Tank nasties - nuke it all or QT/clean

[SailorDan]

Hello,

BLUF: I have live rock with nasties - should I nuke it and eliminated threat or try to clean it and salvage the biodiversity?

I bought a 90g well established tank that came with some great pulsing xenia colonies and awesome live rock full of pods, worms, and bristle stars. It was also full of bubble algae, hair algae, some majano (I think) and a few aiptasia. It has been fishless for about 2mos.

I pulled out some of the choice pieces of rock with attached xenia and aggressively scrubbed off the hair and bubble algae in a separate basin of tank water, rinsed in another bucked of clean tank water and placed in QT. While cleaning I also found and removed some bristle worms and a brown spotted flat worm.

My thought was to wait and watch for re-emergence of nasties, but after reading more about fights other reefers have had with bubble algae, aiptasia and worms, I'm wondering if I should just cook the rock (1-2 mos in the dark with water changes) and avoid any future headaches. The live rock is covered with some beautiful coralline algae and is teaming with pods and micro bristle stars which I would hate to lose.

I currently have a 50 gal system that was started with pukani dry rock and has been up for about 6 months. It is pest free and honestly a little too sterile even with using NSW. I'm looking forward to some biodiversity, but am worried about planting the seeds (spores) of future bubble algae/aiptasia/nasties battles.

So I see my options as:

1)Keep it all - Clean/QT all of the rock and hope for the best.

2)Nuke it all - Closely inspect some of the xenia, frag it and move it to my clean tank; nuke everything else.

3)Keep some - Continue with QT on choice pieces, nuke the base rock and allow it to repopulate once re-introduced.

What would you recommend? And if I go the QT route, how long should I wait to check for bubble algae/aiptasia growth?

Sorry for the long post, appreciate any input.

Dan

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Dan, a picture would be helpful in making a decision.

 

[m0nkie]

unless you have some crazy QT schedule for all wet things in the future, you will get bubble algae and aptasia. they are not hard to take care of. some peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs will help.

as for flatworms and pest bugs... QT and dip. It will kill all the pods on that rock. But they are much more painful to deal with down the line..

IMO bristle stars, worms, pods, coralline algae will all come down the line. Just need some patience. I wouldn't risk putting flat worms or other pests in the tank. I'd "wash" the rocks with muriatic acid to kill everything.

 

[CStrickland]

None of those nasties are that serious. I think nuking the tank would be an overreaction.
Kalk paste for aiptasia / mojano and careful manual removal of bubble algae, plus nutrient control for gha. These are normal tank things, all in the game. I would be on the look out for any more flat worms, some are worse than others so if you catch one it's a good idea to post a pic for id.

 

[billdogg]

None of those nasties are that serious. I think nuking the tank would be an overreaction.
Kalk paste for aiptasia / mojano and careful manual removal of bubble algae, plus nutrient control for gha. These are normal tank things, all in the game. I would be on the look out for any more flat worms, some are worse than others so if you catch one it's a good idea to post a pic for id.

^^^What he said^^^

I would much rather have the diversity and have to deal with a few minor issues (that most tanks will have sooner or later anyway)

 

[SailorDan]

Thanks for the input.

DKuhlmann, I've already removed most of the bubble algae and GHA, some of the rocks currently in the QT tank were completely covered. There is still a small amount in the new (to me) tank in hard to reach rocks and free floating. Mostly I'm concerned about the inevitable spores that may be in the tank now and possibly still on the rock after a rinse in clean salt water.

Dirty tank - love at first sight

Some elbow grease, just holding rock right now, waiting for QT or cooking

Choice rock in QT following a close inspection, bubble algae removal and H2O2 scrubbing where algae was found

Current tank with the exception of a previous GHA outbreak and some occasional redslime/dino blooms - pest free

m0nkie - After much reading on RC, I decided a QT tank was a must have. I FW dip and QT all fish for 4 weeks, frags are dipped in Bayer, QT'd for a week, redipped and then added to tank. I could be better, some cheato was tossed straight in and inverts go straight in - so yes, I will probably eventually get something and as CStrickland mentioned a little bit of headache is probably part of the game.

I will be building a stand, so will probably let the new to me rock continue to sit, run some flat worm exit, and take some time to continue manual removal of any new emergence I see. I get the impression that bubble algae and aiptasia are both manageable problems. And worst case scenario, I conduct a tank tear-down in the future, which puts me right where I'm considering going now.

I'm leaning towards being as vigilant as possible in my current pest removal and roll the dice, I can always nuke the tank later. :rollface::rollface:

 

[Dkuhlmann]

^^^What he said^^^

I would much rather have the diversity and have to deal with a few minor issues (that most tanks will have sooner or later anyway)

He is a She

 

[CStrickland]

thanks D!
it would be more understandable if my avatar was like a fish or a motorcycle lol
I don't mind :beer:
but I do try to correct it every now and then just so there's a recognition of how many of us are around
keeps the boys in line and the girls comfy IMO

gots ta represent the ladies!