Remove hitchhikers

joejenn · May 4, 2016

Im going to be getting some live rock I hope by the end of the month YAY, and I wanted to know all the ways you remove unwanted hitch hikers. So I can have all the tools I need to remove the bad ones as soon as I see them. Thank you for any help.

saltyphish · May 4, 2016

I keep a pair of long tweezers and a medicine syringe not the kind you inject with but dose liquids with. I also attached a 1/4 dia 1ft long piece of tubing attached to a acrylic rod to keep it straight attached to the syringe to suck things up with as well. I also recommend getting some dips as well. I use coral rx, and bayer advanced which seems to be the best to use. Those will help from adding something from frags. It is amazing what comes in on frags that you dont see when you inspect them. For example I bought some frags last weekend and did not see anything, even dipped in coral rx. Luckily for me I place all my new corals in a Qt to make sure something did not get missed pest wise, including algae. Had the cleanest frags show up later on with bubble algae or bryopsis in my Qt. A couple of days after adding the frags I noticed a 3 in fireworm. Sucked it out with the syringe tool I made.

saltyphish · May 4, 2016

Also get some of those dish gloves or buy the long arm length ones to protect yourself from the nasty critters.

reefwiser · May 4, 2016

Best thing to do is to place the rock in the tank and observe for 90 days. To see what comes out of the rock. Live rock will have spawn of corals inverts and algae on the rock. It will take a little time for these "pest" to mature and get to the size that you will see them. You need to turn the rocks and blow off any dead items once a week checking the rock for any signs of "pest's" use a small powerhead to blow off the rock.
Your main tool is time an observing the rock it's self.

joejenn · May 4, 2016

What do you do with them after you get the out? Just flush them down the toilet?

saltyphish · May 4, 2016

Yes I usually flush them or toss them with my water change water (usually when I find them)

Wiz · May 4, 2016

joejenn said:
What do you do with them after you get the out? Just flush them down the toilet?

You send the cool ones to wiz! Lol

reefwiser · May 4, 2016

You kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill and then you kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill them again.:)

joejenn · May 4, 2016

I will Wiz feel bad feeding my snakes rats sometimes so flushing down living animals will be no fun for me lol.

Wiz · May 4, 2016

Let it be known that I like wierd things people don't want. Crabs, worms, mantids, slugs..... most anything except small parasites. Lol

Zoey · May 4, 2016

Wiz, i see you collecting weird things all over this place and i really wanna see your collection! got any tank photos i can see?!

Wiz · May 4, 2016

Thats just it. I cant get people to send them. They usually kill em.:-( so although i have a pretty packed reef with just about everything in it and a nice big display fuge, i dont have any weird stuff yet.:-( i do have two on promise right now. When and if they catch them i should have two nice eunice worms coming. We shall see. :) if you see any posts about weird stuff, feel free to tag me :)

Zoey said:
Wiz, i see you collecting weird things all over this place and i really wanna see your collection! got any tank photos i can see?!

saltyfilmfolks · May 4, 2016

Renee "lionfishlair", suggested to me to use a hypersaline solution @1.045, and said most everything jumps off and you pick and choose what you want to keep.
I haven't done it....... YET

fwiw an ro bath will kill of most stuff. Unless it can hold its breath real good.

Zoey · May 4, 2016

Wiz said:
Thats just it. I cant get people to send them. They usually kill em.:-( so although i have a pretty packed reef with just about everything in it and a nice big display fuge, i dont have any weird stuff yet.:-( i do have two on promise right now. When and if they catch them i should have two nice eunice worms coming. We shall see. :) if you see any posts about weird stuff, feel free to tag me :)

I sure will!

joejenn · May 4, 2016

Awesome thank you all, can't wait to get my rocks a see what I get.

saltyphish · May 4, 2016

joejenn said:
Awesome thank you all, can't wait to get my rocks a see what I get.

I told my wife that I wanted to buy dry rock for my 80g upgrade so I didn't get unwanted hitchhikers. She said that really depressed her because she loves watching the life show up on the rock. The mysteries and unexpected fascinates her. So based on that response I'm buying some Tampa Bay rock with lots of life. How could I not?