Two large valonias disappered over night - emeralds?

[Pszemol]

I had two, large bubble algae in the base of branching
hard coral. They were located the way I could not reach.
Also, I was scared to burst the bubble and spread spores...
I knew I need to remove them before the grow even larger.
I have checked them yesterday evening and they were there.
I saw two emerald crabs on the same rock picking something
from the rock, but not interested in the bubble algae.
This morning, when lights were on, I was surprised:
both bubbles gone without any trace...
The ony thing I can imagine was the emeralds eat them.

Is it possible small emeralds can eat valonia bubble
sized the same the crab is?

BTW - one of the crabs had pink coraline growths on his
back, how often do they molt? It must be long time if
this guy could grow coraline on his skeleton...

[Pszemol]

"kryppy" > wrote in message ...
> Yes, they eat it up no problems. I never fear throwing a new piece of
> something in with it attached. I just did it five minutes ago.
> While snorkeling in the keys yesterday, I found a large 8" valonia
> marble floating along all by itself. It looked cool. I wish it would
> stick around longer in the tank personally.

It is ok if there is a couple of them - not when whole rock
is covered in small green bubbles... :-)

> I guess you need crabs from a place it grows?

Not quite get what you ment by the above... clarify your question, please.

[Pszemol]

"kryppy" > wrote in message ...
> I've seen reports of tanks taken over by it, no matter how many crabs
> are present. I was just wondering aloud if some emeralds don't eat it.

I see... You know, I did not actually see the crab eating it.
I saw them just disapearing over night. Crabs are my 1st suspect.