Lets talk Valonia

[mark]

Had an outbreak for bit and just kept on the manual removal (dislodge the bubbles, then net out). Still have some but need to look hard.

Had 2 emerald crabs, personally don't think they did much.

[Myka]

Oh man, don't ever get me started on this! Do a search for the keywords "bubble algae" and threads started by user "Myka". There is no cut and dry answer to your dilemma. An interesting thing to note is that in ZeoVit tanks the last algae to disappear is always valonia, which goes to show that it can survive on very little nutrients. In my 33g tank I have two Emerald Crabs, and I don't think they have done a thing to the bubble algae. I also went as far as putting a 1 1/2" Kole Tang in my tank (march thee Tang Police!!!) which is known to eat algaes. I don't think he has done anything either, even though he picks at the rocks a lot. I was religiously manually removing valonia on weekly waterchanges, and it was always coming back. I even cooked the rock for 9 weeks (if I remember correctly), and it still came back. Honestly, I have given up. Manual removal seems to be the only thing that really makes any difference at all.

[Nihoa]

i had no idea what valonia was when i first went to buy liverock to add to an established tank we bought. i thought it looked cool and i actually picked the pieces that had the most bubble algae on it! luckily for us it hasnt spread, the bubble have gotten bigger but we havent seen any news ones. our emerald crab hasnt done anything about it, its little and hangs out on one side of the tank and i dont think hes even seen the rock with the valonia on it yet.

[Borderjumper]

I bought 2 emerald crabs and they havent done anything algae wise, they munch on my acros now and then. I caught one and he now lives in my sump and his buddy will be joining him as soon as I spot him again.

I dont know if all these guys will eat it or if its just mine that does, but my new convict tang eats the smaller ones and pulls the bigger ones off the rocks, so atleast its floating and I can snag it.

[High tide]

I guess it's all luck of the draw, you never know if they'll eat valonia! I have had great success with emeralds, you need enough of them to do the job. Also, with fish you never know, you could have a tang or a rabbitfish that eats them.
I have 2 tanks plumbed to the same sump, one tank has valonia the other tank doesn't, the sump has it too. The tank that doesn't has 4 scopas tangs,2 yellow tangs, a powder blue, and a coral rabbitfish. The tank that does(being eliminated through manual removal and emeralds)has 1 yellow tang,1 scopas,1 double barred rabbitfish, 1 striatus tang, and a blochii, none of these guys touch it.
In the past I had a powder brown that eliminated all traces of valonia in a 135 gal. single handedly.
I've noticed my emerald crabs picking at my SPS, but they never seem to do any damage.
Good luck in your battle!

[PoonTang]

I actually have an emerald crab in my tank but honestly I have never seen him do anything other than sit in 1 of my acros at night. Luckily he doesnt seem to be doing any damage.
As far as manual removal goes i have been siphoning them out when possible or if they are imbedded in my rocks then i burst them and siphon out the guts. Now a fellow told me he got rid of his by just popping them all and eventually they never came back. This goes against everything we were always told about valonia, this causes it to spread. However upon further discussion we surmised that an emerald crab just bursts them and couldnt possibly eat all of the guts so what gives? Well we think that perhaps because the Emerald is only bursting the small ones, and these are probally not sexually mature yet, so releasing thier guts is a moot point and they wont spread. Given enough time the population would eventually perish. Has anyone else had any experience popping them and had them go away? Having said this is there anyone out there with access to a microscope who would be able to look at the bubble guts at various stages of growth and see if there is any evidence of spores?

[ponokareefer]

I had valonia in my 33 gallon, and tried just about everything to get rid of it including emerald crabs, manual removal, and eventually popping them. The only way I got rid of them was when I switched all my rock over to my new 125 gallon tank, flipped all the rocks upside down crushing and burying all the valonia into the sand, and I have never seen them again. have no idea why that worked, but it did.

[Nihoa]

Originally Posted by PoonTang

I actually have an emerald crab in my tank but honestly I have never seen him do anything other than sit in 1 of my acros at night. Luckily he doesnt seem to be doing any damage.
As far as manual removal goes i have been siphoning them out when possible or if they are imbedded in my rocks then i burst them and siphon out the guts. Now a fellow told me he got rid of his by just popping them all and eventually they never came back. This goes against everything we were always told about valonia, this causes it to spread. However upon further discussion we surmised that an emerald crab just bursts them and couldnt possibly eat all of the guts so what gives? Well we think that perhaps because the Emerald is only bursting the small ones, and these are probally not sexually mature yet, so releasing thier guts is a moot point and they wont spread. Given enough time the population would eventually perish. Has anyone else had any experience popping them and had them go away? Having said this is there anyone out there with access to a microscope who would be able to look at the bubble guts at various stages of growth and see if there is any evidence of spores?

it would seem to me that while they are popping a few and causing them to spread they are also eating all the small ones. eating the young out of a population long enough would get rid of them.

[Parnold]

I never had an outbreak but it was present. After I introduced a kole tang I haven't noticed any more.