frag swap
- Thread starter jellygirl
- Start date
BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
frag swaps can be lots of fun, but buyers and sellers need to beware. Our local frag swap participants usually price there frags between $5 and $20 depending on size and local avalibilty of the specimen. Buyes need to instpect frags for hitchikers, expecially red bugs wich can be very difficult to see through a plastic bag. I usually bring a photographers loupe with me and inspect any frag that i might buy, after that they go into a Quarenteen tank for a month to make sure that there healthy and bug free.
HTH
HTH
BrokeColoReefer
Hermit
you run the same risks at a frag swap as you do buying frags from LFS. Every type of coral and fish have parisites that can be brought home, thats why a QT is so important. Redbugs will kill corals, and invade other acropora colinies that you have. Montipora nudebranches do the same thing to nudies'. Flat worms can be brought home on clams.. Just be carefull, and treat it like any thing you buy from the LFS.
If you buy zooanthids, I would worry about flatworms, nudibranches and sea spiders. If you do buy some go over to the zooanthid forumn and read up on the different dips you can do to try to prevent introducing them into your system. I have also introduced flatworms on mushroom rocks purchased at the LFS.
skeeter-doc
In Memoriam
I would think flatworms are about the easiest of all these to eradicate once in your system though right?
Frick-n-Frags
New member
nudibranchs are usually fairly specific eaters and the ones that eat zoos hang out on zoos, so if zoos are dissappearing that is one of several things to look for. there is probably ones that eat gorgonians etc etc. watch out on wild caught colonies moreso. someone aquaculturing isn't going to put up with polyp counts going down vs up
Actually, certain things are worse and certain things are better. those stinking acro-bugs, half the people swapping frags a) don't know what they are and B)can't see them anyway, so those you have to watch for at swaps.IMO, FW's aiptasia etc are no biggy and easily cleaned off the fragrocks, so I don't concern myslf with that, but I check everything over carefully.
I mostly watch for acro bugs (if you aren't buying acros, then you can relax on the acro bugs heh) and secondarily hydroids/garbage anemones. frags on reefplugs are much much less likely to have hitchers, nowhere to hide.
