Help needed please

[DeSoDo]

Hello all!
I want to move some of my corals from my old tank that's filled with green bubble algae, asterina starfish, vermitid snails and bristleworms to my new tank with new corals. What's the best way to get rid of all of the issues surrounding the old corals? All suggestions welcomed! Thx

 

[brandon429]

reef dentistry\

each coral is a tooth in need of detailing in between transfers in the tank. a thread of that:

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

its not a dip or an animal

its physical detailing with metal precision scraper tools, exactly like dentistry. the coral flesh is the gumline, we don't scrape that. you'd also run it on the whole tank that grew the invasions that grew on the corals. everyone gets blasted.

 

[DanyL]

If possible - frag them and transfer only clean, healthy tissue.

If that’s not possible, and we’re talking about large colonies or LPS - I would remove the base, use pliers to remove vermitid snails and a knife or dental tools to remove algae from tough spots and than put some glue over these areas to seal it.

As a last step for LPS - I would use kalk paste, or a mixture of NaOH and kalk at a high concentration from a drip bottle and cover the whole base carefully without touching any tissue, perform this outside the water and let it sit for about 5 minutes to dry, than wash it in saltwater (some of it should still stick to the base) and introduce to the new tank.

 

[DeSoDo]

If possible - frag them and transfer only clean, healthy tissue.

If that’s not possible, and we’re talking about large colonies or LPS - I would remove the base, use pliers to remove vermitid snails and a knife or dental tools to remove algae from tough spots and than put some glue over these areas to seal it.

As a last step for LPS - I would use kalk paste, or a mixture of NaOH and kalk at a high concentration from a drip bottle and cover the whole base carefully without touching any tissue, perform this outside the water and let it sit for about 5 minutes to dry, than wash it in saltwater (some of it should still stick to the base) and introduce to the new tank.

Will corals be okay outside of water for 5 minutes? My Duncan has roughly 10 heads on it, a hammer has around 5 heads. The other Duncan that i want to move is basically smothered by palythoa, to the point where I (don't want to) let the coral go. The paly toxins terrify me tbh.

 

[KQuillan]

Will corals be okay outside of water for 5 minutes? My Duncan has roughly 10 heads on it, a hammer has around 5 heads. The other Duncan that i want to move is basically smothered by palythoa, to the point where I (don't want to) let the coral go. The paly toxins terrify me tbh.

Yes, they will be ok for a few minutes.

 

[DeSoDo]

Yes, they will be ok for a few minutes.

Cool. I just ordered some scalpels that'll be here tomorrow. Didn't realize my razor blades rusted. I stopped using them in lieu of a scrub pad. Thx.

 

[danreef55]

Question: have you tried the natural route to resolve the problem? Red or blue leg hermits and emerald crabs.

 

[DanyL]

Will corals be okay outside of water for 5 minutes? My Duncan has roughly 10 heads on it, a hammer has around 5 heads. The other Duncan that i want to move is basically smothered by palythoa, to the point where I (don't want to) let the coral go. The paly toxins terrify me tbh.

5 minutes aren’t a problem at all, and you could safely do more if needed.

For palys, it really depends on the individual - I put some protective glasses when I work around them, however I do work with bare hands. Some people are more sensitive to Polytoxins than others, so it really depends on how your body responds to it.

While the fastest way to remove them would be by scraping them off with a knife and than covering everything with NaOH/kalk mixture, you could also attack them directly under water using that same mixture, you’ll likely need a few rounds To kill them this way though, especially if they’re large in size.

 

[DanyL]

Question: have you tried the natural route to resolve the problem? Red or blue leg hermits and emerald crabs.

This is a fine way to control it in an already established reef, however when you introduce new corals to another not yet infested tank you actually have a good chance not to introduce it all, and in this case I think it’s worth a shot.

 

[DeSoDo]

Question: have you tried the natural route to resolve the problem? Red or blue leg hermits and emerald crabs.

In the tank they're currently in, yes. Blue legged, emerald crabs, arrow crab. There's been issues in that tank forever that I was only able to have stable for a short time. I think the biggest problem with the tank they're currently in, that tank is in my tank room with 20 freshwater shrimp breeding tanks, so there's SO MUCH LIGHT in that room. The new tank is in my bedroom and haven't had any problems as of yet.

 

[DeSoDo]

5 minutes aren’t a problem at all, and you could safely do more if needed.

For palys, it really depends on the individual - I put some protective glasses when I work around them, however I do work with bare hands. Some people are more sensitive to Polytoxins than others, so it really depends on how your body responds to it.

While the fastest way to remove them would be by scraping them off with a knife and than covering everything with NaOH/kalk mixture, you could also attack them directly under water using that same mixture, you’ll likely need a few rounds To kill them this way though, especially if they’re large in size.

