Help me recover my rock

[Mark Novack]

I washed mine down with a pressure washer, sun dried them for a week and recured them in a dark tub for a few weeks. Superb rock now. No recurring palythoa or hydrozoa.

 

[Hemmdog]

I have been told that boiling is not a good idea. Apparently there is the possibility of releasing palytoxins during the boiling so I will probably skip that part. I think we are going to go with bleach overkill and then several rinses followed by some time in the sun and a good scrubbing. Hopefully that will take care of it. Cracker already made me do some research on the acid bath and I agree with him that I should avoid that if possible.

FWIW muriatic acid bath is 1:10 acid:water. Just don’t breathe it in. I just used it yesterday to soak an old skimmer caked in coraline and all sorts of pod shells stuck to stuff. It worked great.

 

[cracker]

Please let us know how it turns out !

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I have been told that boiling is not a good idea. Apparently there is the possibility of releasing palytoxins during the boiling so I will probably skip that part. I think we are going to go with bleach overkill and then several rinses followed by some time in the sun and a good scrubbing. Hopefully that will take care of it. Cracker already made me do some research on the acid bath and I agree with him that I should avoid that if possible.

Do NOT boil or bake that rock. Boiling can release palytoxin if there are any on it, even unseen. Google palytoxin. Can’t remember the site but someone boiled it and ended up in the er with breathing problems. Baking is a gamble too. Any water deep in the rock can turn to steam. Build up pressure, and pop.

Also, if you pulled the rock out of the DT and left some rock behind there is a good chance the problem is going to show up again.

@Hemmdog nailed it. Check out the muriatic or also bleach solutions.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I found a link where Randy mentioned the acid bath , I am sure there are more

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/acids-for-cleaning.382871/

 

[Florida Sunshine]

I eliminated the colonial hydroids with a dose of fish bendazole so now their tubes are what I am trying to remove. As far as the aiptasia, I know I still have a battle going on. Not sure if I am winning or losing that one but the rocks I removed are the ones with the hydroid tubes and lots of aiptasia so I cut the amount of aiptasia in the tank in about 1/2 by removing this rock. Definitely still have a battle going on.
I was convinced not to use acid, but I will read Randy's article on the bleach. I always want to hear what Randy advises.
P.S. I knew not to bake or boil the rock. You are 100% correct, and I believe there are even other dangers that you didn't list but I can't remember them right now.