Rock Flower Anemone - Dip in Bayer - Is it Safe?

[that Fish Guy]

I am getting a Rock Flower Anemone.

I do not have much experience with Nems but I Dip all my Coral in Bayer before I put them in the Tank.

My Question is is it safe to Dip a Rock Flower Anemone (Or any Anemone for that matter) in Bayer or will it Hurt or Kill them?

[Wonton Soup]

Do not dip anemones in any "typical" coral dip.

For one, anemones are not corals, they are invertebrate animals. Or at the very least you should think of them that way.

There are few if any coral pests that will affect your anemone in ways that could be helped by coral dips.

Coral dips kill invertebrates and will most likely kill your anemone as well.

[that Fish Guy]

Do not dip anemones in any "typical" coral dip.

For one, anemones are not corals, they are invertebrate animals. Or at the very least you should think of them that way.

There are few if any coral pests that will affect your anemone in ways that could be helped by coral dips.

Coral dips kill invertebrates and will most likely kill your anemone as well.

1. Well Corals are Inverts and Coral Dips don't kill them so do you know for sure they will harm Anemones? Or are you just guessing? Have you actually tried it?

2. Bayer is not a "Traditional" Coral Dip.

3. They don't make an "Anemone Dip" so what am I supposed to do? If there was such a thing I would buy it but there isn't.

[scooter31707]

Anemones are like snails, shrimp, and crabs. It's really not a coral, it's just sold as one. Stick a shrimp or snail in your Bayer dip and see what happens, so you can get a picture of what your anemone will look like after you dip it. Like Wonton Soup mention there are not pest that really bothers a anemone. Answer your last question, Quarantine is your friend.

[hotelbravo]

Flat worms can

[JRR1285]

Both TLF ReVive and Seachem Reef Dip mention being safe for anemones on the bottle and on their websites.

Edit:

I have never tried either in that capacity.

I have also read about people dipping clams in Bayer and the clams surviving just fine. I don't know about long term, but the info is out there at least for the initial dip. I am *guessing* it may be safe since anemones are rather "simple" similar to corals with regards to lacking a CNS. That is why Bayer works so well on pests but does not harm corals.

[JRR1285]

My concern with dipping an anemone (or clam for that matter) would be that those animals can take in a decent volume of water. I would be worried that it could be difficult to get them to expel all of the Bayer before being placed in the tank.

[that Fish Guy]

Flat worms can

Exactly.

I know nothing attacks Nems themselves but I do not want to introduce Flatworms to my Tank.

So nobody Dips Anemones then?

And people have tried it and Killed them?

Or is this all Speculation.

[that Fish Guy]

My concern with dipping an anemone (or clam for that matter) would be that those animals can take in a decent volume of water. I would be worried that it could be difficult to get them to expel all of the Bayer before being placed in the tank.

That is an excellent point.

I didn't think of that.

[that Fish Guy]

Both TLF ReVive and Seachem Reef Dip mention being safe for anemones on the bottle and on their websites.

Edit:

I have never tried either in that capacity.

I have also read about people dipping clams in Bayer and the clams surviving just fine. I don't know about long term, but the info is out there at least for the initial dip. I am *guessing* it may be safe since anemones are rather "simple" similar to corals with regards to lacking a CNS. That is why Bayer works so well on pests but does not harm corals.

Anybody ever try Bayer (Actually Try it - A lot of people have been posting assumptions here about using it without actually doing it - I need Facts not Guesses).

[Wonton Soup]

You sound like a really rational person so I'm sure that you'll be fine dropping your anemone into a vat of chemicals to kill all the pests that it won't have.

[MoneyGone]

If you are that worried about pest you should probably put the Anemone in a QT environment and observe it before putting it into your display. I dip all my SPS frags in Bayer but it is not always 100% going to kill off all pest/eggs.

[that Fish Guy]

You sound like a really rational person so I'm sure that you'll be fine dropping your anemone into a vat of chemicals to kill all the pests that it won't have.

It could have Flatworms.

That is why I want to Dip.

I do not want to get Flatworms into my Tank.

[that Fish Guy]

If you are that worried about pest you should probably put the Anemone in a QT environment and observe it before putting it into your display. I dip all my SPS frags in Bayer but it is not always 100% going to kill off all pest/eggs.

Don't have a quarantine so I cannot do that otherwise I would.

[Dkuhlmann]

The ONLY thing that nems are dipped in is Cipro. I suggest you go post this in the anemone and clownfish forum and see what replies you get. D-Nak and OrionN are two experts on anemones. I suggest you check with them.

