Hitchhikers on KP aquatic rocks solution?

[Seamore2001]

That's a pistol shrimp.

For the bubble algae, just scrub it off with a stiff brush. You're in a good situation where the tank is new and the rock hasn't been placed. Just police the rock and clean it up. LR is the bomb and you're getting much more good out of it than a handful of pests.

As far as bubble in a set up display, I've had it come in on frags. I've had excellent luck with emerald crabs cleaning up stray bits of the stuff.

 

[Miami Reef]

Ha thats barely anything. I think you scored some great looking rock.

Thanks!

 

[GarrettT]

Shrimp and crabs will nearly always head into bottle traps with a meaty treat inside - guzzle down some bottled water or soda and make a few. Some people used to just drill down into the holes with drill bits to eliminate the threat if they cannot get something out that was a real problem.

That didn't work for me with the gorillas, though I know many have had success. I tried for 2 weeks straight... Ultimately, the drill bit had to come out, which solved the problem rather quickly.

The drilling only works if you know where they are located. After finally locating and removing them, I chiseled some rocks for my aquascape, low and behold, I found many more...

 

[happyhourhero]

I personally just remove what I can and enjoy the life that came with the rock. You pay a premium for it and a real ecosystem is much better than a sterile tank. Just remove the bubble algae.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Try to pop the bubble(without actually popping) off the rock then get a cue tip with hydrogen peroxide and dab that small area then wash with clean saltwater.
Can you take a picture of all your LR? Just trying to compare and it’s hard to tell from pictures you posted. I got beautiful LR from Gulf Live Rock a couple of years ago and didn’t have any bad hitchhikers…

 

[JGT]

There’s more. I just chose to show this one because people are saying KP doesn’t come with bubble algae.

Still not bad and as I said got none on mine but I guess different batches from different areas will have slightly different fauna. I got premium rock. Not sure if that has anything to do with it but looking at your rock would say that looks like the premium as well.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Still not bad and as I said got none on mine but I guess different batches from different areas will have slightly different fauna. I got premium rock. Not sure if that has anything to do with it but looking at your rock would say that looks like the premium as well.

Also depends on the time of year…Migration habits.

 

[Variant]

I've gotten gulf live rock a few times and every time I learn new and improved ways to manage pests. I'm just sharing what has worked with me.

1. Use a heavy iodine bath of the rocks for a 2-5 hours using a bunch of lugol's solution. I used a spare tank with fresh saltwater + powerhead + heater and a high dosage of lugol's. The result: shrimps, starfish, urchins, odd nudibranchs, crabs all fall off and die. If the pest is large, it may cause them to just "exit" the rock.
2. While you have the iodine bath going, make sure to occasionally use the powerhead to shoot the idoine dosed saltwater at the rocks' nooks and crevices to make sure all pests are getting bathed. Use tongs to fish out any pests that came off the rock
3. As you do this, have a spare tank set up with freshwater + heater + powerhead running. As you do the iodine bath, a bunch of pests are going to die and the water will begin to get dirty.
4. As soon as you think a large majority of pests have been removed, take the rock and put it into your second clean saltwater tank.
5. In the second clean saltwater tank, dose Flux RX (flucanazole). This will make sure any bryopsis / hair algae and with enough dosage and time - bubble algae, is killed off.
6. the Flux RX treatment can take 10-14 days. During this waiting period, make sure you top off the water so maintain healthy salinity and do occasional brushing of the rock and remove any undesireables by hand.
7. After this point, the rock should be very clean and clear of pests and you can move to your display tank.

Note that I've done this process 3 times thus far and each time, there was a ton of life that still made it through like 1 brittle starfish, 1 pistol shrimp, and a bunch of copepods. This process was pretty exhaustive but isn't perfect. But it gives you peace of mind that majority of the pests have been dealt with.

I found this process to also be pretty good at removing the dreadful cirolanid isopods, which was the biggest PIA of all pests that I've encountered with gulf rock.

 

[happyhourhero]

Why buy live rock if you just nuke everything with Lugols?

 

[JGT]

Also depends on the time of year…Migration habits.

Very true.

 

[JGT]

Why buy live rock if you just nuke everything with Lugols?

Agree. Would not buy live rock to do all that. Get dry rock.

 

[TnFishwater98]

I just QT my LR in 2 different tanks for 3-4 months. Graduate each rock into the 2nd QT tank before graduating to the DT. I wasn’t in rush because it’s fun looking at the LR in the QT tanks. I’ve gotten 2 shipments and nothing bad.

