Advice Required on Dipping corals

[nightmarepl]

hey guys, im upgrading my tank in the next few weeks currently cycling and my current tank i have is a mini reef but i do have alot of unwanted pests / crap i basically do not want in the new tank sponges / bristle worms / vert snails and such so ill be slowly taking out corals and hopefully dipping them to kill off all of these dang pests

Main corals - Hammer , zoas , mushrooms , palythoas , Dunken whisker , xenias , green star poyls , toadstool these are the ones im worried about the most

also have a decent sized Rose Bubbletip anemone i would really like to clean but heard you cant dip them

any advice is good advice and yes i know bristle worms are good i just personally hate them let me know what you guys use.

 

[James M]

Coral Rx is really good for getting rid of unwanted pests
Don’t dip the nem

 

[nightmarepl]

Coral Rx is really good for getting rid of unwanted pests
Don’t dip the nem

so coral RX is a small bucket with a pump to push teh water around soak it in there for 5-10 minutes glue onto a new plug and good to go ?
any special dips for snails and hermits

 

[James M]

Coral dips aren’t used to soak coral in, you Simply dip them. You can’t dip inverts use a toothbrush to clean them.

 

[tankstudy]

hey guys, im upgrading my tank in the next few weeks currently cycling and my current tank i have is a mini reef but i do have alot of unwanted pests / crap i basically do not want in the new tank sponges / bristle worms / vert snails and such so ill be slowly taking out corals and hopefully dipping them to kill off all of these dang pests

Main corals - Hammer , zoas , mushrooms , palythoas , Dunken whisker , xenias , green star poyls , toadstool these are the ones im worried about the most

also have a decent sized Rose Bubbletip anemone i would really like to clean but heard you cant dip them

any advice is good advice and yes i know bristle worms are good i just personally hate them let me know what you guys use.

To make sure you don't transfer anything over to the new tank you really need to run a quarantine tank for at least 3 weeks. A single dip is not that effective from my experience, especially if your looking to eradticate vermatid snails. It's far more work but you won't regret it later.

Since your uprading your tank, you can turn your current system in to a quarantine tank. I just removed my sandbed over time and then used Dr. G's dip for in tank treatment and manual removal of things like vermatid snails. After 6 weeks, I moved everything over to my new system with one final dip in Coral RX.

 

[nightmarepl]

To make sure you don't transfer anything over to the new tank you really need to run a quarantine tank for at least 3 weeks. A single dip is not that effective from my experience, especially if your looking to eradticate vermatid snails. It's far more work but you won't regret it later.

Since your uprading your tank, you can turn your current system in to a quarantine tank. I just removed my sandbed over time and then used Dr. G's dip for in tank treatment and manual removal of things like vermatid snails. After 6 weeks, I moved everything over to my new system with one final dip in Coral RX.

well cant i just lets say remove the corals off plugs/ rocks with a razer dip them and attach onto new plugs or is there still a chance a snail will come in after the gym?

 

[Star reefer3]

Yeah I wouldn't dip the nem

 

[nightmarepl]

Yeah I wouldn't dip the nem

what you think would be the best way to clean the nem other than that you think removing plugs and such will kill of the snails?

 

[tankstudy]

well cant i just lets say remove the corals off plugs/ rocks with a razer dip them and attach onto new plugs or is there still a chance a snail will come in after the gym?

Although the juvenile of the vermatid snail is physically the same looking, it's very very small. This makes it very easy to overlook it. If you give it 2-3 weeks, eventually it's big enough to easily see and dispose of. If the juveniles logged themselves somewhere tight or small they are pretty much safe from coral rx and visual detection.

 

[nightmarepl]

Although the juvenile of the vermatid snail is physically the same looking, it's very very small. This makes it very easy to overlook it. If you give it 2-3 weeks, eventually it's big enough to easily see and dispose of. If the juveniles logged themselves somewhere tight or small they are pretty much safe from coral rx and visual detection.

so how the hell am i suppose to get rid of it if the coral suppose to stay in the RX for 5-10 minutes shouldnt it kill it?

 

[tankstudy]

so how the hell am i suppose to get rid of it if the coral suppose to stay in the RX for 5-10 minutes shouldnt it kill it?

