Bubble Algae & Aiptasia

whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
I have been struggling with bubble algae and aiptasia for a good month now....
I have used pickling lime (kalk) on the aiptasia, but can only get to the ones I see and/or get to.... I used 3 bottles of Joe's Juice and it was just as effective as the kalk, so I went the cheaper option...
I would really hate to get some Berghia Nudibranch's due the difficulty of getting them out of the tank after they have done their job....and if you don't get them out, they die and release toxins....
I am looking for something that won't hurt my zoa's, but will take care of my aiptasia.
In a stinging war....who would win - Zoanthid vs Aiptaisa? Reason I ask is that I just put a frag of some zoa's in and I noticed a baby aiptasia has taken residence millimeters from a head of zoanthid!
Any thoughts?? I probably have 150-200 in my 60g
On to the bubble algae....
This stuff has been growing quicker and quicker as the tank matures! I have pulled the rock out and picked every piece I could find off of the rock, but a month later there is more than there was previously! Every water change (weekly) I use the tip of the siphon to break pieces off and suck them up, but still can't manage to keep it under control. The piece of LR that has bubble the worst also has white stringy hard things on it (posted below).....is this how it spreads???
Is there any animal out there that eats this crap??? I have heard emeralds do, but none of my 4 will touch the stuff.....
Advice???
 
jigga w00t

jigga w00t

Member
had a couple that were on one rock that i removed and squirted boiling water on. then a month or so later i counted 4 more...
i'd say buy a peppermint shrimp - it will eat them (let it do the work, not you!) some other people here have had mixed results, like a peppermint that doesn't do anything but wait to be fed. but maybe if you buy a couple/few then you will increase your chances of one that will eat them. a store local to me sells them for around $6, which is about the price of joe's juice anyway...
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
copperband butterfly or about a dozen or more berghia on the aiptasia i've not heard they are toxic though.
don't feed the emeralds anything else, but they (supposedly) help the bubble algae spread cause they let some of the spores go.
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
I'd try to get a few more peppermint shrimp and if you are, stop feeding the shrimp so they are forced to find food.
As for the bubble algae, I had some in the beginning and I manually removed them and ended up popping two of them. Spores must have released but I haven't seen any since. Someone on here showed a novel way to remove bubble algae by covering it with superglue gel, letting it cure and then pulling the superglue out with the bubble algae attached. I'll see if I can dig up that thread.
 
S

slugkeeper

Guest
The berghia nudibranches that eat aiptasia do not release toxins in the tank when they die - they are not like lettuce or blue velvet nudis.
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
Added 2 more pep shrimp last night for the aiptaisa.....hopefully that is the cure!
As far as the BA goes, my Alk is 5 dkH, Cal 400ppm, trite .25ppm, and trate 5ppm. So I picked up some B-Ionic and hoping that will level things out....
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
Not to dig up an old thread, but I am to the point where I am going to pull the rock.
Thing is, how much of a shock on the system will this cause?
What is the quickest, most effective way of doing this? I have heard of people pulling the rocks and letting them bake in the sun for a day.....will this rid everything in a day?
I have zoanthids and 3 fish in the system currently....
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
I was actually just looking at my tank thinking that same thing! HA HA
I have had the bio wheels from the QT in the sump for about 2 months now. I also have had about 30# of base rock in the sump for 3 months......I wonder if I use water from the DT, the base out of the sump, and the bio wheels, if I would have enough bacteria to not cause a spike in the QT??
How long do I keep the rock in the sun for???
Do I have to scrub the rock before I put it back in the DT for curing?
The aiptaisa is also in the sand bed, so I will have to drain the water out of the DT to make sure that it will NOT come back. I know I can get 95% of the water out, but how long can the aiptaisa live just being moist?
 
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