corals and some polyps on it from my LFS. What are these green clearish looking bubbles?

 

[KJ]

VALONIA (BUBBLE ALGAE)

 

[Highgrade]

Bubble Algae = bad

 

[stevo01]

Green bubble algae. Is the rock easily removable? If so, pull it out and carefully remove the bubbles with tongs/tweezers. Rinse it in a bowl of tank water before adding back to the display.

After that you can dose some a reef cleaner like vibrant lightly to prevent it from growing back. Dont pop the bubbles in the tank. That is going to allows it to release and grow more.

Natural way is with an emerald crab but has drawbacks too.

 

[austinl]

Agree def looks like bubble algae....can you remove the corals you want and transplant them to another rock?

 

[Darth George]

After scraping I usually hit the area (careful not to get the coral) with diluted peroxide just to be sure!

 

[LetItReef]

Bubble algae- not good. I would remove the rock out from the tank and manually scrape off as much as you can and rinse it with ro/di.

Some will have a clear line tubing and suck out from the tank.

Some will put Emerald crab but did not work for me.

 

[Desmond]

I would take it back to the lfs get your money back and never go there again. Selling you a rock with bubble algae is a total joke. It can spread fast in a tank if your not careful.

 

[Jayson Ledbetter]

The rock Is easy to remove, so I will take it out , and scrape it off and hit that area withperoxide

 

[Desmond]

The rock Is easy to remove, so I will take it out , and scrape it off and hit that area withperoxide

Make sure you clean it extremely well. If bubble takes over your tank you will know why i said take it back to the store.

 

[CamG]

I agree with Desmond, I would never purchase from that store again.
I would also return it, Once Bubble algae gets in your tank it can take over all the rock and is a pain to get rid of.

 

[Jayson Ledbetter]

I went a head and just took it back, the owner wasn't there, but the lady that was working there was really nice, got my money back with no problem at all.

 

[Biokabe]

Yeah, there are certain algae that you just really don't want in your tank, getting rid of them is a gigantic PITA. Bubble algae is one, bryopsis is another. Both types are capable of spreading and completely taking over your tank; people have been chased out of the hobby trying to deal with them. We have some methods that can help against them nowadays, but there's no such thing as an easy solution. If you can prevent them from taking hold of your tank, you'll never have to find out just how insidious they are.

 

[SandJ]

I see you have already returned it, but it looks like the rock also had bryopsis and hydroids.

 

[stevo01]

I probably wouldn't have purchased this rock. Same time the visable problems were correctable.

 

[manuel732]

Had same problem took over my tank, didn't know what it was at first so I left it there for a few months

 

[reefwiser]

You should keep a watchful eye on your tank. This is a hard algae to remove from a reef tank. Alway check for it all around your tank it spreads fast.

 

[Bpb]

As mentioned once it's there, it's there for good. Only way you're COMPLETELY eliminating it from your system is a full break down and sterilization of everything. Bubble algae spores are wicked resilient and basically impossible to completely get rid of. There will ALWAYS be SOME bubble hiding somewhere getting a tiny shred of light that will keep the process going.

It's not a death sentence. In a smaller tank it's more annoying. You need to stock up on emerald crabs. They will nibble on it. Urchins will eat it as well

The absolute rock star bubble algae eater though are rabbit fish (foxface). If your tank is big enough (90+ gallons, which some will still say is too small) a single foxface will completely wipe out any visible bubbles within a day or two. Guaranteed. You will still have bubble algae. Look close enough. It'll be growing in dark corners, certain impossible to reach undersides of rocks, inside your overflow, etc. but your visible, attractive, illuminated display will be free of bubbles. They friggin eat it like candy. A word on how resilient it is though, periodically I have to take my durso pipe off and clean out bubble algae from the inside which clogs it. I also have it growing up and out of the water in dry air on my heater power cord. That's right. Just having it be able to touch the water surface it can wick up enough water to maintain a growing population of bubbles in open air.

 

[Desmond]

Glad to hear you got your money back and i really hope you have not got any spores in your tank. I had to take my whole tank down over bubble algae and steralize the whole thing. The worst thing i have ever been affected ny !

 

[DED65]

If you have some remaining in your tank, Vibrant does really work. I had a pretty bad outbreak and Vibrant wiped it out in two months.