 

[Variant]

Agree. Would not buy live rock to do all that. Get dry rock.

Because of bacterial diversity. I wanted to be able to quick set up a successful acro-only tank. I know I can do this with live rock near instantly. So this is why I went with live rock.

I did not get live rock for the funs of looking at a diversity of orgnisms including pests and staying up late at night trying to catch things like cirolanid isopods that were sucking blood out of my fish that are fairly $$$.

To each their own. If you want the stability benefits of live rock + the diversity of organisms (including pests), I agree, DO NOT follow what I do. If you want the stability benefits of live rock but don't want any of the pests or diverse organisms, then consider what I do.

Edit: For what it's worth, the process I use does not by any means strip live rock of everything. I have insanely odd sponges, and wild colored feather dusters all over my gulf rock to name a few.

 

[Tamberav]

KPA has cheaper live base type rock too with less pests but still has bacteria. My friend did that stuff for his acro tank. It indeed had a lot less pests... a handful of crabs.

 

[TnFishwater98]

KPA has cheaper live base type rock too with less pests but still has bacteria. My friend did that stuff for his acro tank. It indeed had a lot less pests... a handful of crabs.

Handful of crabs? Im feeling lucky that I got gulf live rock when I did….Got all kinds of life but no crazy pest.

 

[Intense37754]

I have found urchins, crabs, shrimp that just appeared after placing rock in a tank.
I may have moved mantis to other tanks but never removed and killed hitchhiking critters. The gorilla crabs I have found dead over time.
One mantis is living the good life in a tank another is living with puffers and triggers and still here him, many urchins I have traded in at LFS and a few are still around.

LFS will also give you store credit for many of the critters you don’t want.

 

[Intense37754]

Handful of crabs? Im feeling lucky that I got gulf live rock when I did….Got all kinds of life but no crazy pest.

Same here.
We love watching live rock and feel lucky when all types of hitchhikers start showing up

 

[JGT]

Because of bacterial diversity. I wanted to be able to quick set up a successful acro-only tank. I know I can do this with live rock near instantly. So this is why I went with live rock.

I did not get live rock for the funs of looking at a diversity of orgnisms including pests and staying up late at night trying to catch things like cirolanid isopods that were sucking blood out of my fish that are fairly $$$.

To each their own. If you want the stability benefits of live rock + the diversity of organisms (including pests), I agree, DO NOT follow what I do. If you want the stability benefits of live rock but don't want any of the pests or diverse organisms, then consider what I do.

Edit: For what it's worth, the process I use does not by any means strip live rock of everything. I have insanely odd sponges, and wild colored feather dusters all over my gulf rock to name a few.

Agree, to each his own. I went with live rock for the same reason you did, the bacterial benefits but also the biodiversity it brings. Pests included. Several years in, I still get a kick of going through my tank at light with a flashlight seeing the creatures that pop out after dark.

I have to laugh at the number of posts on R2R about people having all kinds of issues with dinos, cyano, GHA, bacterial blooms, high PO4/No3, cycling issues and I just want to say instead of spending all the time, money and frustration on trying to remediate all those things, you should have gone with live rock.
Oh well… can lead a horse to water….

 

[TnFishwater98]

Agree, to each his own. I went with live rock for the same reason you did, the bacterial benefits but also the biodiversity it brings. Pests included. Several years in, I still get a kick of going through my tank at light with a flashlight seeing the creatures that pop out after dark.

I have to laugh at the number of posts on R2R about people having all kinds of issues with dinos, cyano, GHA, bacterial blooms, high PO4/No3, cycling issues and I just want to say instead of spending all the time, money and frustration on trying to remediate all those things, you should have gone with live rock.
Oh well… can lead a horse to water….

I’ve never had any of this issues either. Maybe a little shows up but nothing to stress over.

 

[Variant]

I’ve never had any of this issues either. Maybe a little shows up but nothing to stress over.

I felt the same my first two tank setups with gulf rock but from setup #3 onward, it was the dang cirolanids that kept burning me. All the other pests are honestly decently easy to manage (e.g. pyramid snails, clam eating flatworms, etc.).

First real encounter with the cirolanids was when I put in a pair of clowns and 10+ isopods immediately latched onto the clowns and the clowns were just blood packs for them floating in the tank unable to properly switch because of all the isopods