You can obviously do what you want but are you willing to pay the consequences of the life of an animal? I wouldn't dip it, but that's me.

[CuzzA]

Don't have a qt? Set one up. Hell a 10 gallon tank, and hob filter or sponge air filter and heater would be about $30. A lot less then the price of that nem or most things in your tank. Hell for a few more dollars you can add a small Maxijet.

[fishome25]

I will preface by saying I never tried and I don't know if it will hurt the anemone.
That being said, I'm surprised that people are grouping sea anemones in with mollusks and arthropods. Anemones and cnidarians, just like coral.
If you are worried about it sucking up the bayer and brining it to your tank, all you have to do is irritate the anemone and it will expel nearly all the water.

[joshky]

Anytime I've heard of someone dipping an anemone it's turned out badly, I would advise against it. I second quarantining it for potential pests.

[kpg007]

I like to check out VIP Reef Rock nems page, but when I went there yesterday, I saw this:

"RFA's and Salifert Flatworm Exit:

Be warned!

Over two weeks ago we treated our holding systems with Salifert Flatworm exit and it caused an almost total wipeout of our rock flower anemones and Florida ricordea. After several water changes and carbon media replacement we have got the situation under control. The minute we noticed our nems dying we started transfering them to other systems that were not treated and some of them came back, but a large majority did not make it. "

So, personally I would not dip in chemicals.

Just a thought though - I was thinking that nems are soft like zoas, and with zoas I can fresh water dip with no issues to the zoa, but causes all the parasites to drop off. Can you do something like that with a RFA?

[joshky]

The problem is anemones fill themselves up with water, so if you treat them they could expel some/all of their water and fill themselves back up with the bayer. This would inevitably be a deadly scenario I'd imagine.

[that Fish Guy]

I like to check out VIP Reef Rock nems page, but when I went there yesterday, I saw this:

"RFA's and Salifert Flatworm Exit:

Be warned!

Over two weeks ago we treated our holding systems with Salifert Flatworm exit and it caused an almost total wipeout of our rock flower anemones and Florida ricordea. After several water changes and carbon media replacement we have got the situation under control. The minute we noticed our nems dying we started transfering them to other systems that were not treated and some of them came back, but a large majority did not make it. "

So, personally I would not dip in chemicals.

Just a thought though - I was thinking that nems are soft like zoas, and with zoas I can fresh water dip with no issues to the zoa, but causes all the parasites to drop off. Can you do something like that with a RFA?

But did it really kill them or was it user error?

Flatworm Exit is supposed to be very very safe.

The problem is when the Flatworms Die they give off toxins.

To combat the toxins your are supposed to do a big water change after dosing and use a ton of carbon.

So what I would like to know is.

Did they do a huge water change? And if so maybe they didn't do enough.

Did they use Carbon? And if so maybe they didn't use enough.

These are questions you must ask.

Most people do not have problems with Flatworm Exit.

Then again most people do not have big tanks either.

It sounds like they have a large scale operation so they would have to do a huge water change and spend a lot on carbon.

Maybe to save time and money they didn't do as much as they should have.

But maybe they did.

My point is we must ask them more about what happened and get the facts before jumping to conclusions.

Most people have no issue using Flatworm Exit.

And I would get most that did either didn't read the directions well enough or were lazy and or cheap.

If done right you should have no problems.

[solitude127]

Do you dip Shrimp or Crab? They can be a carrier to Flatworms as well.

[kpg007]

But did it really kill them or was it user error?

Flatworm Exit is supposed to be very very safe.

The problem is when the Flatworms Die they give off toxins.

To combat the toxins your are supposed to do a big water change after dosing and use a ton of carbon.


I don't know how they went about the treatment, I just saw the post.

I recently used Flatworm exit, and read the directions carefully. From what I understood, the toxins are a threat to fish, and should not be a threat to coral (soft or hard). Water changes were recommended for large die offs of flatworms. When I dosed, my tank was relatively clean, so I just reloaded the carbon. Fish were fine, but all of my SPS crashed a few weeks later. LPS and manjo nems were fine. It was probably just a coincidence, but I will be very careful with FW Exit from now on.

Back on topic - Why not buy a cheap RFA and dip it first (let us know how it goes)? I dipped a clam once, it was PO'ed for weeks, but eventually came around and was fine.

[organism]

It could have Flatworms.

That is why I want to Dip.

I do not want to get Flatworms into my Tank.

Then dip it in tank water with flatworm exit, we already know it doesn't kill nems.