first time with nice new corals!!

[hinky]

I was at the LFS and was scored a very gorgeous rock of green palythoa and something else, a couple of beautiful loose yellow zoa flower frags (two individual) and a few other things. On the car ride home they closed up, look dull and I guess that's what happens when you're taken out of your well maintained home.

Right now I am drip acclimating in a 1G tank that was empty. I have coral dip (not sure I trust the LFS), dimmed the lights to minimize any issue (I think that is advised) and that is step one.

Questions: 1) I realize I only have putty and accelerant. Seems the glue wasn't delivered and may need to wait until tomorrow. Do I need to glue everything to the rocks? One piece of stone could actually stand on its own like it was doing. The other frags... some of them aren't actually even attached to a rock. A few others have an attachment and one a small plug. I was thinking that if I can't get the glue, I can always put the corals eventually in the aquarium and move/glue them if I want in a day or two. What would you guys advise?

Question 2) I've seen various questions on using dip. Lots of possibly bad videos on YouTube, each forgetting steps. What's the point of drip acclimation if you're dumping the coral in a dip beforehand that is completely different water? I'm assuming that I can pour off some of the water in my 1G into another small bowl, add coral dip and then put the corals in for a short time.

Question 3) I have two individual little zoa flower frags. I hope they survive... gorgeous. What's the best way that I can acclimate and introduce them into the tank. The tank is only 5G, has a full spectrum light (3 white, 3 blue, 1 red, 1 violet) and powerful enough. Tank has cycled. 90 GPH HOB filter and heater. I'm using the premixed water so it should be crystal (and nitrate and ammonia very near 0. It has a nassarius snail, a turbo snail, and two very peaceful scarlet red hermit crabs. They seem happy with what I feed them (frozen mysis) and don't want them to snack on anything, especially if new. I've heard it shouldn't be a problem. But can I put the corals into the tank eventually and move as per the above? Suggestions? Thank you all in advance!

 

[saltyphish]

Congrats on your new purchase. Your addition now begins. I would not glue them yet. Make sure they are happy in the location you place them then you can glue them with regular old superglue if needed just make sure the main ingredient is cyanocrylic. Also when you dip I drip acclimate them for about an hour then add the dip to that bowl of water then rinse in tank water in another bowl then add to the tank.

 

[hinky]

Thanks. I took your advice and didn't glue anything. I did have a bit of a scare though. After bathing the coral I did notice this worm that crawled out of it or maybe it was there but I thought it was a coral. From the top it blends in a bit and looked like dirty gravel. When I saw it I picked it out and rebathed the coral. It's now recovering although it took some extra time.

I also found a couple of tiny snails with tiny white shells and also this red thing that I killed. Mashed the shell by accident as I tried to remove it but it's definitely some red organism that popped into the tiny tube/shell that it had. Wasn't taking any chances.

That little hairy red brush thing was hanging outside of that tube. I shined a light at it and then it slithered inside. Don't know what it was but it's gone. That worm is pretty mean so I figured he couldn't be too kind either. What are these things?

 

[asandbox]

feather duster

 

[hinky]

feather duster

Oh well.... it was a feather duster and now it is no more. Too bad as I see they are harmless.

I keep trying to find out what the big thing is. The only picture I can find that even resembles it might be a sea cucumber. But I am loathe to put that thing in my tank. Does not look friendly and is now consuming all the tiny white snails that I found inside that piece of coral. It's also not the most attractive looking thing I've ever seen, lol. But I have heard that these little white snails might be bad for zoas? Was this thing consuming them? For now, he's in a 1 half quart container of sea water.

 

[Harold Green]

You have to be careful with snails that come in on polyp rocks. There are several varieties that eat the zoa's. When in doubt best to remove it and check out pictures online to identify good or bad. Shame about the duster, reds are always nice and sometimes reproduce in the tank. I think most of us run over to walmart and buy the twin packs of loctite super glue gel. It's cheap and readily available and works safely in the reef tanks. Just be prepared to waste whatever glue is left in the tube a couple of days after opening. Hence buying several packs to have on hand. Reef epoxy works well to attach some frags to rocks and the super glue for attaching polyps.