lugols bath

[leopard_babe]

When you guys acclimate your corals do you do a Lugols bath? How do you do it? What do I need to buy to do a Lugols bath? Do I do it in a bucket, bowl?
Do I use Ro water, or salt?
I don't want to add any unwanted critters to my tank.
Thank you,
Leopard

 

[greatfullreefer]

I just accimilate the same way i do fish, slow drip method.

 

[leopard_babe]

I have been reading horror stories about bringin gin worms, and atpsia with new corals. So I heard you could do a Lugols bath. Does anyone else use this method???
Thanks,
Leopard

 

[mary]

Leopard, Do you mean aptasia? The primitive anemone that can develop in your tank without necessarily coming in with anything? If the glass aptasia develop, peppermint shrimp take care of those. But not knowing what you have in your tank, peppermint shrimp may not be advisable. Hope you don't mind I am not a guy. Never heard of acclimating corals. Have just always put them in, looking carefully for small crabs and such that may not be marine safe. Just follow instructions from SWF or wherever you have ordered from. Some marine supply stores don't have great acclimation procedures. I have learned the hard way.

 

[leopard_babe]

Thanks for the reply. I was told that you could give your corals a flatworm exit and some other methods were mentioned. That is what I was referring to. When you do a look over to see if there is anything, what if you do see a flatworm, or something bad??? Do you pick it off with your finger, or what???
Thanks Mary,
Leopard

 

[mary]

Leopard, With all the flatworm discussion on these forums, can't believe someone isn't gatting back to you about them. Yes, with some blunt tweezers you could remove them. Just dispose of them in the waste. I make it a rule to never throw anything in the "waterways"? Just in case it decides to be really hardy and multiply, like bristleworms. Bristleworms have lived in freshwater for up to 24 hours. Haven't tested beyond that. They have bristles on the sides and are actually helpful in airrating the bottom of your substratum, sand or what have you so gasses don't build up. However, never pick them up with anything but long tweezers or tool of some sort. There are rubber gloves, neoprine that you can wear., making sure to never use them for anything but the marine tank and wash well after each use with clear water. Make sure there are no powders used in the gloves. Bristleworms can cause problems and are more toxic to some than others. They are introduced by rocks that corals are attached to. The bristles can get into skin. Too many of those can cause trouble if they get too large. I keep mine to a minumum. Still have plenty. A new tank there shouldn't be a problem. Small crabs can be taken back to your LFS and identified, hopefully. I have been lucky and never had any unsafe hitchiker on my corals. Have seen tiny black and red worms come out of rock but they are fine just as are many creatures that are beneficial to the tank. Live rock is really aive.Star fish babies are often spotted. If six legged they need to be identified but teeney ones are not going to present a problem unless you see them eating something valuable in the tank. I always want something strange and different to show itself but alas, rarely see it.

 

[leopard_babe]

At a good and reliable fish store, could you still have hitchickers? If I do this dip, does this kill any of these unwanted critters?

 

[sjt1107]

Hi Leopard,
I was thinking about dipping my new corals, too.
I was reading about Kent Marine's Tech-D Coral Dip and Conditioner to disinfect corals and prevent the spread of bacterial and protozoan disease and also SeaChem's Reef Dip. Out of those, SeaChem's looks more economical.
However, Kent Marine's Lugol's looks like it may be more beneficial...helps rid animals of unwanted parasites and harmful bacteria. Dang, 1oz=$11.95.
I would bet you'd mix Lugol's with salt water in a bucket for dipping.

 

[leopard_babe]

I have another post going that says it is 40 drops per gallon. I would just get a small plastic bowl, and add a small amount of tank water. Considering the price. Just enough water to cover the coral, and add the Luglo. Then just do a once look over and check for any unwanted critters. If you see any pull them out with tweezers. If not then you can add the corals to the tank.
How does that sound? I think that bathing your corals is the way to go. Iwould like to save myself from making mistakes that others have made. I like to take there advice in advanced so that I can do things right from the begining.
Leopard

 

[mary]

Wow, I've never had anything on my corals and I've been doing this for well, almost ten years. Good luck. I worry more about something great hitchiking , and the solution killing it. But, others have had deliterious things happen so better to be safe than sorry.

 

[sjt1107]

That sounds like the way to go, Leopard.
I totally agree with you about being "safe than sorry"!

 

[leopard_babe]

However I am way ahead of myself. I don't even have the lights yet, and I am asking how to acclimate corals. I keep changing my mind on the kind fo lights that I want. But I want to know as much as I can before I start my reef. When I started my tank, I made a few errors that if I would have found this board first, I could have saved myself a lot of headaches. So I figured I could get all my supplies and knowledge now before I start my reef.
Leopard

 

[mary]

Wish everyone wanted to be a responsible reefer. You will have a beautiful and successful tank. Wish I had known about these forums. Would have prevented problems that arose and would have saved a lot of money. Buying from your local LFS is much more expensive than it need be. I read books for a year or more before going into this hobby. Not as humbling as childrearing but almost!

