Live Rock Pests

[Charlie-NY]

I just ordered 45lbs of Fiji pre-cured live rock from liveaquaria.com. They recommend that the rock be re-cured. I have no livestock in my new FOWLR tank which is just starting to cycle.

I will cure the rock in my tank, as recommended. They also recommend submerging the LR into a bucket filled with SW with a SG of 1.035-1.040, for 1 minute to discharge pests, ie: mantis shrimp,bristle worms and crabs. Supposedly the pests will drop off the rock and into the bucket. You can then choose those inverts that you want to put into the tank and those that you want kept out of the tank.

QUESTION: Which "invertebrate pests" should I put into the tank.????????

Rock should be here in 1 day so I appreciate your responses soon.

Thanks - Charlie

[sapgranth25]

some people belive that bristle worms can be of use cleaning rock eating old food in tank ect but they do have draw backs as other people belive are know that they can eat corals kill some fish while they sleep in/on sand at night so up to you i guess

but the man shrimp is a def no no in my book i dont even want to go there with them lol

crabs i`ve kept that have traveled in my LR but again its really down to personal choice i guess hope you get more respons with this THREAD.....

P.S
ONCE most of these things enter the tank they will be there for good so remove any which way you can if thats the option you choose

[sapgranth25]

p.s.
rasing the salt level will not auto make these pest`s die,come out of the rock seen as in the wild the salt levels are higher anyway the main reason to keep salt levels around .018-.025 in your aquarium is to keep parasites,disease at bay....

if you have mail orderd your rock there`s a good chance these pest`s will have died are fallen off in transit

[Charlie-NY]

I had the rock shipped overnight. It was wrapped in wet newspaper and placed in a heavy plastic bag before being put into a thick syrofoam container and then boxed for shipment.

The rock arrived less than 24 hrs from the shipping time. Not bad. :)

I followed their instructions and dipped the rock in SW @ 1.037 SG, for 60 sec with lightly brushing away anything that was loose. The dip water was filthy after I finished. It was much too dirty to see anything in the pail. I just dumped it all down the sink.

I guess it will be a few months before I see what survived.