Dino experiment - full rock dip in peroxide

[Creggers]

Hello R2R,

I've been experiencing a little bit of a bump in the road in my new tank, some instability and frequent water changes led to dinos taking over my Zoanthid rock. I made a post about the possibility of dipping the entire rock in a water / peroxide dip and after some back and forth, decided to do it.

I'm making this post as a chronical of the outcome of the dip - I opted to use freshwater for the dip along with 3ml of peroxide. I used 4 cups of freshwater, put 1ml of peroxide in and began the dip. After five minutes, I added another ML of peroxide, shooting it directly at the dinos I could see. I did that again after another 5 minutes before removing the rock, letting the water drip off and scrubbing some of the dinos off.

I'm cautiously optimistic as it appears that the dip really knocked the dinos back.

Before:

During:

After:

What's left after the dip - lots of pods in here

I'll post up some pictures tomorrow - so far it looks like it knocked the dinos back a good bit so I'm feeling pretty confident in my decision!

 

[BaysEndReef]

I'm anxious to see updated pics of the rock/dinos status tomorrow. I have tried H2O2 as a whole tank fix before and it did nothing. I had the best luck with raising my nutrients and adding a UV sterilizer. Following.

 

[Creggers]

I'm anxious to see updated pics of the rock/dinos status tomorrow. I have tried H2O2 as a whole tank fix before and it did nothing. I had the best luck with raising my nutrients and adding a UV sterilizer. Following.

My nutrients are in a good spot right now. PO4 is at .04 and my nitrate at 10. I’ll be grabbing some photos of the progress but my CUC was all over the rock which is encouraging!

 

[Idoc]

Peroxide and fresh water are very good at killing dinos!

I've dipped palys and other LPS corals in 50/50 mix of 3% peroxide and water for a few minutes with good success when receiving corals. I've also dipped directly in freshwater a well to clear off possible dinos.

Freshwater almost instantaneously destroys the dinos outside armor.

 

[taricha]

Peroxide and fresh water are very good at killing dinos!

In those concentrations and times, I'd bet the freshwater was the stronger killer than the h2o2.

 

[Creggers]

In those concentrations and times, I'd bet the freshwater was the stronger killer than the h2o2.

Peroxide and fresh water are very good at killing dinos!

I've dipped palys and other LPS corals in 50/50 mix of 3% peroxide and water for a few minutes with good success when receiving corals. I've also dipped directly in freshwater a well to clear off possible dinos.

Freshwater almost instantaneously destroys the dinos outside armor.

Lights just came on and it’s clear that the dip was very effective. The coloration is brown / grey on the dinos that are still on the rock, look to be dead or dying.

The zoas still seem ticked off - but I’m not overly concerned.

 

[Idoc]

In those concentrations and times, I'd bet the freshwater was the stronger killer than the h2o2.

Yes... it's not very scientific, but in the past I had 2 microscope slides of small cell amphidinium dinos and added a couple drops of peroxide to one and freshwater to the other. The dinos on the freshwater slide immediately stopped movement, the peroxide slide took longer to stop movement.

Since then, i have been doing freshwater dips on any new corals coming into my tanks.

 

[Idoc]

Lights just came on and it’s clear that the dip was very effective. The coloration is brown / grey on the dinos that are still on the rock, look to be dead or dying.

The zoas still seem ticked off - but I’m not overly concerned.

I kind of wonder if you're dealing with something other than dinos. When I've seen dinos killed, they disappear completely, not just turn grey.

But, it could be the other fauna that was killed and turning grey... like coralline algae, etc...

 

[taricha]

Since then, i have been doing freshwater dips on any new corals coming into my tanks.

Nice. Run across any corals yet that you couldn't get away with a FW dip?

 

[Idoc]

Nice. Run across any corals yet that you couldn't get away with a FW dip?

I've only done freshwater dips with LPS corals so far.

 

[Creggers]

Not posting another photo cause it looks about the same as it did yesterday. Zoas are still pretty ticked.

I don’t see any bubbles coming off strands on the rock so I think there may have been some GHA on there as well.

 

[Reef and Dive]

Peroxide and fresh water are very good at killing dinos!

I've dipped palys and other LPS corals in 50/50 mix of 3% peroxide and water for a few minutes with good success when receiving corals. I've also dipped directly in freshwater a well to clear off possible dinos.

Freshwater almost instantaneously destroys the dinos outside armor.

Agree. FWD kills dinos immediately. Even checked that on microscope.

Biggest problems with those pests is not killing those we see, is changing the microenvironment equilibrium so that other microorganisms multiply faster than dinos.

For example, if you could FWD the entire tank they would be gone, but nitrifying bacteria, other beneficial bacteria and many corals would as well.

 

[Reef and Dive]

Nice. Run across any corals yet that you couldn't get away with a FW dip?

I’ve tried that in the past. Many LPS made it. All zoas survived. The majority of SPS died but a few survived.

 

[taricha]

I’ve tried that in the past. Many LPS made it. All zoas survived. The majority of SPS died but a few survived.

Thanks. FW dip is a good preventative measure, if we know what we can and can't do it to.

 

[anthonygf]

I have used 35% peroxide on a sample zoa rock infested and no harm to the zoa's. Had the rock in a small container of tank water and used eye dropper to target infected area. I don't think I will use that strength on anything else though, yet.