Coral Dipping

Killer Karma · Jul 21, 2017

I'm starting to clean up my tank from hitchhikers / nuisance pests and get back into the swing of things. After I eradicate or control everything what is the best way to eliminate any new pests from frags I bring in. I have seen things saying the dips from BRS or MD don't really work and to use the pesticide from the hardware store and others that don't think the pesticide works that well.

XNavyDiver · Jul 21, 2017

I use the Bayer dip. One, because it's so convenient to get at my local Lowes, and two, because so many reefers use and recommend it. My tank isn't stuffed with corals as of yet, but the corals I do have are pest free. I haven't inspected the dip container closely to see what is coming off the corals when I dip, but there is "stuff" in it that wasn't there before I put my corals in the dip... so "something" is falling off.

tdileo · Jul 21, 2017

I don't dip any of my corals. I know it's a bad practice, but fortunately the only bad things I've gotten were whelks, bubble algae, and (debatable on how bad) asterina stars. All of which I hand picked off. Other than that I've gotten lettuce nudis, stomatella snails, and vermetid worms. I hear bayer is great though

Killer Karma · Jul 21, 2017

I have gotten aptasia, majano, bristleworms, algae, these damnable zoas that spread like weeds and have crap loads of paly toxin, asterina stars, and monti eating nudis. So going forward I would like to limit my hair pulling

HolisticBear · Jul 21, 2017

Killer Karma said:
I have gotten aptasia, majano, bristleworms, algae, these damnable zoas that spread like weeds and have crap loads of paly toxin, asterina stars, and monti eating nudis. So going forward I would like to limit my hair pulling

Bayer (or dip of choice) followed by h202 for algae seems good protocol. QT for a few weeks would be great to check for pests and allow multiple dips.

I did Bayer and dealt with aiptasia, hydroids, and bubble algae in last four months. Easier to deal with in QT. For me, to minimize hair pulling either QT or only buy from top 1-2 dealers. No guarantee and everyone's time vs money ratio is a different.