ID Please

[Crabs]

Can use some help with these small green Emerald looking things above my Button Coral. Have a few air bubbles around them so I suppose they're eggs of some sort. All I have r snails, cleaner shrimp, 1 green Clown Goby and a BlueVelvet NudiBranch. Thanks anyone!

 

[carey]

Thats' green bubble algae. Its not very good. You can get emerald crabs to eat it or you can carefully pluck them with tweezers BUT you cannot break themor it will spread. You have to be very gentle or they will pop.

 

[rdnelson99]

Looks like bubble algae to me. Don't burst them or they will spread everywhere. I had a small outbreak but added a couple emerald crabs and the cleaned it right up. There are other ways and some say not to add livestock to cure a problem but in my case, I was just starting to add the livestock and I would have gotten the emerald crab anyway.

 

[rdnelson99]

May you are quick Carey. LOL

 

[Buffy]

May you are quick Carey. LOL

She's bored LOL, jk, awesome help she is. How can you "pick" them out without breaking them if they are easy to pop?

Just asking, I don't have any (knock on wood) and I have emerald crab but was curious.

Wouldn't like tweezers be to sharp? And last question, does it only take one to pop for it to spread?

 

[carey]

Believe it or not they are quite durable. they are like hard little shells but can and will pop.

How i did mine- took the coral out and placed it in a small container of tank water. Took the tweezers and pulled each one off gently and swirled in the tank water. I did it til i got them all. swirled again in more clean tank water and out put in place. You just have to be very careful. the little ones are really easy. lol

 

[Emelinda76]

Believe it or not they are quite durable. they are like hard little shells but can and will pop.

How i did mine- took the coral out and placed it in a small container of tank water. Took the tweezers and pulled each one off gently and swirled in the tank water. I did it til i got them all. swirled again in more clean tank water and out put in place. You just have to be very careful. the little ones are really easy. lol

+ right on Carey!!! I did this too! Success

 

[Crabs]

Thank u. If I didn't know, I would have ended up poking it and probably popping it. R emerald crabs reef friendly? And can they resolve the problem without spreading this algae? The problem being. I can remove this small bit of coral frag. But with the button coral attached I'm not sure how I would go about removing the algae without killing the coral. Thanks again but any more suggestions would b appreciated

 

[Greenturtle]

U,m I think I see a mini brittle star in that picture. Cool!

 

[Crabs]

Ok. After paying closer attention to the replies, I think I have a plan. Still would b interested to learn about the emerald crab idea and whether or not they're reef friendly and if they would pop these bubbles creating an even bigger problem

 

[rdnelson99]

Ok. After paying closer attention to the replies, I think I have a plan. Still would b interested to learn about the emerald crab idea and whether or not they're reef friendly and if they would pop these bubbles creating an even bigger problem

Yes the emerald crab are reef friendly. I added two small ones and one large one. The little ones did nothing on the bubble algae but the big loved it. It is a bit hit and miss if they will go after it or not. It was fun to watch him because the stuff is attached pretty well. He would grab hold and tug as hard as he could. When it let go he would almost roll over backwards. LOL But once he got a hold of it it went straight to his mouth. Looked like me when I eat Rocky Road Ice Cream. Heaven.

While I agree with what Carey told me (not good to add livestock to cure a problem because once the problem is solved you still have the livestock) I love my emeralds. They are a blast to watch and are a good addition to the CUC in my opinion.

 

[Crabs]

Thanks. I don't necessarily agree with the adding livestock debate. I added the NudiBranch for my Flatworm problem and think this solution was much better than the toxic chemicals. Once the problem is dealt with u can always find a home for the critter, if u don't want it anymore

 

[melosu58]

'Bubble' Alage: Selected Descriptions, Controls and Comments by Horge Cortes-Jorge, Jr. - Reefkeeping.com

 

[Crabs]

Thanks. I'll definitely check out this info. I ended up using the tweezers but
As stated by someone before, they r delicate and I'm not sure if I was totally successful. We'll C. In the meantime, I'll read up and b better prepared for future outbreaks. Once again, thanks for everyone's help. This is a great site for information and help
And don't forget to bring a TOWEL