tranferring critters

[flapjack1439]

Due to a leak, I have downsized. All has been moved with the exception of a lot of the live rock. I have tons of green hairy mushrooms in my old tank and do not want them transferred to the new tank. I do want to get some of the critters that reside in the old tank like Micro serpent stars, stomatellas, bristle worms, copepods and such. Any ideas how to accomplish that?

 

[SkullV]

Break the rocks off where the mushrooms are, you can also cut them right where they attach to the rock with a razor blade, then scrub the rock in a bucket of saltwater with a brush. Mushrooms are pretty bulletproof though, might be tough to get rid of them all the way.

 

[flapjack1439]

I don't need the rocks. I just want the critters.

 

[SkullV]

Getting micro brittles out of the rocks is going to be a hell of a chore. You can just start busting them up with a hammer and picking out what you want. Other option is a RODI dip and grabbing them as soon as they jump ship and tossing them in the tank. That will have a worse survival rate though. You can also try the nylon stocking trick. Stick some krill or mysis in the bottom of a nylon stocking, hold the opening wide with a piece of PVC, once the critters crawl in they get stuck and you can transfer them to a holding tank.

 

[moon jelly]

Do you have any rock that does not have shrooms on them that you can put in your new tank? When I set up my 28g, I took some rock that was in my sump of my 120g and put it in my 28g. Within a month, the rock in my 28g had a bunch of micro brittle stars. I also had amphipods, copepods, and mysis shrimp swimming around in my new tank.

 

[flapjack1439]

The bulk of the rock in the new tank is from the old one. I picked a couple of limpids and moved them.

How about the sand? I was going to take some and rinse it in salt water to put in the new one.

 

[moon jelly]

I didn't use any sand from my 120g but a lot of people seed there tank with their (or other peoples) sand