 

[sjt1107]

LOL...
Well, I'm sure you'll learn a lot from this message board. I know I have. I've also read a lot of conflicting information, too.
I have 265W of power compacts on my 90gal. It's 48" deep and I really think because of that I should eventually increase my lighting.
When I was researching everything regarding my new tank I really wanted MH. However, after buying everything at the LSF in one lump sum, I decided against the MH because they were so much more expensive.
Personally, I think the best way to go is a combinations of MH and power compacts. I'm hoping to someday upgrade, too.

 

[leopard_babe]

My LFS is very good. The have 10 frags for $99. They are very reliable. All of my fish are from there, and most of them are CB at the store. This store, to me, is priced fairly. I have not bought anything over the net yet. I am more likely to buy corals on the net, then fish. I am very picky about my fish, and how they look. If I can't see it I can't buy it. I think with corals, I would be more apt to buy it even though I can't see it. I learned things the hard way, and lost ALOT of fish. I felt bad for my fish, I had like the tank of doom. Then with some good advice, I fix the problems, and now I have a happy and healthy tank. So I now want to start a reef. First thing is first, I need some new lights.
thanks for the help,
Leopard

 

[leopard_babe]

I am looking at mh with pc, but the light fixture that best fits my needs is like 500 bucks. I don't really want to spend that on lights. So I am still looking around. I will see what I can do.
Thanks,
Leopard

 

[sjt1107]

yeah, mh stuff is $$$.
I haven't found a good LFS in my area, yet. One that was fairly priced never has a good selection of fish...they're always, "waiting on another shipment". The last time I visited, several of their tanks had fish with ich! Now, I don't want to buy, fish, coral or lr from them because almost every tank had a fish with ich!
I have bought several things from SWF.com. My last order included a colt coral, long tentacle plate coral, flame angel and a royal gramma. The fish were beautiful...as were the last two fish I ordered from them...a yellow tang and a naso. The naso died from head and lateral line disease within the 6 day return period, but my husband flushed him before I could tell him not to! :-(
All the coral I have bought from SWF have been huge specimens...larger than the ones I've seen at any of the LFS for the $. The only disadvantage is you can't pick them out and that's part of the fun of having an aquarium.

 

[leopard_babe]

So your experience with ordering coral over the internet, is that you have had good luck? Would you do a luglos bath even after you order them over the internet??
Thanks for the advice, I am new to reef, and I want to do everything right.
Thanks for the help!!!!
Leopard

 

[sjt1107]

Yes, I have been very happy with my corals I've bought on the net.
bought on the net:
green star polyps
blue striped mushrooms
mushroom leather
long tentacle plate coral
colt coral
ricordia
bought from LFS:
Yellow polyps
fluorescent green frogspawn
I didn't dip any of the listed coral, but I'm going to dip corals I buy in the future. I've read that the parasite ich (which is a protozoan) can be transmitted from tank to tank if infected fish are living in the same tank with the corals. This sounds logical given the life cycle of the parasite.
In its free swimming stage, the parasite finds a host...fish. It then feeds on the host and forms a protective crust over itself. This is when the aquarist first realizes the fish has ich. The parasite stays attached to the fish for approx 7 days or until maturity and then leaves the host and enters the water for as long as 18 hours before it attaches to a suitable substrate...rock, sand, coral, aquarium walls. Then the cells within the cycst divide and form several hundrend off-spring. The entire cycle lasts from 4 to 28 days. If it doesn't find a suitable host, it dies.
Anyway, that's one reason why I'm going to dip my corals in the future. I've read other horror stories of what new corals have brought into the home aquarium, too.
Do you think Lugol's is the best product to use? I haven't done a search regarding dips, yet. But is sounds like you've heard a lot obout Lugol's. I guess the iodine in it would be beneficial to the coral, too. The other products I've looked at don't have that ingredient...that I know of.
Sorry to go off on the ich tangent.

 

[leopard_babe]

No, I like learning new things. That is a good explaination of ich. It also made me want to bath my corals. I have heard that luglos is mostly used by the people that I have talked to. Some others have said something about a flatworms dip. So far the general consencus was, Temperature acclimate, Luglos dip, and a quick look over for unwanted critter, if any are found remove them with tweezers, and then add the coral to the tank.
I think I have a post called acclimating corals where people explain what they used, and how they acclimate there corals. When I get my coral I will definately use this dip!!!!
HTH
Leopard