Bubble algae issues

jgraz · Dec 19, 2013

A little background first. In my sons 20gal reef I always had a but if bubble algae going, few bubbles here and there but always stayed light and never really saw any reason to be alarmed. The tank has been up for about a year and I normally did about a 5gal WC monthly. Yes I know it's not ideal but it's a lightly stocked tank and everything was going very well. About 2 months ago I bought him a pistol/goby pair and the pistol went right to work digging. Mind you it was a 1.5" sandbed relatively undisturbed prior to this. When I saw this I figured I would start up a more frequent WC. So for the past month and a half I've been doing a 5gal WC weekly. During this time I started to notice that the bubble algae started to flourish. It started popping up everywhere. All corals seemed to be responding well to the increased WC's though so I kept it up. During my most recent WC(Tuesday) I noticed that many of the bubbles had turned white and were popped/deflated. Though it was odd but again everything looked good. Yesterday morning I noticed that many more of the bubbles had the same white popped look, any many new bubbles had formed. Now I concerned. Last night I get home from from work And saw that a 10 head acan colony had literally died through the course of the day. And a good size colony of orange cap is now greyish in color. A couple of other montis also look off. The few acros and zoas he has are solid though.

So any thoughts here. I have heard that caulerpa can go sexual and pollute our systems. Can bubble algae do the same? Any thoughts on how to combat this. At this point I would clearly say it's an infestation.

The nano is outfitted as follows.
20gal high
10gal sump
4x24" T5 bulbs are under 6m old
2 o clowns
Royal gramma
Pistol/goby
Fire shrimp
Porcelain and Pom Pom crabs
Assorted snails

Any and all thought and solution are welcomed. Thanks in advance
John

Reefing Madness · Dec 19, 2013

Caulerpa can go asexual, and spread rather quickly at that point.
Bubble Algae is just about the same if you mess with it, once you puncture a bubble, the spores get blown around the tank.
Emerald Crab eating Bubble Algae - YouTube

Or syphon it out
4 Ways to Remove Bubble Algae From Your Reef Tank - YouTube

jgraz · Dec 19, 2013

Can bubble algae go sexual as well. Why all of a sudden am I getting the white punctured bubbles.

Browncoat · Dec 19, 2013

Everyone says it will spread of you pop them... How do you think inverts and fish eat it? By puncturing it. I've removed all of mine and never had a problem with it coming back. Tried not to break any but that's next to impossible.

Just remember other types can come back or the Bubble can come back if you're phosphates and nitrates aren't kept down

nova65ss · Dec 19, 2013

Stuff is getting out of control for me too. It was easy to suck out during water changes in my 34 now that I upgraded to a 93 it is hard to get to a lot of it. I have heard that a foxface will sometimes eat them? I am seriously considering one for that very reason.

NanaReefer · Dec 19, 2013

I had all but gotten rid of the BA in my tank. Few bubbles here or there. Then I got a Neon Damsel who decided to tear up the SB behind my rock. SB that hasn't been touched in almost 3yrs!
Needless to say the BA came back with a vengeance! Once again I did what I have been doing. Syphon it out during a WC. It is the best method I've found thus far that removes the algae without the fear of releasing the spores.