Hydroids….How long to dry out rock?

[OG-Goby]

I decided to start pulling any rock that I find hydroids on. I’m down to about 1/3 of my rock at this point. These pieces I have left seem fine and will reseed the rock I took out to dry when I add it back to the tank.

How long should I leave the rock out drying?

Had to move my fish to QT for ich treatment and hoping to get this rock dried out and back in the tank before the fish are done in QT and the main tank is fallow for long enough..(I’m going 80 days to be really safe).

A week? A month? Any suggestions?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I decided to start pulling any rock that I find hydroids on. I’m down to about 1/3 of my rock at this point. These pieces I have left seem fine and will reseed the rock I took out to dry when I add it back to the tank.

How long should I leave the rock out drying?

Had to move my fish to QT for ich treatment and hoping to get this rock dried out and back in the tank before the fish are done in QT and the main tank is fallow for long enough..(I’m going 80 days to be really safe).

A week? A month? Any suggestions?

The best thing to do is chisel off the part of the rock containing the hydroids, like you're taking off the rock's "peel", so you get the roots and all. They are very hardy critters and I would not be surprised if they find a way to live despite the rock drying out.
Another option is treating the rock with muriatic acrid since you likely can't tell where the droids were now...

 

[OG-Goby]

The best thing to do is chisel off the part of the rock containing the hydroids, like you're taking off the rock's "peel", so you get the roots and all. They are very hardy critters and I would not be surprised if they find a way to live despite the rock drying out.
Another option is treating the rock with muriatic acrid since you likely can't tell where the droids were now...

Yeah I’m hesitant to chip away too much as this is/was real live rock. So it’s super brittle and easy to break but that means it’s easy to turn a prize rock into frag mounting rubble.

I might try the acid route. And I can still see where they were as the tubes never go away. I should have mentioned these are colonial hydroids so I can still see their tubes. I might just spot treat where they are on these rocks and wait a few weeks.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Yeah I’m hesitant to chip away too much as this is/was real live rock. So it’s super brittle and easy to break but that means it’s easy to turn a prize rock into frag mounting rubble.

I might try the acid route. And I can still see where they were as the tubes never go away. I should have mentioned these are colonial hydroids so I can still see their tubes. I might just spot treat where they are on these rocks and wait a few weeks.

Colonial hydroids are the worst. Remove the parts of the rock where you see them. I'm not sure how chiseling off the surface layer of rock in a few places will "turn a prize rock into frag mounting rubble", and if the rock is as brittle as you say, you would need to avoid acid as well.