Emerald Crab - how long to see visible improvement on bubble algae?

[Jakesaw]

Added a medium small sized Emerald crab to a 10 gallon tank today.  Reason for addition was to knock back a few 1/2"- 1"  patches of bubble algae on my main rockwork.

 

How long should I have to wait to see if the crab is going to knock back the BA?  Are we talking days, weeks, months. 

 

Besides the bubble algae, I really don't have much in the way of visible algae on rest of rock.  My Trochus and Astrea snails have done a pretty good job cleaning the surfaces.  the Bubble Algae has been a bit of an ongoing issue I've chased from my frags to recently rockwork.

 

Thanks

[debbeach13]

I am not sure there is a real answer to exactly how long. I have always had good luck that if/once the crab is hungry, it would eat it. 

[sulawler]

On 3/13/2022 at 6:13 AM, Jakesaw said:

Added a medium small sized Emerald crab to a 10 gallon tank today.  Reason for addition was to knock back a few 1/2"- 1"  patches of bubble algae on my main rockwork.

 

How long should I have to wait to see if the crab is going to knock back the BA?  Are we talking days, weeks, months. 

 

Besides the bubble algae, I really don't have much in the way of visible algae on rest of rock.  My Trochus and Astrea snails have done a pretty good job cleaning the surfaces.  the Bubble Algae has been a bit of an ongoing issue I've chased from my frags to recently rockwork.

 

Thanks slope game

when i had some a long time ago i did well with manually removing inside the tank and sucking up the "bubbles" by means of airline tubing and siphon hoses

[Jakesaw]

5 hours ago, sulawler said:

when i had some a long time ago i did well with manually removing inside the tank and sucking up the "bubbles" by means of airline tubing and siphon hoses

I've been doing that successfully.  When they landed on my main rockwork, I've been hesitant to remove rocks for manual removal.  That's why I got the crab.

[less than bread]

Emerald crabs can be hit or miss when it comes to algae and there have also been reports that they are questionable when it comes to being reef safe. I've seen some people say they have caught their emerald crabs eating corals. I currently have 3 in my tank and I watch them very closely. The smaller one doesn't care for algae, it just scavenges for leftover food or other little bits. The two bigger ones are eating bubble algae and sea lettuce so we'll see how it goes.

 

The two larger ones that are eating the algae began eating it as soon as I put them in the tank. Just watch it very closely and make sure it's not messing with stuff you don't want it messing with.

[Jakesaw]

I was a bit dubious about adding one, but my LFS said they would take him back if I didn't want to keep it. 

 

So far been mostly hidden, but I see his arm come out of rock a few times.  Near BA, but not seen any active harvesting yet.

[Jakesaw]

been 7 days since adding.  Crab mostly lives between 2 rocks, but I see him come out f from time to time to clean the rock.  Haven't seen him actively work on the Bubble algae, but the number of large bubbles has done down a few - so it looks like the crab is doing his job. 

 

Now I get to wait and see if he can clear and hold the BA - or just remove some with spores causing it to grow elsewhere in the tank.  Time will tell.

 

Curious - I've got 2 rock structures.  I've seen the crab basically live on one of them.  Will he scurry around the tank and clean both rock structures when BA is gone of the one he's living on.  

 

Thanks

[Jakesaw]

1 week ago

 

 

Today

 

 

Chunked off a big one,but has a long way to go.  Hope he's got a big appetite - I've got some time.

 

[Jakesaw]

Quick update:

 

After owning an Emerald Crab for 2 weeks now, I can say they do eat bubble algae, along with all other kinds of algae. 

 

But when they eat bubble algae, they mostly just crush the bubbles with their claws.  Whether or not this releases spores to land elsewhere remains to be seen.  Time will tell.

 

It's a cool crab when you see a claw come out from a nook in your rockscape.  Not sure it'll going to do anything to really stop B A spread as much as keep any spores small as it grazes clean rock and corals.

[Jakesaw]

Emerald crab was not a solution to me for bubble algae.  He did eat the bubble algae, but the result for me is that it has spread spores to every area of the tank.  Yes, they are small and get grazed down, but they are literally everywhere now.  

 

I hate  my tank these days between the DINO and bubble algae.  It's just plain nasty.  I'm leaning toward just shutting it down and starting over.  May be an opportunity to try VIibrant just as an experiment. 

 

I currently wouldn't put any of my corals in a new tank - b/c I don't want to cross contaminate that stuff again.  

 

Probably would not Emerald crab again - even though I find them interesting.  IMHO - Not a bubble algae solution though.

[less than bread]

2 hours ago, Jakesaw said:

Emerald crab was not a solution to me for bubble algae.  He did eat the bubble algae, but the result for me is that it has spread spores to every area of the tank.  Yes, they are small and get grazed down, but they are literally everywhere now.  

 

I hate  my tank these days between the DINO and bubble algae.  It's just plain nasty.  I'm leaning toward just shutting it down and starting over.  May be an opportunity to try VIibrant just as an experiment. 

 

I currently wouldn't put any of my corals in a new tank - b/c I don't want to cross contaminate that stuff again.  

 

Probably would not Emerald crab again - even though I find them interesting.  IMHO - Not a bubble algae solution though.

I have been using Vibrant and Emerald crabs in my tank over the last month or so and they have really helped. From what I’ve seen, larger emerald crabs do better with bubble and Vibrant has been keeping everything down. Ive been half dosing it due to the documented concerns with it and I do the doses the day before I do a water change. So far Vibrant is very effective, just be careful with it and monitor your params close

[Jakesaw]

I think it's the vibrant helping more than your emerald crab. 

 

The crab breaks open the bubbles with his strong claws.  The spores go everywhere and settle new B/A is my observation.  

 

I've got it on my HOB filter, my powerhead, literally small spores are popping up with some consistency.  I'm re-thinking the tank and approach to hobby.  Overall my enjoyment of the hobby has tanked since Bubble algae & new unexpected DINO popped out of no-where. 

[jservedio]

2 hours ago, Jakesaw said:

The crab breaks open the bubbles with his strong claws.  The spores go everywhere and settle new B/A is my observation.  

This is not how valonia reproduce and is a very long-standing reefing myth that is plain old wrong.

 

New bubbles are formed from the rhizoids (the strands that attach bubble algae to the rock) of a mother cell through regular old cellular division. Those daughter cells eventually separate from the mother cell and can occasionally become detached and drift if the mother cell dies or the rhizoid the daughter cell is attached to is damaged.

 

Breaking open a bubble algae cell does not release spores. Breaking open the cellulose cell wall of a bubble algae will simply lead to the algae repairing itself (which they are super good at). This myth got it's legs because being super rough on a bubble algae cell can damage the rhizoids and release already-existing bubble algae cells. But, those cells already existed and were already living in your tank and they would have drifted after some point of reaching critical mass anyway (for example, v. ventricosa almost nearly always detaches and they are solitary). It's no different than breaking off a bubble algae and it re-attaching itself somewhere else.