Green Transparent Balloons?

[spuds]

OK for the past few weeks I have been noticing a bunch of green transparent balloons growing on three of my live rock pieces. Is this just algae or something else that I am not aware of? I would like to thank anyone for helping me understand what this is.

 

[leigh]

Sounds like bubble algae. Can be a pain in the rear. Emerald crabs sometimes eat it, but sometimes they just eat polyps and/or fish. Some tangs and foxface will eat it, but again some don't. You can also manually remove it but be careful the bubbles don't burst in the tank as it'll spew thousands of lil spores that go off and become bubble algae in more places. Do a search using the button on the top right of this board for 'bubble algae' or 'valonia' and that'll turn up a ton of info.
-leigh

 

[dindi]

Spuds you are the proud owner of a form of calurpa, great for the fish..I have them too and my tang loves it, not easy to find but easy to grow in a good tank with excellent water parameters. Kinda cool looking right!

 

[leigh]

Err,...dindi, there's a big difference between grape caulerpa and bubble algae. It is more likely that he has bubble algae since he says it's popping up on three of his live rock pieces. Caulerpa normally has a runner of some sort connecting all the 'grapes'. You are right though, it's possible he's talking about grape caulerpa, without a pic we can't really say. But Spuds, do a search of this board for both if you can't post a pic. If it's bubble algae that's a nuisance algae and best gotten rid of as it does spread quite well and can take over a tank in time.