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View Full Version : Live Rock a little too "Live"


taricha
05/29/2015, 09:32 AM
How do I keep good stuff from the new piece of live rock I've got, while getting rid of the complete infestation of hydroids?

Was looking over live rock in the bin at a LFS, saw a neat mushroom on one. Thought hey, cool. I love live rock with interesting hitchhikers. I'll get that one.

Came with all sorts of neat stuff: mini brittle stars, some well behaved asterina stars, the mushroom (which dropped off so I could move it elsewhere), a lone Zoa polyp, sponges, feather worms.
It also apparently came with a massive colonial hydroid infestation. So the rock got put into a makeshift quarantine.

I'm not putting the rock back in my tank until hydroids are gone, but I'd like to get the brittle stars, the zoa, (asterinas and mushroom already moved) and as much other life from the live rock in the tank.

options:

Starve out the hydroid rock in QT like it shoulda been cured in the first place? how long will that take? how to get the zoa out? any way to get the brittle stars out? There's a bunch of them, and a bunch of dying stars would likely slow down the curing process. I don't really have a space I'm willing to stink up that thoroughly.

Starve in QT with a couple of peppermints and an emerald crab that I have available. Hope one of the opportunistic feeders gets really desperate and decides to pick at hydroids. Hope that accelerates the hydroid removal.

Semi-selectively wipe out the hydroids with panacur - the dewormer in the QT tank. Hope it only kills a minimum of other stuff in the rock.

Give up. Kill the rock. Try to get zoa out and then sentence the rock and all its inhabitants to execution by boiling. Don't let my wife ever find out I used our stock pot for such dirty work. How do I dilute out all the nastiness after I've boiled it? Soak it for a week or so?

anbosu
05/29/2015, 10:50 AM
Never boil live rock. I have no idea why anyone ever thinks this is a good idea.

You can cover the hydroids with epoxy, or try removing the rock from water and treat with hydrogen peroxide.

heathlindner25
05/29/2015, 11:31 AM
if you boil those rocks with zoas on them... you could find yourself in the hospital for months.

KafudaFish
05/29/2015, 11:44 AM
Got a hemostat and a bottle of super glue gel?

Jason S
05/29/2015, 12:21 PM
Super glue is my weapon of choice

taricha
05/29/2015, 01:39 PM
Good point about not knowing for sure what else might be on there and boiling super poisonous zoa could be disastrous.
I'd literally be painting a third of the rock with super glue.
Does hydrogen peroxide bath actually work on colonial hydroids?

bitwise
05/29/2015, 04:39 PM
I had quite a nice rock with colonial hydroids and simply took the rock out of the tank. It's still in a closet.

I think that might have been a bit over the top. I found a small patch on another rock and simply applied a silver dollar sized amount of super glue surrounding the area and haven't seen any since (3 months ago). Make sure you get around the immediate area. These organisms have been around for a LONG time, and are resilient.