Live Rock introduced to Tank

D

DirtGandhi

AC Members
Dec 27, 2009
15
0
0
Fremont, CA
Hi all,

I've had a tank with live rock that was infested with bristle worms. A lot of them. I decided to get rid of them with by bathing my rocks in hot water. i am currently soaking them in salt water in a 5 gal bucket with bubbles. How long will it take to put them back in my tank? my tank has some fishes in them already and putting the rocks in wouldn't cause any drama would it? i'm planning on getting some cured live rock from the LFS and put it in the tank with the new rock, worms free. is that ok? the old rock has been placed in the hot water bath for 4 days and salt water bath with proper salinity for 2 days. i figure that harmful stuff off of the old rock is gone and it's okay to cure in the tank with new cure rock with the fishes. let me know. i want to give some land scape for my fishes before they stress out, not to have more my view pleasure. my signature has the fishes i have now. please advise! Thanks a bunch!
 
The problem you will have... and someone correct me if I'm wrong... is that the bristle worms, that are dead, inside the rock will now begin to decompose, and put out ammonia into your tank... They will probably harm your fish, by causing an ammonia spike... Test the water that they are currently in, for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Don't put in fresh water, and see what the test shows over the next few days.

Since you have already been at this for a while, it won't hurt you to test and be sure you don't harm you current tank inhabitants.
 
Brian is absolutely correct. You definitely don't want to drop that rock back in the tank until its ready. Worms are the best part of a CUC so I hate to see them eliminated but I know some just can't stomach the idea of having worms. As far as the rock goes, I would not put it back in your tank until it has cycled through and only your test kits can tell you when its safe. I'm sure you still have a lot of dead organic material (worm remains, etc.) trapped in that rock. Adding it before its ready could prove lethal to your fish. I would add a small piece of LR to the container that you have the rock in no to help with the cycle, Also, there is a good chance that you will get more worms when you add the LR from your LFS.

I see you have a mandarin. Is it eating prepared foods? If not it was probably relying on the pods in that rock for food to survive. A 20 gallon is pretty small for a mandarin if it isn't eating prepared foods or if you don't provide a supply of pods for it to eat.
 
Thank you for the input! I physical removed many of the worms already, but you're right only a test can prove otherwise. I will do that today.

The goby has not been eating lately. I will have to get some food that he'll eat and some rocks for him soon. Thanks again.
 
Check the ammonia today on the rocks and it was sky high! definitely gonna wait until introducing the rocks to my tank. In meantime I changed the water and added some Biozyme. Was this a good idea?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom