Clean Coral

[ryshark]

Is there a way to "clean/disinfect" coral before adding it to the main tank? Some type of dip or something that is safe and can kill any parasites etc that is in the LFS water? Thanks.

 

[Sadielynn]

I do a dip in a concentrated iodine dip , 1 cap of lugols to 1 gallon of water , for 30 minutes or so then I drip acclimate them , once they have soaked , but they should still be qt for a bit (1-2 weeks minimum ) for to assure that there are no bad hitchikers on it ...

 

[ryshark]

Would that concentrated iodine dip kill ich if it was in the water? I know drip acclimating is extremely important when you purchse stuff online because by the time it gets to you the PH has dropped etc. The one time I tried drip acclimating istead of very slowly adding tank water to the bag, the water in the bucket I was using to drip acclimate got much cooler than the tank water. Maybe my drips were too slow, I dont know. How fast are the drips when you drip acclimate?

 

[Sadielynn]

I drip at a rate of about 1 GTTS per second ... I failed to mention that when I drip and the water has doubled and I empty to start over I add about 4 GTTS of Iodine , I am not sure if it kills the ich but it is a very small chance that it is on the coral .I am intrested to see what others think as well

 

[lando]

I use Reef Dip By Seachem. Sfter a treatment I do not QT and add the corals to my main. However...my LFS does QT all corals for two weeks prior to putting them up for sale.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

... I am not sure if it kills the ich but it is a very small chance that it is on the coral .I am intrested to see what others think as well

I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't think iodine in the concentrations we're talking about here would even make ich blink. If it did, it'd be a recommended treatment, I'm thinking. I'm sure at some concentration it'd kill it off, but I'm sure at that point it'd kill everything else off too.

Regarding the drip acclimation temp drop question... as Sadielynn mentioned, if you dump out half the water in your bucket once you've doubled the original amount, your temp shouldn't drop too much. I vary my drip rate a little depending on how much water I start with and how different the LFS water is compared to my tank. I basically try to double the water volume in the bucket every 30 minutes.

 

[salty27]

Can corals or water host ick? I always thought it was only fish that carry the parasite. I've never dipped or QT'ed new corals, but will start doing so now!

 

[roka64]

Just about anything can carry ich, if they are in the water or laying on corals, inverts or fish. I think it is pretty rare the you will get ich from inverts, corals or water. The best thing to do is make sure your LFS doesn't have it in their tanks.
As for water drops, I do about 4-6 drops per second. I also cover the top of my bucket and put it in my tank's stand to keep the heat stable, for longer drips...

 

[melosu58]

Brian what does that reef dip do? Is it for parasites or just a chemical dip to help the coral out?

 

[lando]

Mike...Reef Dip is mainly an iodine based disinfectent. It can help against bacterial or fungal infections in new corals and help remove worms and parasites. Here is a link...
http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/ReefDip.html

 

[melosu58]

Thanks for the info Brian