new live rock dip-bath?

Pallen81

Pallen81

TheSunCoralTamer
Jun 20, 2006
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Lawrenceville, NJ
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I just bought some live rock from Dr Fosters Smith. I read that I should dip it into a saltmix with a high concentration of salt for about a minute. I hear certain unwanted pests and wanted animals come out of the rocks.

Do you do this when you get live rock? Is this a good idea?

Also, what animals do I want to keep if they jump out of my rock? How will I tell what they look like?!
 
Germanman said:
well it works but can kill things as well i never do it and have been lucky so far. what u dont want are fire worms Hermodice sp, mantis shrimp, and aolid nudibranch.
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Does anyone do anything else? Any other ideas about this dip method?
 
i would jsut place it in a curing container with normal saltwater and no sand and while curing it, stir it around a bit and take out unwanted things
 
I got my rock from there too and followed their suggestion of the temporary hypersalinity dip. It's not supposed to kill them as it's extremely short-term and just supposed to separate them from the rock (I didn't have any unwanted creatures). Afterwards it's up to you what you want to do with these possible newly found critters. Depending on what they are you may want to keep them in your refugium, put them back in your LR, or give them to a friend. :D
 
you could just set traps in the curing container, homemade ones
 
so it seems to me that the general opinion is this dip method is not necessary.
 
Pallen81 said:
so it seems to me that the general opinion is this dip method is not necessary.
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Well nothing is necessary unless you really want to see if anything comes out of your LR.

Drs. Foster & Smith's site states:

"Helpful Tips for Controlling Unwanted Pests:
Submerse the new rock into a bucket filled with saltwater with a specific gravity of 1.035 to 1.040 for one minute. Any invertebrates including mantis shrimp, bristle worms, and crabs will quickly evacuate from the rock and into the bucket of water.
Remove the live rock from the bucket and sort through the invertebrates in the bucket. Determine those you want to add to your system and discard unwanted pests."

We all know who Robert (Bob) Fenner is, right? He says, ""If baiting, trapping has not worked... I would go the route of dismantling the system systematically, dipping each piece of rock (pH adjusted freshwater will be fine or hypersalinity seawater...) and locate, eradicate this nuisance once and for all."

Bob Fenner was referring to a mantis shrimp in someone's tank. I don't think it's a popular opinion because I don't think a lot of people have heard about it. In fact, I never heard of it until I read it on the F&S site.

It's up to you what you want to do. The only downer I found from it was the usage of more expensive salt. :D
 
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