Starfish

[Whitegurl84]

I have a starfish in my 29g biocube and I have alot of bubble algae starting to grow. So my question is if I get an emerald crab to eat up the bubble algae will it bother my starfish or my feather duster?

 

[Sniperhank]

Depends on the crab...it might or it might not.

 

[Tumbleweed4829]

I have an emerald crab in my 40 gallon and so far he hasn't touched my feather dusters (that I've noticed) and has only eaten some of my bubble algae. I did have a cluster of bubble algae that he eat so maybe in time he'll get it all. He has pulled some things off my rock that I didn't want him to eat though (some kind of coral that was growing). yeah, he has a new not so nice name. lol

 

[MacDracor]

Ahh... the Emerald Mithrax Crab... the ultimate example of the phrase "Crabs are hit or miss"... He might spend years in your tank eating nothing but Valonia (bubble algae). On the other hand, he might eat starfish, featherdusters, and corals. Maybe immediately (like mine did) maybe months or years down the road. There is no way to predict it. You'll just have to keep an eye out for battle damage.

 

[Whitegurl84]

I would put the starfish in my 56g but my butterfly fish picks at it. So should I just take the rock out for a while, will that kill the bubble algae? It's really only one piece that has it the most.

 

[MacDracor]

If you can manually remove the bubble algae, that's the best way. Just be aware that any bubbles popped in the removal process may release spores.
I took a rock out, removed bubble algae, rinsed, and returned to the tank, and weeks later, the bubble was back and worse than before.