Have Emerald Crabs helped you reduce bubble algae?

[kevindub]

I recently added an Emerald crab about a week ago and so far, I still haven't seen it eat bubble algae. Do they sometimes not help reduce bubble algae, or should I give it more time?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes - I have used them with success.

 

[Anonymous]

Honestly, and this is just my uneducated (marine biologically speaking) opinion, but I can't see how they can reduce bubble algae. Bubble algae spreads throughout the tank when they pop and the spores go all over the place, how exactly can a crab eat it without popping? Do they stick a straw in it and suck the juices out?

 

[Anonymous]

I had a bout of bubble algae and my emeralds never seemed interested in it. They'd pick at other types but not the bubble. My foxface would nibble at it and occassionally eat a few small pieces. While I let some of it go, I had better luck manually removing it. Pulled the rock, removed the cysts and them gave it a good rinse with RO water to clean away any residual spores. Eventually it was all gone.

 

[Anonymous]

sfsu - All I can tell ya is I had bubble algae and added 2 emerald crabs and no longer have the algae. Its been gone for months too.

 

[Unarce]

Yes, Mike! They do

 

[Anonymous]

awww Karl... I was hoping for a curvy straw or something

 

[Anonymous]

My emeralds never touched the stuff.;

 

[Ixthys]

Honestly, and this is just my uneducated (marine biologically speaking) opinion, but I can't see how they can reduce bubble algae. Bubble algae spreads throughout the tank when they pop and the spores go all over the place, how exactly can a crab eat it without popping? Do they stick a straw in it and suck the juices out?

Now that is just too funny.

 

[FB]

I may be wrong here. But what I understand is that they eat the spores when they land and start to grow on the rock. They will not eat the actaul bubbles as they are obviously to large. Just my understanding. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Anonymous]

:lol: @ Unarce

 

[EB847]

Bubble algae spreads throughout the tank when they pop and the spores go all over the place, how exactly can a crab eat it without popping?

What are your references to support this statement?

 

[Anonymous]

Bubble algae spreads throughout the tank when they pop and the spores go all over the place, how exactly can a crab eat it without popping?

What are your references to support this statement?

Here's one.

http://www.thesea.org/reef_aquarium/pes ... alonia.php

Hundred to thousand of offspring form inside the bubble when it
reaches maturity, and when the cell walls are torn they are released into the aquaria to settle and form new colonies.

another
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/algaec ... 011501.htm

Great care should be taken not to break open the bubbles. As the bubbles mature they contain spores, and if broken this can cause them to spread more rapidly.

Here's a final one
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002- ... /index.php

 

[EB847]

Excellent. Lfs guy tried to tell me once that they were full of harmless gas!

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting:

Hundred to thousand of offspring form inside the bubble when it
reaches maturity, and when the cell walls are torn they are released into the aquaria to settle and form new colonies.

I wonder how long it takes to reach maturity. If emaralds eat them and pop them before they're fully mature, then perhaps they can't release viable seedlings.

I'd always assumed along FB's lines, that the emeralds eat them when they begin to grow, keeping them from reproducing.

Then again, I've never been able to find an emerald crab...and I do now have BA. ANyone know where emerald crabs come from, Atlantic or Pacific?

 

[blackcloudmedia]

I dont think bubble algae even HAS to pop to spread. Im getting these stupid things like crazy and I havent popped any of them, plus my fish are too small to pop them. I dont have an emerald crab so I dunno.

 

[Anonymous]

Or perhaps since the emerald crabs forage all day long they simply eat the bubble algae faster than it can reproduce and spread in plague proportions.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002- ... /index.php

 

[danmhippo]

Don't know how BA spread, but the mithrax did clean out the small BA in my tank. Leaving the large ones that I hand removed myself.

However, mithrax eventually start to dine on my coral polyps, so I gave them back to LFS