Another Furan-2 Question

J. Montgomery · Mar 26, 2008

Since it's been coming up alot recently, I bought some Furan-2 and I'm going to try dipping some zoas that haven't looked so hot lately.

I bought the API brand, which is a powder packet. It's 60mg Nitrofurazone and 25mg Furazolidone per packet.

I've seen people say to use one capsule per cup of tank water. My question is, what is the amount of active ingredient in the capsules that ya'll are using? Also, how long should I leave the zoas in the dip?

Thanks. When I get around to dipping them, I'll try to get some before and after pictures.

J. Montgomery · Mar 27, 2008

Morning bump . . . come on people, don't make me go to RC for zoa information.

J. Montgomery · Mar 27, 2008

OK, so I found my answers on ZoaID about dosing concentration. I see that Thanh recommends using RO/DI water, but a lot of people on here use tank water. Anyone tried both and seen a difference?

surfn · Mar 27, 2008

i believe most people were using tank water.

i've done ro/di water with lugols dips, but the ro/di causes a drastic change in osmosis in the paly...you can tell its stressing it out as you'll see "blisters" after a freshwater dip sometimes if you do it too long.

coral88 · Mar 27, 2008

J. Montgomery said:
OK, so I found my answers on ZoaID about dosing concentration. I see that Thanh recommends using RO/DI water, but a lot of people on here use tank water. Anyone tried both and seen a difference?

Iâ€™ve done both and the RO/DI seems to stress them. I just use tank water now and it works just fine

coral88 · Mar 27, 2008

I dip for 20 minutes

JuniorMC8704 · Mar 27, 2008

i would say the length would certainly change weather RODI or tank water is used. I would say 15-20 minutes if tank water is used. Much shorter if RODI.

FateX8 · Mar 27, 2008

i did 10 minutes using ro/di with some success
never tried with tank water but next time i see anything going awry ill try tank water

J. Montgomery · Mar 27, 2008

I dipped a couple of zoa colonies in the Furan-2 dip (with tank water) for 20min. I didn't take any before pictures, but . . .

The instructions on ZoaID say to dip every day for 4-5 days. Do ya'll do repeated dips, or just one?

coral88 · Mar 27, 2008

Depends on the reason for dipping as a preventative once as treatment for zoas that jus don’t look good or aren’t opening 3 day in a row. If zoa pox 3 days give 4 day rest and then two more days. Has worked very well for me. I keep buying wild collected that seem to be a little more prone problems the first month or so. But have had very good luck with furan-2.

Christel Mei · Mar 28, 2008

I have only used the capsules personally. IMO concentration is a guestimate. I look at the water, the greener it is, the shorter the dip.

I agree with coral88. I have seen this stuff do wonderful things to sick zoas time and time again.

I have NO IDEA why anyone would reccomend dipping zoas in fresh water after doing it even one time. It is blatantly obvious that it is very stressful. Tank water is a much better option.

Also, I only dip 10 minutes or so. I have found you get the same results as a 20 minute dip. The problem with the 20 minute dip is that the water gets cold, not that the zoas are having any reaction to the furan.

I have also found using an airstone in the dip or just a peice of air hose hooked to a small air pump will get the dip flowing all around the zoas without having to handle them anymore than necessary.

Remeber, try to touch the zoas as little as possible, always touch the rock if possible. I use tweezers on the rocks of smaller frags just to be safe.

J. Montgomery · Mar 28, 2008

Christel Mei said:
I have only used the capsules personally. IMO concentration is a guestimate. I look at the water, the greener it is, the shorter the dip.

Thank you for the details on how you dip. I'm excited about the possibility of saving zoas that might otherwise melt away (I lost my Eagle Eye zoas months ago and it still s*cks to think about it!).

With the concentration, the capsules will say on the package what amount of active ingredient is in each tablet/packet/etc . . . After looking around, they all seem to be the same concentration.

Thanks again, I'll keep ya'll updated as the days go by.

coral88 · Mar 28, 2008

The capsules have methylene blue in them the packets do not. I added methylene blue the first few times I dipped. But tried it with out it and works just the same. The methylene blue makes furan-2 green with out it it’s yellow because yellow and blue make green

Christel Mei · Mar 28, 2008

To this day, the only colony of zoas I have ever fully lost was a colony of PPEs. To this day it still haunts me, and it was only due to my lack of reaction. I treat right away now and havent lost anything since then 2 years ago.

revhtree · Mar 28, 2008

So what signs do you look for that triggers you to act?

Christel Mei · Mar 28, 2008

Anything other than happy, normal, open polyps.

If I see some polyps closed, I first give them 20 or so minutes and double check them in case a crab, amphipod, peice of food or fish caused them to close. If they still arent open, I then really pay close attention to them for the rest of the day. If by the next day I see no improvement I dip.

The fact of the matter is, if your lights are on and your zoas arent open, then you have a problem.

Letting you zoas look sick without taking action is a sure way to kill them. Every day they look bad, the chances of saving them is less and less.

I have found most times when I see a colony get "something", if I treat right away, the problems usually go away after one dip.