Yeah, they're pretty large! Large with to overtake a Duncan that at one point had 7 heads on it. 2 heads are visible, but the polyps never extend anymore.

 

[DanyL]

Yeah, they're pretty large! Large with to overtake a Duncan that at one point had 7 heads on it. 2 heads are visible, but the polyps never extend anymore.

If they’re at the point where they are close to the Duncan heads, I would suggest the knife approach, because there’s a greater chance you’ll hit the Duncan with the mixture by accident.

Also, if the rest of the Duncan heads aren’t alive, I’d honestly toss them and make a new healthy frag out of the good ones.
If the rest are partially dead, than you could make a second frag with these heads and let it recover, because they’ll eventually will.

 

[DeSoDo]

Man, imma send it to you and let you do it, lol. Idk how to do any of this stuff, so I'll be watching a million YouTube videos tonight.

 

[DanyL]

We’re approx 6,000 miles apart from each other, I think that would be a tad too far lol

Fragging Duncans is pretty straight forward and you’ll probably find YouTube videos showcasing it.

It’s basically cutting off branches and gluing them like any other frag. And you can also glue multiple heads together, some would even fuse back if their tissues touch each other, forming a single colony.

If your Duncan isn’t the branching kind than it’s a bit more difficult because you’ll have to use a Dremel (or band saw) to cut right through the connecting tissue. But in this case I would simply cut the dead ones around them, where there’s no tissue. It’s fine to have some of the dead skeleton left on the sides, that’s not an issue.

As for the coating technique outside the tank with the mixture I described above, it’s my very own technique which I been using for awhile, so I doubt you’ll find much information online about it, if at all.
But it also isn’t crazy complicated either, you just need to give it a try, and you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

 

[DeSoDo]

We’re approx 6,000 miles apart from each other, I think that would be a tad too far lol

Fragging Duncans is pretty straight forward and you’ll probably find YouTube videos showcasing it.

It’s basically cutting off branches and gluing them like any other frag. And you can also glue multiple heads together, some would even fuse back if their tissues touch each other, forming a single colony.

If your Duncan isn’t the branching kind than it’s a bit more difficult because you’ll have to use a Dremel (or band saw) to cut right through the connecting tissue. But in this case I would simply cut the dead ones around them, where there’s no tissue. It’s fine to have some of the dead skeleton left on the sides, that’s not an issue.

As for the coating technique outside the tank with the mixture I described above, it’s my very own technique which I been using for awhile, so I doubt you’ll find much information online about it, if at all.
But it also isn’t crazy complicated either, you just need to give it a try, and you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

I have the aiptasia x stuff that I can try. But I'm gonna go ahead and watch some videos now. All of my torches, hammers, Duncan's, etc are branching.

 

[DanyL]

I have the aiptasia x stuff that I can try. But I'm gonna go ahead and watch some videos now. All of my torches, hammers, Duncan's, etc are branching.

I don’t know the composition or strength of Aiptesia X, nor its viscosity outside the water - but it should be similar to what I make, and worth a try. Maybe get it back to the old tank a day and than reapply the coating once more just to be sure.

Since all of your corals are branching, than they are very easy to frag and handle.
A Dremel will make it even easier, but it’s not a requirement and they can also be cut using coral bone cutters.

 

[KrisReef]

It’s good to watch a zombie apocalypse movie before you start to get into the correct frame of mind that you’re not going to put anything that isn’t clean into your new tank. If you don’t stay vigilant contagion will enter. Kill all infected zombies and destroy anything suspicious.

Good luck

 

[DeSoDo]

I don’t know the composition or strength of Aiptesia X, nor its viscosity outside the water - but it should be similar to what I make, and worth a try. Maybe get it back to the old tank a day and than reapply the coating once more just to be sure.

Since all of your corals are branching, than they are very easy to frag and handle.
A Dremel will make it even easier, but it’s not a requirement and they can also be cut using coral bone cutters.

Yeah, I just located my bone cutters and they're rusted too. I'll use my rotary saw to cut and when the scalpel comes in tomorrow I'll work on the finer details. Thank you for the help!

 

[DeSoDo]

It’s good to watch a zombie apocalypse movie before you start to get into the correct frame of mind that you’re not going to put anything that isn’t clean into your new tank. If you don’t stay vigilant contagion will enter. Kill all infected zombies and destroy anything suspicious.

Good luck

Yeah, definitely don't want my new tank with ANY issues from the old! I just moved a ricordea mushroom from my old tank to the new one yesterday. Gave it a bath on coral revive, then an iodine bath. Plucked off the asterina that I saw, crushed the vermitid snails and didn't see any bristleworms. There was a few hairs of algae on the rock it was attached to, which I didn't notice until I was reaching to the sandbed of the tank, but right after I put it in the tank the hermit crabs went straight for it. So, hoping the hair algae doesn't spread.

 

[DeSoDo]

The Duncan surrounded by paly