****fish that eats valonia bubble algae - move to discussion forum?

[tang daddy]

Chin, I had all type of algae growing on my rock not too sure what the names ar but one was red bubble type that anchored itself to lr good you couldn't get it off with a knife even so I took my sea urchin out of the reef and put it in within a week all the algae was gone so save your 150 spend 14 on an urchin and when you're done sell it. they're awesome at keeping the tank clean eat every agae I had only problem is when they get big it's a pain after I got pricked I sold it but am planning on getting a small one in a month or so cause the algae is slowly growing back!

[Chowder]

Emarld crabs worked for me on my small breakout . I have heard that long spin urchins work as well.

[adidas]

my rabbit and sailfin eats it but i love my guys too much to sell.

[ClubReef]

I had a bad case of Valonia outbreak 6 months ago. I bought a couple of emerald crabs and they really attacked the small and medium sized bubbles..they don't really touch the larger ones. I cleaned up the larger ones by popping them with a bbq skewer, pretty much eliminated all of them. People say that popping them will only spread and propogate the algae..but in my experience this was not the case. My bubbles have been controlled and I won't hesitate to pop any larger ones in the future. This is my first hand experience.

[Psyire]

I have a 6" magnificent foxface that loves the stuff. However it would take far more than $150 to get me to part with him.

[Skimmerking]

Go to J&L and get a moorish Idol they will due a huge impact on that stuff i put a years pay of my salary @59,000 per year

[Ruth]

Chin - when you find a fish for $150 that will eat your bubbles LMK and I can sell you my bubble algea for another $150 so you can keep it fed

[hawk]

Originally Posted by ClubReef

I had a bad case of Valonia outbreak 6 months ago. I bought a couple of emerald crabs and they really attacked the small and medium sized bubbles..they don't really touch the larger ones. I cleaned up the larger ones by popping them with a bbq skewer, pretty much eliminated all of them. People say that popping them will only spread and propogate the algae..but in my experience this was not the case. My bubbles have been controlled and I won't hesitate to pop any larger ones in the future. This is my first hand experience.

I agree. The easiest/quickest way of getting rid of this stuff is to pop them with a pair of tweezers and pull it out. As far as spreading spores, IMO this is over played if not a total myth. Even if it is true the spores would spread the same whether the bubble were popped by a crab, fish, man, etc.

[Reefer Rob]

I'm having good success basting the bubble algae with hot water. It takes a couple of days and they turn white and disappear. The trouble with bubble algae is that it can grow down in holes, in areas of low light, so it's hard to find all of it.

[Skimmer Juice]

Chin it is to bad you dont live closer I have a fairley large rabbit fish Iam trying to get rid of. No algae in my tank.