Getting rid of unwanted hitchhikers from LR with coral

[mje113]

Tank is 3-4 months old and I'm getting tired of trying to catch/trap some unwanted hitchhikers and looking at nuclear options. Specifically I have a mantis shrimp, one or more HUGE brittle stars, and an unknown number of big (6"+) bristle worms. All are too big for my 13g and for the life of me I can't get them out of the live rock.

I was curious what people think about using something like DipX on whole rock pieces (some with coral, mostly softies but some LPS). I may be doing a rip clean at some point but even if I don't, I was thinking about making a big bath of DipX and dunking entire pieces of rock, one at a time. Collecting and disposing of unwanted and returning wanted to the tank along with the rock after rinsing. Is this a crazy idea? Has anyone had success doing something similar?

 

[AydenLincoln]

I think the better option would be a freshwater dip or letting the rock dry out but no matter what you do in order to kill or remove all the hitchhikers it’s going to cause a lot of good bacteria to die off.

 

[Super Fly]

Tank is 3-4 months old and I'm getting tired of trying to catch/trap some unwanted hitchhikers and looking at nuclear options. Specifically I have a mantis shrimp, one or more HUGE brittle stars, and an unknown number of big (6"+) bristle worms. All are too big for my 13g and for the life of me I can't get them out of the live rock.

I was curious what people think about using something like DipX on whole rock pieces (some with coral, mostly softies but some LPS). I may be doing a rip clean at some point but even if I don't, I was thinking about making a big bath of DipX and dunking entire pieces of rock, one at a time. Collecting and disposing of unwanted and returning wanted to the tank along with the rock after rinsing. Is this a crazy idea? Has anyone had success doing something similar?

if it was me, I'd leave rock alone to keep the good bacteria or else after nuking it you'd have to re-establish the lost bacteria. Brittle stars and bristle worms are good scavengers/cleaners. Prob have pistol shrimp, not mantis, and unless it's huge wouldn't cause trouble and die off eventually from lack of food. My rocks came from the ocean with pistol shrimps that eventually died off and the only hitchhikers I got rid of were gorilla crabs, those were a pain to catch/kill.

 

[mje113]

Prob have pistol shrimp, not mantis, and unless it's huge wouldn't cause trouble and die off eventually from lack of food.

Positively ID'd as a mantis. It's small, about an inch long tops.

 

[mje113]

I think the better option would be a freshwater dip or letting the rock dry out but no matter what you do in order to kill or remove all the hitchhikers it’s going to cause a lot of good bacteria to die off.

Ok, makes sense. I could do it rock by rock with time in between... Maybe I'll just live with the hitchhikers.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Ok, makes sense. I could do it rock by rock with time in between... Maybe I'll just live with the hitchhikers.

What kind of corals are we talking about? This will make a huge difference in options, as if native corals that came in on Gulf of Mexico Rock or Rock from the Keys, then a high salinity dip to drive out pests will not usually harm the corals.

Anohter option is to pour club soda into known holes for shrimps and crabs. This drives them out and doesnt hurt a thing if done outside the tank. Just rinse in some old tank water after. Worst it does is feed the bacteria it touches a little bit of sugar lol.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Forgot to add, if you purchased corals, just remove from rock and either of the 2 options will work fine. Just do a rock at a time over a few days.

Rocks out of water for a bit will harm a few things bacteria wise on the surface, but not enough to cause a mini cycle or anything.

 

[mje113]

Out of 4 total rocks:

2 have just a couple frags glued that I can remove easily. These are the ones that intend to break up a bit to give me more aquascape options.
1 has some LPS and mushrooms that are attached directly to the rock
1 has just Zoas and a couple mushrooms. They are encrusting so not able to remove.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Out of 4 total rocks:

2 have just a couple frags glued that I can remove easily. These are the ones that intend to break up a bit to give me more aquascape options.
1 has some LPS and mushrooms that are attached directly to the rock
1 has just Zoas and a couple mushrooms. They are encrusting so not able to remove.

OK, have you located where the critters currently are in relation to the corals/rocks? I so, then you can do one thing for one rock and a more directed approach for ones where corals cannot be removed.

For example, if you can remove the LPS, that makes it a little easier, as shrooms will be fine out of the tank for a bit, but you would need to do something along the lines of "injecting" high salinity water or club soda into the holes in the rock where you think the hitchhikers reside. Or even dip the rock, but not let the shrooms get dipped. Just hold that part of the rock out of the high salinity water.

Same applies for the zoa shroom rock.

In addiition, you could try some traps. for the bristleworms/fireworms, just a pill bottle trap works great. Coke bottle traps work well for starfish, but you have to heat the cap portion and make it more of an oval than a circle. You also have to watch it after light out to make sure they do not crawl in and then crawl out.

 

[mje113]

OK, have you located where the critters currently are in relation to the corals/rocks? I so, then you can do one thing for one rock and a more directed approach for ones where corals cannot be removed.

For example, if you can remove the LPS, that makes it a little easier, as shrooms will be fine out of the tank for a bit, but you would need to do something along the lines of "injecting" high salinity water or club soda into the holes in the rock where you think the hitchhikers reside. Or even dip the rock, but not let the shrooms get dipped. Just hold that part of the rock out of the high salinity water.

Same applies for the zoa shroom rock.

In addiition, you could try some traps. for the bristleworms/fireworms, just a pill bottle trap works great. Coke bottle traps work well for starfish, but you have to heat the cap portion and make it more of an oval than a circle. You also have to watch it after light out to make sure they do not crawl in and then crawl out.

You'd recommend high salinity over using something like DipX? Not sure what DipX does to bacteria but it's been good for me in getting rid of things from frags, seems like it could be useful on smallish rocks as well?

 

[Eagle_Steve]

You'd recommend high salinity over using something like DipX? Not sure what DipX does to bacteria but it's been good for me in getting rid of things from frags, seems like it could be useful on smallish rocks as well?

I have no idea what is in dipx, but not sure I would want to use any kind of dip for stuff like that, as most has to be rinsed off. It would worry me some would stay in the pores of the rock and possibly damage something. Or it would kill the critters in the rocks and then there is a possibility of an ammonia spike depending on the amount of stuff klilled and left in the rocks to rot.