Nearly broke my foot with LR!

rackyrane

rackyrane

Member
Before I ask my question, I have to tell you what happened, so bear with me.
Catawaba and I made a long distance trip to pick up some LR. The LFS there has great LR with alot of life/hitchhikers on it. I picked out several great pieces (one even has a large sea squirt on it) and brought them home. Catawaba called me and told me that the piece she had bought smelled like dead snails and that I should probably cure my pieces. Being a newbie, I always listen to my SWF elders. I proceeded to pick up the rock and take it to the sink for a quick rinse off. Whew, did it stink! :scared:
Well, I happened to look down at the rock and I saw the UGLIEST, little speckled brown and white baby crab in the world running towards my fingers.
This is where I almost dropped the rock on my foot. Can you imagine a grown person hopping up and down while screaming and juggling LR? Well, thats what I did. Of course, my husband was no help because he was too busy laughing, as you probably are too.

Now that you have stopped laughing, here is my question. Should I try to find this little bugger and get rid of him or should I wait until the LR cures and then see if he's still alive and risk putting him in my DT? No, I don't have pictures of the people eater, but I can sure describe him!
Be aware that if you think I should try and find him now, I AM going to wear protective armor!
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
crabs will find whaterve knook and cranny they can and you may never find it again till one day its sitting there. I had a ton of crab hitchikers survive the cycling. if you can find it, get it out and get a picture so we can id it for you. if not, you'll find it one day hopefully.
 
rackyrane

rackyrane

Member
I was going to rinse it off because it smelled so bad--I wanted to get off any dead stuff before putting it in the salt water. Just a quick spray, not a dunk.
 
catawaba

catawaba

Active Member
NO! Cured live rock has a fresh/ocean smell, not a stinky rotten dead snail slime smell.
Is your live rock cured?
 
catawaba

catawaba

Active Member
Originally Posted by teen
yea, why would you rinse it?
I always rinse the LR from a store.....gets off the dead/decaying matter and encourages hitchhikers to take a stroll.
The rocks aren't blasted with the garden hose, but a few moments of warm fresh water doesn't hurt IMO.
Then it goes into a curing tub.
 
hatessushi

hatessushi

Active Member
By rinsing it in fresh water you pretty much gaurantee that everything will be dead even that crab. What should be done is rinse it in saltwater and brush it vigorously to get all the dead stuff off but you will still have live things come out of the rock later, and maybe even that crab.
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Some things need to be cleared up on this thread, hehe.
Crabs can survive the cycle. Try a "bottle trap" to catch them. They will get hungry and go for food. Definitely hunt it down and ID it. Most crabs are bad for a reef/non agressive tank.
When preparing rock for curing, scrub it off in saltwater. Using fresh water will kill more stuff. Using tap water could introduce more contaminants as well as the FW killing your rock.
Cured rock should not stink. Slight smell of the ocean maybe, but not stink.
Curing should NOT kill most of the things on the rock (if it did we'd all just buy base rock). Not if you cure it properly. Keep the water well aerated, under good flow, and do water changes as neccessary to control ammonia.
Hope your foot is ok!
I had a similar incident happen when I was first setting up my tank in my office. Had one of my college students helping me add the uncured rock to the new tank. Something on the rock (never figured out what, I suspect a tunicate) "spit" water in his face while he was holding a piece of rock. H screamed like a little girl. Was the funniest thing I've ever seen. I gave him a hard time and he responded "dude, your rock spit on me, of course I'm gonna scream"
 
rad

rad

Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
I had a similar incident happen when I was first setting up my tank in my office. Had one of my college students helping me add the uncured rock to the new tank. Something on the rock (never figured out what, I suspect a tunicate) "spit" water in his face while he was holding a piece of rock. He screamed like a little girl. Was the funniest thing I've ever seen. I gave him a hard time and he responded "dude, your rock spit on me, of course I'm gonna scream"
:hilarious
:happyfish
 
rackyrane

rackyrane

Member
Thanks everyone. I actually didn't get a chance to spray any fresh water on it because that little crab scared me before I could rinse it off. I just put the rock in the salt water tub I had ready and put the heater and powerhead in it. I will follow what you guys said.
Hopefully, I can catch that crab.
One more thing, I saw some black and white snails on the same rocks. They are shaped like nassarius snails. Any ideas what they are? I will get pictures when I capture them. They aren't colored like bumble bee snails.
 
catawaba

catawaba

Active Member
I will continue to use warm fresh water to spray the live rock. If something dies--so be it. I probably didn't want 'them' anyway. I think of it as a sort of 'freshwater dip'
We are only talking about 15-20 seconds for each 6-10 pound rock.
before they go into a bucket of salt water for agitation/scrubbing.
 
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