TTM- what about corals that come with piece LR

[yraveh]

Good morning,
Is there a TTM method for non fish purcahses? how do I know that the frag/ small piece of LR that comes with the coral is not infested by Ich cysts/ larva?

Thank you
Yehuda

 

[MondoBongo]

i dip my corals.

TTM doesn't really work on corals because any ich cysts that would potentially be attached to them would be in the wrong life cycle stage for TTM to be effective.

since corals can't harbor an active infection, anything on them would be encysted, in which case the 72 day rule applies.

that said, that risk is probably low.

 

[Sk8r]

I've put that sort of thing straight on in for more than twenty years and never had a problem. Dip, visually check, into the tank. That said, I found a foursome of snails noshing on a montipora last night and am now on the lookout for others, because I'm sure they rode in as eggs. The good news is---snails can be spotted and manually removed.

 

[yraveh]

By "Dip" you mean saltwater-correct?
can you do a 5 min- freshwater dip to corals? Can a freshwater dip even kill the encysted form?

 

[yraveh]

I found a foursome of snails noshing on a montipora last night and am now on the lookout for others, because I'm sure they rode in as eggs.

How long ago was your most recent purchase?

 

[MondoBongo]

By "Dip" you mean saltwater-correct?
can you do a 5 min- freshwater dip to corals? Can a freshwater dip even kill the encysted form?

saltwater, with something else.

there are a variety of dip products out there for corals. i tend to keep two as my primaries:

1. an iodine based dip (there are lots of them out there, this is what i have currently although there are plenty of similar products that do a great job):

http://www.seachem.com/reef-dip.php

2. bayer insecticide. this is a very purposeful chemical for acropora only that i keep on hand. i wouldn't recommend this for anything outside of acros as i am not sure how it would effect other types of corals. it's not even considered safe for all kinds of acros.

you mix these with saltwater and then let the coral soak for ~15 minutes or so, blowing it off gently with an eye dropper to make sure nothing is left untouched by the dip, then rinse very very well in fresh saltwater.