Do you dip zoa rocks?

[Robert Binz]

I’m about to purchase a mid-sized zoa rock from the LFS.

It’s about 6 inches long and 4 inches high

Can I safely dip the rock without the live rock absorbing all of the chemicals and bringing them into the tank (after a salt water rinse ofc)?

Further, would the dip kill beneficial bacteria? I’ll be removing one of my existing rocks to add this one into my 5g nano

 

[Copingwithpods]

IMHO dip the heck out of it, screw the bacteria and screw everything else on that rock, dip it, get all of the nasties out of it before it ever gets in your tank. The pros far outweigh the cons.

 

[Jvalle]

Hi I dip it only if I get zoas online or from an untrusted place. My LFS is amazing and they Have quality pieces so I don’t dip them. When getting from any place besides my LFS I dip because like copingwithpods said it’s better to be safe than sorry. Here are a few pic of my zoa gardens. They are about 1 year old and I’m a huge zoa fan. I have some morphed ones too that are pretty cool but I have all different types all over the tank. thx

 

[Jvalle]

I had GSP growing in between 2 colonies and on top of one so I had to scrape it off as I do monthly. It grows over the zoas and eventually kills them by completely covering them so I have to be on top of it an be careful not to cut the zoas. This is how it looked before the surgery today lol

 

[Jvalle]

I had GSP growing in between 2 colonies and on top of one so I had to scrape it off as I do monthly. It grows over the zoas and eventually kills them by completely covering them so I have to be on top of it an be careful not to cut the zoas. This is how it looked before the surgery today

This is how the same rock looked In November 2019. I drilled holes in the rock to fit the frag plugs and did some reshuffling over the last months

 

[Steelheader09]

I have done iodine dips and peroxide dips with good success. The peroxide destroyed the algae that was growing on the rock.

 

[Robert Binz]

Bump for the day crew

 

[William Mumford]

Dip them any and all coral. The prevention of pests is much better than any die off on the host rock.

 

[bsn_rn_cen]

I dip them all, I don't care who I get them from or how much I trust them. They get dipped. Maybe I am neurotic but it is just the way I do it.

 

[ScottR]

I’d dip a rock without thinking twice. It’ll harbor so many things. And zoas are notorious for carrying everything in the book.

 

[zoomonster]

I would say always dip. Depending on source coralrx and or lugols. Clean frags usually just the iodine and wild colonies both. The one thing neither will get is sundial snails but they are easy to spot and remove.

 

[AndyinAtlanta]

As someone would was too "lazy" to dip his first few corals, I've since learned my lesson. Nothing terrible, but one coral did have some little worms on it and a sponge developed, thankfully those worms never left that coral. You'd be surprised what you don't see right away. That coral also came from a fantastic LFS. I don't blame them one bit, stuff happens, but better safe than sorry.

All that said, oddly enough, the only coral I've ever had die on me was because of a hydrogen peroxide dip. It never recovered, and I've since switched entirely to use iodine.