Hypersalinity dip for invited live rock

Fishbird · May 4, 2020

Hi everybody, I have some live rock that arrived uncured. It’s curing now (not in my DT) but per KP Aquatics and ARCreef you can do hypersalinity dips to encourage worms to come out of their holes so you can decide who to put back in the tank and who to take out. If I did one of these dips would it kill things like feather dusters? I know I have some of those and I’d like to keep them alive. It seems like once they come out of their tubes it’s not at all certain that they’ll survive.

slojim · May 4, 2020

There's too many variables in that question to get a good answer - but yes, it will likely kill some but not all. If there is something you particularly want to save, maybe you can break off/cut off a piece of rock that it is on, but is easier to inspect. Or if you have something you can turn into a QT, put it in QT for a few months and see what you get. Plenty of folks want a sterile tank and I understand why, but for me, all the weird stuff you get on live rock (where did that come from? I haven't put anything new in the tank for months! ) is a highlight of the hobby.

xxkenny90xx · May 4, 2020

Wait, it's uncured but has worms and feather dusters?? Sounds like cured live rock to me...

Fishbird · May 4, 2020

From everything I have read uncured live rock is what you get when you order rock from KP aquatics (for example) and then there is some die off that happens as you cure it. They also call the rock that you buy uncured. Mine has bristle worms and feather dusters and I’ve been doing a soft cycle so as to try and keep them alive but the rock definitely was not cured when I got it.

Anyway, I basically agree with you @slojim. My garden is full of native plants and pesticide free because I love seeing the vertebrate and invertebrate life I can support that way. I keep seeing recommendations on dipping live rock but have been hesitant to do it because I don’t want to kill off the hitchhikers that I know I want. I’ll probably skip dipping and just keep an eye on the rock now in quarantine and continue to monitor when it goes into the tank. Thanks!