Is there a "standard" protocol for Bayer dips?

GroktheCube

GroktheCube

New member
I think I'll be trying my first SPS corals within the next month or so, as my tank has been rock solid stable for quite a while. I just want to make sure I have cal/alk maintenance completely figured out, and also QT procedure! In my time in the aquarium keeping hobby, I've become a big fan of a thorough QT procedure for everything that can spread disease.

I have small tanks and a few small PHs, a koralia on/off "wavemaker" to keep varied flow, two simple float switch ATOs, some egg crate for racks, and a small stip light (24" 2x regular output T5) that I think would work just fine for QT, but I'm still a little unclear on dipping.

It seems that a lot of people are suggesting Bayer as an excellent catch-all solution, but I've seen pretty varied recommendations in terms of the concentration that should be used in the dip, and how long the dip will last. 6 weeks dipping every 7 days seems to be the suggestion for how long the QT/dipping protocol should go on before it's safe to add to the DT, is my understanding correct here?

I like to have my "i"s dotted and my "t"s crossed before doing something, and I want to make sure I don't make a costly mistake here. Also, just to be doubly sure, plain ole' standard output T5s should be fine to keep things happy with ~6" of water, correct?

I would appreciate any and all advice. I take it there may some varied opinions on how to best use Bayer. If that's the case, I'd love to hear what protocol worked for different folks.
 
Everything sounds good to me. You can use anywhere from 1ml to 5ml per cup of tank water for dipping with bayor. People think the incubation period for the eggs is 7 days so a dip every 7 days should break the life cycle. The t5 should be fine for a temp holding tank. Make sure your quarantine tank has some kind of bio filtration before adding the Sps.
 
I did my first dip last week with bayer, my first dip was with 5ml with one cup of water for 5 min. After the dip i still saw some red bugs moving, the next day i did 10ml with one cup of water for 5 min. After the dip my pearlberry frag never looked better. The only down side i noticed after the dip was my skimmer went crazy.
 
nrike said:
The only down side i noticed after the dip was my skimmer went crazy.
Click to expand...

Umm...that is scary. Hopefully the skimmer was responding to something emitted by the coral, rather than responding to the presence of Bayer in your tank. Now you have me worried...
 
I personally dip 5 mL per cup for 10 minutes. This stuff is supposed to be pretty dang strong. Luckily I've not noticed a single parasite. Not like I would anyway since the dip water is so cloudy. But I'll just have one cup for dip solution and one cup of clean tankwater to rinse them quickly in.

Aside from being pretty much the most potent dip you can find, this stuff seems theraputic to sps corals. Whenever I dip any sps in it, I get INSTANT maximum polyp extension and fantastic coloration. They really seem to love it. I've even had a couple specimens in the tank that were removable that for one reason or another didnt look too hot. Hadn't added anything to the tank for a while, no noticeable bugs, just poor PE and colors. Did one dip, then they immediately look better than ever and stay that way.

I've read alot of people using only 0.5 mL per cup, but that seems too peak. 5 mL per cup for 10 minutes has worked wonders on all the acroporas and montiporas I've tried.
 
Thanks guys. And yeah, I have a cycled sponge filter, and a box filter with cycled biomedia to which GAC could be added if I needed chemical filtration.

I take it no one has observed any ill effects from 5ml/cup for 15 minutes? Is an airstone adequate water agitation for the dip, or would a tiny powerhead be a better choice?
 
There is a lot of variation in time and dosage for Bayer. Even the product itself varies, with some people using Complete Insect Killer, and some using Home Pest plus Germ Killer. These two products each have one active ingredient missing in the other, and the one active ingredient they have in common (b-cyfluthrin) has very different concentrations in each product. This makes it very difficult to determine which ingredients(s) are effective, and what concentration people are actually using. I use Complete Insect Killer which has about 7 times more b-cyfluthrin than Home Pest plus Germ Killer. I use it at a concentration of 10mL per 1/2 cup for 15 minutes. I've only used it on a couple of Acros so far, but they tolerated it just fine and it definitely killed red bugs for me. This is probably near the upper limit of what most people use, but it seems to be very effective and harmless to corals so far. I'm going to continue with this practice on all my new Acros.
 
I've had great success with 5ml per 1 cup for 15 min. Then I do a double rinse in a container with tank water. No skimmer problems and no inverts freaking out.
 
I just dipped an acro, a birdsnest and some zoas about 2 weeks ago with a dose of 20ml per cup for 5 minutes. They did not end up having bugs, but I wasn't taking chances.

They had PE less than 2 hours after they went into the tank. They seem to handle this dip very well.

I used complete Insect killer.
 
Thanks for the lesson on this super dip I call it. I am reluctant to try it before but now that everyone is using it and getting good results maybe I will try it with my next batch of frags.
Again thanks for the information very helpful.
 
Best thing since commercial salt. I dip 15 ml per cup for 15 minutes then rise well with tank water.. No problems with anything and NO BUGS!
 
I have seen a lot of different suggestions for what is best on time and amount. Most folks are using the complete and not the germ.

With the complete, you are safe to use up to 20ml per cup of saltwater for 10-15 minutes.

If you are going after red bugs that is what I would use. They seem to need a stronger dose than AEFW. For AEFW, 5ml per cup is enough.

Rinsing is a must IMO, as it is highly toxic to inverts/pods.
 
The type of Bayer that doltish just provided the link for is what I've been using. I'm going 20 ml/ cup without any negative results to my corals. Dipping for about 12 min. or so. (as others should do IMO, I tested this dosage/time on some undesirable frags before I trusted it with others)
 
Great, thanks for all the information.

Sounds like this is the way to go.

Is every 7 days for 6 weeks the standard protocol to kill AEFW and red bugs, or is a shorter duration adequate? I assume there isn't much other than strong oxidants like H2O2 that would kill eggs, and I'd guess that the coral would be toast long before the eggs.
 
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