hitchhikers in haitian rock

[drpo21]

i bought 100 lbs of haitian rock from this guy on craigslist and i noticed that there a butt load of critters all inside of it. amphapods, copepods, isopods, snails, crabs and these weird bugs i cant really ID (kinda look like 1/3" centapeds)
well i have been trying to catch these things on camara but i just cant get a shot without it being blurry.
i did manage to get this one, is it a bad one or good one?

all of this is in a rubbermaid container, should i be worrying about these bugs or no. im gonna be starting up my tank soon and i dont want to have any problems.

Thanks
Aaron

 

[ZURCSREEF]

What type of tank will you be setting up?

I personally don't like any of those things in my tank, mostly because I like mostly polyps and sps.

Crabs like that one tend to pick at soft corals like polyps and if your going for lps/sps if you have small bugs most/any of them aren't good, flat worms, red bugs, etc.

If I were you I would cook the rock, or run those pills through the tank, I forget what it is called now that I have been out for a while, but I am sure Rogger can fill you in with that, as he is the one who showed me what to do when I had that problem.

-Mike C.

 

[drpo21]

pills? im hoping its that simple. tell me more. all the rock is in a tub and not in my tank so ill do whatever to get rid of these things. i saw one bug about an inch big, looked like a roach of the sea. i heard that some isopods are not good and to get rid of them all.

im setting up a mixed reef so i guess i dont want any problems and would need to get rid of these things. oh well for the amphipods, that would be the only reason i would keep the bugs.

-Aaron

 

[ReefWreak]

Interceptor will kill most pods and crabs in your rock.

 

[Cierra1985]

Hehe, I have Hatian rock and my b/f has Fuji rock. He won't even let me put anything from my tank into his tank because he's convinced that everything is contaminated via rock. There are some strange critters but I can identify most of them (studied my share of Biology) and have yet to find anything that will hurt my coral besides bristle worms but those show up in just about every tank regardless of rock type. You will never be critter free, it's salt water. If I see a particular critter running rapid I just find something to eat it. If you are really worried about it, you can cook the rock or, in the future, just make live rock out of concrete or whatever they use. Eventually though, the critters will catch up with you. :lol:

 

[Cierra1985]

Oh I was just thinking...not sure if this is safe to do or whatever but, I know copper kills crustations so maybe you can dose them with copper for a few days, not sure if this will kill the algae also? It was just a late night spur or the moment sort of thought so don't do it unless someone else agrees with the idea. ::shrug::

 

[coralfragger101]

DO NOT use copper. You will never be able to use that rock in a reef tank again if you do.

 

[Cierra1985]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12180302#post12180302 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralfragger101
DO NOT use copper. You will never be able to use that rock in a reef tank again if you do.

LOL!! Hehe...see what late night ideas will do to people! :eek1:

 

[Young Frankenstein]

The centapeds looking thingies are most likely bristle worms, and beneficial to a reef. You can do a fresh water dip of the rock but most likely that will start a small cycle in your tank. The safest way would be not to use any chemicals, and kill all the living organisms by exposing the rock to fresh ro for a couple of days. Then cook the rock before using it.

 

[drpo21]

ro water ey...sounds like a good idea.. the tank is not running yet, its in a rubbermaid, so a cycle wont matter. jeez this rock is getting annoying <---(learned lesson not to get cheap rock)

what do u mean by cooking it?

oh and cierra thanks for the advise but copper really would not be a good idea, the rock would end up keeping the copper and then would make it useless in a reef. thanks though. how do u like the haitian rock? any of the isopods causing any trouble?

 

[Young Frankenstein]

cooking means to have the rock cycle till all ammonia is zero

 

[drpo21]

oh, im pretty sure the cooking is done, its been in a rubbermaid for over 3 weeks, and will probably be in there for another 3 weeks.
i just went outside to examine the rock and noticed that i dont see any of the bugs anymore, i even moved the rock around and still no bugs. there is a g2 skimmer in the tub and i think bugs get caught in it and wind up in the chamber. ill just wait and see if they pop up again. weird

 

[Lifes A Beach]

I quarantined my live rock for 3 months before I put it in my reef tank. I did not want to use anything that would kill the good critters on it and there were some pretty nice hitchhikers in that rock. You may want to inspect it at night with a flashlight to see what night critters you might have, identify them, and then decide what to do.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12181236#post12181236 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drpo21
oh, im pretty sure the cooking is done, its been in a rubbermaid for over 3 weeks, and will probably be in there for another 3 weeks.
i just went outside to examine the rock and noticed that i dont see any of the bugs anymore, i even moved the rock around and still no bugs. there is a g2 skimmer in the tub and i think bugs get caught in it and wind up in the chamber. ill just wait and see if they pop up again. weird

your rock is cooked now. But one you insert it in fresh water, there will be allot of stuff dieing that will convert to ammonia, and the cycle of "cooking" begins again, till nitrates go to zero.

 

[Cierra1985]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12181024#post12181024 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drpo21
ro water ey...sounds like a good idea.. the tank is not running yet, its in a rubbermaid, so a cycle wont matter. jeez this rock is getting annoying <---(learned lesson not to get cheap rock)

what do u mean by cooking it?

oh and cierra thanks for the advise but copper really would not be a good idea, the rock would end up keeping the copper and then would make it useless in a reef. thanks though. how do u like the haitian rock? any of the isopods causing any trouble?

I like my Haitian rocks, when I bought them they were already about 50% covered in coraline (sp?) algae, which I like. I've had no problems.