Most vermatids from what I have seen will retract into their little tube pretty deep. Even at maximum exposure of 10 minutes, I still see some, if not most, recovering after the treatment. Coral RX has been known not to kill all organisms, it tends to knock out more than kill from my experience and probably why it's important you use a turkey baster to blow the coral frag out. Unless you leave the coral for extended periods of time, most organisms do get near death I feel, but will recover once back in to a stable environment.

For vermatids, if I really want a tank empty of them, it's 3-8 weeks quarantine with manual removal and dip. However, I use a Dr. G's over coral RX. Coral RX is pretty rough on the stuff I tend to keep while Dr. G's is pretty gentle and kills a variety of things, especially really nasty things. However, Dr. G's is pretty pricey per bottle.

 

[nightmarepl]

Most vermatids from what I have seen will retract into their little tube pretty deep. Even at maximum exposure of 10 minutes, I still see some, if not most, recovering after the treatment. Coral RX has been known not to kill all organisms, it tends to knock out more than kill from my experience and probably why it's important you use a turkey baster to blow the coral frag out. Unless you leave the coral for extended periods of time, most organisms do get near death I feel, but will recover once back in to a stable environment.

For vermatids, if I really want a tank empty of them, it's 3-8 weeks quarantine with manual removal and dip. However, I use a Dr. G's over coral RX. Coral RX is pretty rough on the stuff I tend to keep while Dr. G's is pretty gentle and kills a variety of things, especially really nasty things. However, Dr. G's is pretty pricey per bottle.

well my trags are pretty small so i think if i remove the hammer lets say scrape anything thats on it off and than dip use a baster to focus fire on it should some what kill it all over i also heard bayer advanced does good work on them

 

[redfishbluefish]

My preferred dip is Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer.

No longer available at HD, but you can still find it at Lowes. Yes, it is an insecticide!

I believe Bayer is the gentlest and most effective dip (and least expensive). I use 1 ml per 100 mls of tank water for 15 minutes, and then rinse two times in tank water baths (about 10-15 minutes each) before reintroducing them. I also remove the frag from any plugs (unless they are plastic) because of the porosity of the plug absorbing dip material and then leaching it back into your tank. This procedure would be true with any dip you'd use.

 

[tankstudy]

well my trags are pretty small so i think if i remove the hammer lets say scrape anything thats on it off and than dip use a baster to focus fire on it should some what kill it all over i also heard bayer advanced does good work on them

Bayer is pretty good at killing compared to Coral RX from what I have seen. However, the snails will survive bayer as well. I mean, I've used bayer at much higher concentrations than recommended and the things still survive. With that little tube like shell they have, it makes them pretty tough to kill. Dipping combined with manual removal is usually what gets it done for me.

 

[nightmarepl]

Bayer is pretty good at killing compared to Coral RX from what I have seen. However, the snails will survive bayer as well. I mean, I've used bayer at much higher concentrations than recommended and the things still survive. With that little tube like shell they have, it makes them pretty tough to kill. Dipping combined with manual removal is usually what gets it done for me.

dang these vermitile snails are literally death they destroyed my 10g tank i mean during feeding time youll see 20+ webs killing them off is down right impossible by the looks of it and they have no predators either not sure anymore what to do cause even in i have a QT tank those things get into my filter and all so they microscopic in the water id say

 

[tankstudy]

dang these vermitile snails are literally death they destroyed my 10g tank i mean during feeding time youll see 20+ webs killing them off is down right impossible by the looks of it and they have no predators either not sure anymore what to do cause even in i have a QT tank those things get into my filter and all so they microscopic in the water id say

They've always plagued me as well but good quarantine is the best way to get rid of them. If you don't have too much rockwork, managing them is doable.

 

[Star reefer3]

what you think would be the best way to clean the nem other than that you think removing plugs and such will kill of the snails?

Dont really know about the snails cause I have never had any experience with the snails but I would try and find a predetor of the snails and add it in

 

[Star reefer3]

what you think would be the best way to clean the nem other than that you think removing plugs and such will kill of the snails?

And yea I think removing the plugs sounds like your best bet for the snails

 

[tankstudy]

Dont really know about the snails cause I have never had any experience with the snails but I would try and find a predetor of the snails and add it in

I've been looking for a predator for many years to no avail. I've tried some fish that folks say sometimes eat them but have had no success. However, I know there must be some predator out there cause they definitely don't form infestations in the wild like they do in our systems lol.

 

[Star reefer3]

I've never had vermatids but I did have tiny white feather worms and mine just died off al of a sudden