Coral dip disaster - what did I do wrong?

[Tuan’s Reef]

IMO your dipping method is quite extreme.

 

i have 4 plastic containers that hold about 4 ozs each.  

 

I fill them each with my tank water 

 

I float the corals in my tank for 30 -45 min to temp acclimate 

 

container 1 has the med (usually coral Rx pro at recommended dosage ...only 8 drops) 

 

I soak the coral in container 1 for 5 minutes . Using a pippette to swash the water 

 

container 2,3,4 is just to rinse out the med before straight to my tank after 

 

I was wasting away of medicine by treating at big volumes of water. Just a few ounces of tank water is fine. 

 

[MergeConflict]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

 

So what would be the correct course of action for treating rock based colonies? My only LFS has zoa eating nudis, so quarantine only wont work. Is it just a matter of keeping the colony in quarantine post dip to allow the medications to dissipate from the rock, or is there some other kind of kung-fu to throw at it?

[Tamberav]

42 minutes ago, MergeConflict said:

Long time lurker, first time poster.

 

So what would be the correct course of action for treating rock based colonies? My only LFS has zoa eating nudis, so quarantine only wont work. Is it just a matter of keeping the colony in quarantine post dip to allow the medications to dissipate from the rock, or is there some other kind of kung-fu to throw at it?

For zoa's on a rock with known nudies, I would probably do a tank water + peroxide dip. I have never lost a zoa to peroxide. FW may work also.

[MInanoTank]

Did another 5 gallon water  change this morning.

 

Carbon, Chemi-Pure nano bag, Purigen and floss in chamber one inTank basket.   I checked 4 different stores and could not find the Poly-Filter - I just ordered from Amazon, gets delivered Tuesday.    I'll keep changing the floss and carbon every morning until the Poly-Filter arrives.

 

Much thanks to A Little Blue for the re-assurance and calming me down last night!

[Thrassian Atoll]

5 hours ago, MergeConflict said:

Long time lurker, first time poster.

 

So what would be the correct course of action for treating rock based colonies? My only LFS has zoa eating nudis, so quarantine only wont work. Is it just a matter of keeping the colony in quarantine post dip to allow the medications to dissipate from the rock, or is there some other kind of kung-fu to throw at it?

Not buying corals from your lfs.  😂

[A Little Blue]

2 hours ago, MInanoTank said:

Did another 5 gallon water  change this morning.

 

Carbon, Chemi-Pure nano bag, Purigen and floss in chamber one inTank basket.   I checked 4 different stores and could not find the Poly-Filter - I just ordered from Amazon, gets delivered Tuesday.    I'll keep changing the floss and carbon every morning until the Poly-Filter arrives.

 

Much thanks to A Little Blue for the re-assurance and calming me down last night!

By the time it arrives, your tank will bounce back. To be quite honest, I am 99% sure that it’s fine after that last water change. But that poly can come in handy. I always have some just in case. 

Keep on reefing and keep it come👍

[MInanoTank]

Update this morning - one of the 2 scarlet hermits is moving about this morning.   He is currently picking through the sand eating ravenously.

 

The porcelain crab molted overnight as well - scared the hell out of me I thought he died for a minute, then I saw a second one in the tank and realized it was just a molt.

 

The water in the tank is stunningly clear - I'm assuming from the carbon ... 

 

[Sosa]

I dip every coral that i buy or trade. Typically the LFs corals are super dirty with bugs. Local hobbyist ive found their corals are clean.  Aftet the dip goes to a quarantine tank. For 7 weeks.

 

I just dipped (last night) a zoa rock in bayer got it from a local reefer . I use 4 plastic food containers   1st dip is bayer and the saltwater thatt the coral comes in 15mins.i dont preheat the water dont use  full gallon. I use a small syringe turkey baster to blast the coral . About 3mins to go i fill the 2nd container with my tank s saltwateter so that its at temp.  Then i dip the coral for 10mins #2 container swish it around blast the coral.  Then i do the same #3 container fill with tank water   place the coral in #3  swish the coral for 5mins .  #4 is warm tank water i swish thw coral blast it again. Once this is done. I get the coral and do a final rinse with rodi water .from there the coral goes to my quarantine tank  i have blue legged hernits and some snails in my quarantine  i always worry that i didnt do a good enough rinse to the coral i havent lost anything. I dont use coral rx i think its a waste of cash bayer works alot better.  Sorry for your loss . 

[Beer]

Glad to hear things are turning around for you.

 

The Bayer is intended specifically for killing invertebrates. Your shrimp and crabs (and anemones) are invertebrates, the fish and corals are not. That is why you got the reaction you did. Luckily it looks like some of your inverts pulled through.

 

 

Some poeple go to more extremes with their dips. There are certain pests that are extremely difficult to deal with, but if you aren’t dealing with super high end stuff or from tanks that are known to be infested, it typically isn’t necessary to go that far. I use two dips, but have been thinking of going over to Bayer as a single dip.

 

Another thing to not is to not dip anemones. They are invertebrates, which will be harmed by most dips. It is typically easier to try to get it to release from whatever it is attached to and add it straight to the tank.

 

Peroxide is a good dip for zoanthids and palythoa and works great for controlling/eliminating algae, but it wreaks havoc on SPS. So be careful if treating in your tank and definitely don’t dip SPS in peroxide.

[MInanoTank]

Lessons learned!   Hopefully my mistake keeps someone else from making the same mistakes later on.

 

Ultimately the losses were - Cleaner Shrimp, Peppermint Shrimp and Emerald Crab.

 

The rest of the inverts survived - including 2 blue leg hermits, 2 scarlet hermits and a Porcelain Crab.   The scarlets hunkered down for a couple of days and did not move, but now they're back to cruising around all over the rock work.   The blue legs and porcelain never seemed to be affected.

 

The rocks with the zoas and GSP are the only large corals I was planning to add to this tank.   Anything in the future will be frags on mounts - some acans, some shrooms & ricordia, a toadstool, a favia, a plate, maybe a sun coral, etc.   Stuff I'm going to want to stick on the rock work, or place on the sand (the plate, toadstool, sun coral).   None of that will be on rock.

 

The plan for future coral would be to dip "lightly" in Bayer for 10 mins, then 3 rinse buckets for 15 mins, 15 mins, 30 mins, water change, and 30 mins again.