Wild coral procedure

[Mr Fishface]

As I'm getting ready to order a large amount of wild corals, mainly zoas, mushrooms and soft, I thought I would start a discussion on how YOU would handle wild corals.

Here's my basic plan. Bring home from airport and put straight into totes filled with water from my DT. Each tote will have a heater and powerhead. Hang a light above them and let them rest a few days. After a few days of observation I will dip them and move into my frag tank for more observation before going into the DT. My dip will be bayer. I'm thinking that rest might be good before I dip them and stress them out even more. Part of me also thinks it would be good to just "get it over with" in the beginning. I'm also very curious what hitchhikers will come in too in a closed tank environment.

What would you do if you were to receive transshipped wild corals? Would you do it any differently than I would?

 

[Jon Fishman]

I would float, dip, place

 

[Malifry97]

following but have no input at the time

 

[Ron Reefman]

Have these corals gone through any special treatment before they get to you?
I assume they have been held in storage somewhere before shipping?

I think your plan is a good one.

I bring home lots of wild collected things from the Florida Keys and the Gulf of Mexico and I've had virtually no issues with pests or parasites. Besides zoas I've collected emerald crabs, porcelain crabs, sea stars, anemones, feather dusters, clams and oysters, sea cucumbers, urchins, snails (many kinds) and shrimp. I only quarantine them for a week or two in a 'spare' tank I keep running more as a 'holding' tank than a quarantine tank. And I have not dipped any of them in many years. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I never see any issues with my wild collections.

I have bigger issues with aiptasia from frags I get from friends and LFS!

 

[Malifry97]

Have these corals gone through any special treatment before they get to you?
I assume they have been held in storage somewhere before shipping?

I think your plan is a good one.

I bring home lots of wild collected things from the Florida Keys and the Gulf of Mexico and I've had virtually no issues with pests or parasites. Besides zoas I've collected emerald crabs, porcelain crabs, sea stars, anemones, feather dusters, clams and oysters, sea cucumbers, urchins, snails (many kinds) and shrimp. I only quarantine them for a week or two in a 'spare' tank I keep running more as a 'holding' tank than a quarantine tank. And I have not dipped any of them in many years. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I never see any issues with my wild collections.

I have bigger issues with aiptasia from frags I get from friends and LFS!

Do you need a license to do this? Purely asking for my personal interest. If so, how do you obtain one?

 

[Mr Fishface]

Have these corals gone through any special treatment before they get to you?
I assume they have been held in storage somewhere before shipping?

I think your plan is a good one.

I bring home lots of wild collected things from the Florida Keys and the Gulf of Mexico and I've had virtually no issues with pests or parasites. Besides zoas I've collected emerald crabs, porcelain crabs, sea stars, anemones, feather dusters, clams and oysters, sea cucumbers, urchins, snails (many kinds) and shrimp. I only quarantine them for a week or two in a 'spare' tank I keep running more as a 'holding' tank than a quarantine tank. And I have not dipped any of them in many years. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I never see any issues with my wild collections.

I have bigger issues with aiptasia from frags I get from friends and LFS!

I don't believe they get anything real special done to them. They are getting flown into LAX directly from VietNam collectors, then shipped to me and I pick up on Monday. They are repacked with new bags and water and oxygen though at LAX. I'm really glad you chimed in here! I am hoping to pick up some neat hitchhikers with my corals so that was part of my reasoning to wait on a dip.

 

[andrewkw]

Obviously getting a bunch you are more likely to run into some issues with pests, small amount of doa ect but when I purchased fresh wild corals I never treated them differently then frags other then maybe inspecting the rocks they come in on a little more.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Do you need a license to do this? Purely asking for my personal interest. If so, how do you obtain one?

In Florida you need a saltwater fishing license and you need to be VERY aware of what is legal and what is illegal to take. And there are hard limits on how many of any one species and another limit on total number of organisms you can collect in a day. And that can vary from county to county and even city to city as some counties and cities have restrictions above and beyond the state level. I live in Lee county and they have a couple of extra rules. And then Sanibel Island (in Lee county) has even more rules.

Getting caught breaking these rules is easier than you might think. I get checked by FWC rangers maybe 1 out of 5 times out. And fines are crazy high (as I've read from others experience... I've never been fined).

I don't believe they get anything real special done to them. They are getting flown into LAX directly from VietNam collectors, then shipped to me and I pick up on Monday. They are repacked with new bags and water and oxygen though at LAX. I'm really glad you chimed in here! I am hoping to pick up some neat hitchhikers with my corals so that was part of my reasoning to wait on a dip.

Hitchhikers are a possibility... both good and bad. But I find I get very few hitchhikers. Well, I occasionally do collect a small jar of green algae at the water's edge and it always has hitchhikers! And I've started collecting some calcareous algae and it sometimes will have a hitchhiker.

Good luck and follow up with how this works out for you.

 

[jda]

If these are attached to much rock, then plan on some die off - Z&P and softies sometimes are. I would have tons of fresh saltwater ready and have skimmers on each tank. Some ammonia locker might be good as well as some GAC and other stuff. If a small amount goes, it can start an avalanche... do not be afraid to remove some pieces to save the rest. I have had "hospital tubs" in the past where I put the stuff that is starting to go when I remove it from the general population.

I would wait for them to stabilize, clean the gunk and algae off of the rocks and dip a few weeks down the road as you are ready to move into a more display-like setting - the dip will kill lots of stuff on the rocks as well as most pests. Bayer is good. Get a pack of stuff toothbrushes at the dollar store for cleaning. Remove each, inspect, scrub and swish in a bucket of saltwater that you can dispose of - do this daily at first, if not more often.

I only transship acros. They do not come on rocks, so they are different.

Not that this matters, but with the repacking in LAX, they will remove any true beauties and replace them with normal stuff. Sorry, but this is a truth. Maybe you will get something that slips through that is really awesome. I stopped doing repacks after I heard first-hand about how they do this, but straight from the South Pacific to Denver is a harder trip, so there are tradeoffs.

 

[Malifry97]

In Florida you need a saltwater fishing license and you need to be VERY aware of what is legal and what is illegal to take. And there are hard limits on how many of any one species and another limit on total number of organisms you can collect in a day. And that can vary from county to county and even city to city as some counties and cities have restrictions above and beyond the state level. I live in Lee county and they have a couple of extra rules. And then Sanibel Island (in Lee county) has even more rules.

Getting caught breaking these rules is easier than you might think. I get checked by FWC rangers maybe 1 out of 5 times out. And fines are crazy high (as I've read from others experience... I've never been fined).




Hitchhikers are a possibility... both good and bad. But I find I get very few hitchhikers. Well, I occasionally do collect a small jar of green algae at the water's edge and it always has hitchhikers! And I've started collecting some calcareous algae and it sometimes will have a hitchhiker.

Good luck and follow up with how this works out for you.

Thanks for the response