Club dipping solution

[imsqueak]

Many are scared of buying/trading corals due to prolific pests we have to deal with these days. I wonder if, as a club, we can pre-buy, pre-measure, a "cure all, or kill your target pest dip".

I don't know much about it, are some ingredients fast to expire? or can we, as a club, buy the ingredients, someone hold pre-measured quantities (for in-club resale), provide an instruction sheet by target pest, and sell a single use combo of ingredients to dip our frags? Something that members could use as a one time use for sps frags, lps frags, zoos, etc. and not have to buy huge quantities that might last a year or more.

Maybe someone who knows could "recommend" mixtures of each for each target pests by the frags they would want to dip (whoever does would be held in high esteem, and not liable).

I think it would be a great use of our treasury funds and if we bought it for and from the club's money - it would be renewable and ongoing source which helps all at some time or another. With 5-20 people buying frags on a monthly basis, we could keep our ingredients fresher than those who try to keep the ingredients to dip frags themselves.

What do you think?

 

[ct_vol]

While a great idea in theory, there is no cure all formula that is safe for SPS, LPS, and Softies... A lot of the dips used to treat zoos for nudis and spiders and whatnot would kill SPS faster than anything... Especially the more finicky ones... And again, some treatments are targetted to specific pests... FW treaments would have little effect on Redbugs... Another thing to think about is that even when dipping corals, they should be placed in a QT system just like your fish... A lot of times dips aren't fully affective the first time, or they only kill free swimming pests and not their eggs... If you put the treated coral in your tank and then a string of eggs hatch, you have an infestation... Really its up to individuals and what they're willing to do to take precautions...

 

[gflat65]

Yeah, QT's are becoming necessary (like condoms after the 60's). I use TMPCC for everything and have not lost a coral yet. It is made for Acro's, but I've used it on Acans (lords and echinata's) Leptastreas, Montis (caps, danae's, digis, etc.), zoas (they don't seem to appreciate it as much, so I usually use a SW Iodine dip while acclimating to the QT and inspect), Merulina, the list goes on and on (but use at own risk, as it is made for Acros...). That fish place sells it for $20 a bottle (treats ~ 10 gallons, but you treat in dips, not in tank). It zpas flatworms and nudi's and some have claimed that it takes out red bugs, too. Nothing works on eggs yet, though...

 

[cee]

On acros, I do a 8 hour interceptor treatment in the shipping bag after partial acclimation at high strength. After this, I follow it with a strong dose of Lugols for 10-15 minutes. This is followed by close inspection around the base for egg sacks, etc. On all others, I omit the interceptor.

Dave

 

[seased]

what brand of Lugol's do you use or does it matter?

Also, on a QT tank, would a NO light work OK for a 10 gal tank? - I know if depends on type of coral, but would it work for all frags? i.e acros, zoas, etc..

How long do you keep them in the QT? It seems that most use some type of dip and then use the QT tank to isolate them from the main display.

 

[ct_vol]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8934834#post8934834 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gflat65
Yeah, QT's are becoming necessary (like condoms after the 60's). I use TMPCC for everything and have not lost a coral yet. It is made for Acro's, but I've used it on Acans (lords and echinata's) Leptastreas, Montis (caps, danae's, digis, etc.), zoas (they don't seem to appreciate it as much, so I usually use a SW Iodine dip while acclimating to the QT and inspect), Merulina, the list goes on and on (but use at own risk, as it is made for Acros...). That fish place sells it for $20 a bottle (treats ~ 10 gallons, but you treat in dips, not in tank). It zpas flatworms and nudi's and some have claimed that it takes out red bugs, too. Nothing works on eggs yet, though...

Condoms in the 60's... :lolspin: Yeah, I finally tracked down a bottle of TMPCC... Really like it thus far... Have you found it to be affective on zoa spiders??? I haven't found one yet, but don't really want to either... I think if I do, I'm likely to just throw out the tank...

 

[cee]

Duration in QT depends on the lifecycle of the pest you suspect or are known for a particular coral. NO for acros for weeks probably isn't the best, as you'll likely lose all color and maybe the coral as well. I haven't added an acro or SPS in over a year, so I can't comment much on QT but I've always done some type of dipping.

Dave

 

[seased]

it sounds like I could get by with a stronger light - maybe some type of PC fixture in the 30-50W range, for a 10 gal tank?

For the interceptor treatment, if I had bought an SPS frag at the swap and it was in a standard bag like you get at the fish store, how much interceptor would you use? Thanks.

 

[cee]

A "pinch" or "dusting"; I don't measure it precisely or anything, but just "guess" based on the volume of water, known amount for the recommended in-tank treatment, etc. Sorry I can't be more exact, but it's just based on experience. As far as what I've read and dosed myself, it is virtually impossible to overdose, but you wouldn't want to use a whole crushed pill in a 1 quart bag of water or anything.

Dave

 

[imsqueak]

The frag swap was what made me think of the idea in the first place. Another idea is/was if 6-8 of us were to buy frags maybe someone would make a batch of dip and dip all the frags vs everyone having to make a batch.