Coral QT and Regular Dips?

Been Caught Reefin · Sep 9, 2022

So I am back in the hobby after a 10+ year break and set up a 100 gallon tank that I will eventually have mainly SPS. Tank is 7 months old and I set up torch and hammer gardens in the sides of the tank.

Wanting to do things properly, I set up a 20 gallon long coral / invert QT. All of my euphyllia stayed in that QT for 4-6 weeks with a dip of Bayer going into QT, and a dip of Bayer going into DT.

I must have overlooked eggs because even with that caution I found a Polyclad EEFW on the base of a torch that was not as open as the others.

Which brings me to my question in coral QT. As I start to get into SPS I want to make sure I avoid this mistake again, but scared of the eggs that maybe you can’t see so clearly. So would it make sense to dip the corals weekly while in QT? Would weekly for 5-6 weeks break any pest life cycle? Or would I be better off learning all of the possible egg situations I can encounter and deal with them as I see them? (if so, where can I research what eggs to look for?)

thanks all for the advice!

Quietman · Sep 9, 2022

Extending quarantine time and adding another dip series at 4 weeks would be less stressful on the corals than a weekly dip. My corals don't seem to like the Bayer bath very much and it takes a few weeks to get them back to normal. I'm a big believer on minimizing stress to living organisms for overall health/disease prevention. Then again, sometime we don't have a choice (nice you have option for permanent QT btw) and I'd rather stress one coral then expose all them to a pest.

Big G · Jan 23, 2023

I've found that sometimes the Bayer dip will not get rid of the "sticky" eggs by the chemical dip alone. Inverting the corals so that you can see the base clearly really helps. My eyes aren't trustworthy enough even with my reading glasses, so now I wear a visor with high magnification lens, like the one jewelers use. It makes a huge difference. And while inverting the coral a soft bristle brush can give the base of the coral a nice, gentle and careful scrubbing.

If the base of the coral is discolored from algae, a quick dip in a proper mix of H2O2 can clean it up and also enhance your ability to see those nasty worms/eggs.