Red Bubble Nightmare

[gpm586]

I have been battling red bubble algae for quite a long time now.. At first, it was only on a couple of rocks, so I dropped in an emerald crab, but all he did was break the vessicles, eat a tiny bit and move on. So with him breaking vessicles like it was his job, I have watched its progression through my tank in the past 6 months. I even moved recently to a new place and took advantage of breaking down the tank. I pulled off as much of the bubble as I could (and I had about 5-6 handfuls of the stuff when all was done), and threw in some more snails and another emerald hoping to attack it from a few different angles. It doesn't look like the emeralds are doing any good and now I'm watching it come right back to where it was and spreading again. It seems green bubble is easily solved, but not so much with red bubble. I just wanted to hear if anyone has any suggestions/ ideas to deal with this stuff. And in case someone is reading this with only a few bubbles, do yourself a favor: take the rock out and take a razor blade to dig the vessicles out from the root. I wish I would've done that from the beginning. But anyways, if you've got any advice, let me know. Thanks!

[gpm586]

Just to give you an idea. Heres a picture of the upper right corner of my tank/ a picture of my pet bubbles, lol. Dont have a digital camera, took that with the built in camera in my laptop.

[Ninong]

It appears to be Botryodadia scottsbergii. Google images here.

Horge has written a very good article on nuisance bubble algae, including this species.

[gpm586]

Thanks Ninong, great article! After reading it, I threw in a hippo tang and he started grazing on the bubble. That's the first ray of hope i've had. In conjunction, I've decreased the light timers and feeding much less in an effort to starve it out as well. But all in all, I believe progress is being made. Thanks!

[kronos5]

Has your bubble algae problem gotten better ??

[gpm586]

Yeah it has. Attached are pretty recent photos taken with my cpu of the same area as before. I originally thought red bubble was hopeless to fight, but tangs do wonders in helping to eliminate this stuff. It's at the point where pretty much all the vesicles have been eaten and only the roots remain. Not sure what to do about the roots, but as long as the tang continues to munch down each new vessicle as it sprouts, I guess it's not that big of a deal. Thanks!

[kronos5]

Good to Hear