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I have had my live rock for about 2.5 months. A week ago I got a new, better light. I had just a regular, single bulb fluorecent. Now I have a twin 65W CF (total of 130W) in my 29 gallon. Today I noticed something I hadn't seen before. Can you identify it? I am not familar with corals but to me it looks like a Bubble Coral. Thanks for the help!

To give you a size, it's about the size of a pencil eraser.

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Unknown Creature

-Josh

BTW, ignore the pest anemone on the lower right I have to get some peppermint Shrimp to take care of them. I thought I had taken care of the source but now I'm finding more

-Josh

i just know that it is a bubble algea and it is not good.

Yeah, that looks like bubble algae to me. As far as I know, it isn't harmful to any marine creatures, but many people consider it to be an unsightly nuisance. It can be a real pain to get rid of, too. Supposedly emerald (or mithrax) crabs will eat it, but I've also heard that they just pop the bubbles and spread their fluid sacs through the water.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

We get them at work every once in a while. You want to make sure you don't pop the sack because it will spread the spores around.

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well darn...what luck do I have Should I try to remove that piece of live rock and wash it off?

-Josh

If you can then remove the piece of rock from the tank. Try to scrape the bubble from the bottom so it doesn't go squish and pop everywhere. Popped bubbles spread spores. Smaller bubbles are quite solid and actually rather hard to squish with your hands but the larger they get the easier they squish and spread. Rinse off that spot on the rock with saltwater especially if it broke and replace in the tank. Watch for more bubbles. Sometimes bubble algae can spread like crazy and take over a tank and sometimes it isn't so bad. I've had a few bubbles I can't get rid of without risking popping them over the tank. They've been there a month and haven't spread but I've seen some tanks that were just coated in the stuff.

The most effective way to get rid of it is to remove the affected rock and totally scrub it, or at least the areas of it with the algae. The downside is that you may well kill off everything else growing there. Personally, I think that a little bubble algae is tolerable, especially if it isn't spreading. That's just me though, many folks hate the sight of it.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Bubble algae.

Get a pair of emerald crabs. They love the stuff.

I think foxfaces might eat it as well? I could be making that up though.

I just pluck them off the rock like grapes off a vine. No need for rock scrubbing IMO, too much work and they always come back. I kinda think they look cool. No worries.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish