FarmerTy Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Hello ARC, Just to follow up with my talk, here are the three different types of dips you can do on acros and the methods I employ for each: BAYER INSECTICIDE DIP: You can find Bayer Insecticide at either Home Depot or Lowe's. Please be careful using his dip as it is a pesticide. Please note the safety precautions listed on the back of the bottle. I would highly suggest using gloves while doing this dip and possibly even do it outside. This is my "go to" dip for any acros entering my tank. Just a note, the only coral I've seen sensitive to this dip is acropora surhasoni. Others have reported the same as well on some of the national forums. Directions: 1) Use a disposable container and put the coral in it with enough tank water to cover the coral. I tend to use the plastic containers that you get when you take food to go from a restaurant. Just make sure to clean them well first. Ideally, you want one that is more wide than deep to allow you room to swirl and shake the coral in the water to dislodge pests. 2) Pour Bayer until its milky white in container of tankwater. I've never been able to overdose it so I wouldn't fret it but if you want an actual ratio, how about 1 oz of Bayer to every cup of water. 3) Leave for 10 mins in the Bayer solution 4) Shake each coral really hard in solution to dislodge any pests. I mean really give it a good shake as the Bayer will usually only stun the AEFWs so shaking the corals in the water is a critical step in my opinion. Use gloves! 5) Replace the coral in another container with fresh tankwater. This will be rinse #1. Leave it in there for 10 mins and then shake it again and move to the next rinse station. I generally have 3 rinse stations after the initial dip station as you don't want any of Bayer to make it to your tank or it'll nuke your pods and could possible kill all your crabs and shrimps. 6) Dispose of the dip water. I usually end up pouring my Bayer dip water and resulting rinses along the edging of my fences and along the bases of my foundation of the house. It is a pesticide and that's it's original intent so I figure why not get two uses out of it and keep some bugs off my property. 7) Place coral in tank POTASSIUM DIP: The 2nd dip is a potassium dip. The principle behind it is increasing the potassium level from current (which is usually around 400 ppm in most tanks) to 1600 ppm. The increased level of potassium kills most things off your corals but leaves your acros alive and well. This is the harshest to the acros of all 3 dips but I feel is just as effective as the Bayer dip but you don't have to deal with pesticides. It can be found again at Home Depot or Lowe's. The actual brand I bought is Sodium Shield but basically, you're looking for potassium chloride. It is commonly used for water softeners. 1) Use a container to place the acro in with about 1 gallon of tank water. 2) Separately, mix 2 teaspoons of the potassium chloride with about a cup of additional tank water. Stir until fully dissolved. 3) Pour the potassium chloride mix into the container with the acro and mix the water. 4) Leave the dip for about an hour. Be sure to monitor the coral during this time. Most will typically slime a lot but if you notice excessive sliming and the coral doesn't look so good, remove it from the dip immediately and maybe just do the Bayer dip instead. 5) Give the coral a good shake to dislodge any critters that may have died on the coral 6) Place coral in tank. 7) I usually just pour this dip outside as well or down the drain. INTERCEPTOR DIP: Interceptor is a heartworm medication for dogs. It is very effective at removing red bugs from your acros. Red bugs are tiny little flea looking creatures that can get on your acros. They generally don't kill an acro but you can definitely see it affecting polyp extension. They are tiny so hard to spot sometimes without some sort of magnification. Interceptor can also be used as a full tank treatment but it'll knock out your pods and potentially kill your crabs and shrimp. For the purpose of the thread, I will just be discussing how I use it as a dip and not as a full tank treatment. 1) Obtain Interceptor for large dogs (51-100 lbs). It is a prescription drug for dogs so you can potentially let your vet know what you're using it for and hopefully they will write you a prescription for it. Otherwise, you may be able to find it online. Please don't ask me from who and where but you can Google it and find something pretty easily. 2) Crush 1/3 of a large dog tablet (exact dosage not important for dip, can be up to 100x recommended dose with ill effect as some have reported). 3) Combine with a cup of hot RO/DI water to mix and dissolve thoroughly 4) Place coral in a container with tank water 5) Add interceptor mix to coral container. Please make sure you dilute the interceptor with enough tank water so that the water itself isn't hot to the coral. If possible, allow the heated RO water with interceptor to cool before adding to coral for the dip. 6) Dip acros for 30-60 mins. 7) Give the coral a good shake in the dip water 8) Place coral in tank As a general rule, besides the 3 dips I employ, I generally cut off the bases from any mariculture coral colonies or remove the frag plug the coral came with. I just want to transfer parts of the coral that have live flesh covering it, and not any rock, plugs, or even dead sections of the colony or frag. I also inspect the colony/frag for signs of pests such as bite marks, AEFW eggs, or red bugs. Any inspection that comes up with any signs, the coral will either be tossed (sorry, pretty dramatic but not worth it to infect my whole collection of acros) or the frag/colony will be held in a separate tank and weekly dips will ensue for the next 6-8 weeks until I feel safe that there are no more pests. Hope the information is useful for those planning to keep acros. Feel free to add any additional observations, tips, or tricks that others have come across while employing these dips. I will also post the video of my talk during the February meeting on this exact subject though the post is much more in-depth then I went into during the talk. Happy reefing! -Ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 Here's the video of my talk on SPS dips during the February meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Awesome guide Ty! Thank you for posting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 Awesome guide Ty! Thank you for posting! You're welcome sir. My favorite part is the freeze-frame of the YouTube video. It's either I'm telling someone not to shoot or I'm trying to hold off a hoarde of zombies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 LOL! I vote the caption reads, "When someone doesn't dip their corals..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornToHula Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Thanks for the write up, I am definitely going to be using some or all of these in the near future. When you use the potassium dip do you notice any changes in the coloration of your corals? I recently saw a presentation of dosing potassium into the tank to improve coral coloration and my curiosity makes wonder if dipping has any effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Used Bayer's today when dipping new corals. Worked like a charm! You really can't overdose that stuff... Thanks again Ty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Used Bayer's today when dipping new corals. Worked like a charm! You really can't overdose that stuff... Thanks again Ty! Glad it was helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Does the potassium dip get rid of the same things as the pesticides? Can you use this dip on LPS or softies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Both are kind of kill-alls so I use them interchangeably. If the results stay the same for me, I may transition off Bayer entirely just so I don't have to deal with a pesticide anymore. What are these things called LPS or zoas? [emoji12] I really don't know Sascha to be honest, I just use them for acros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Thanks for the write up, I am definitely going to be using some or all of these in the near future. When you use the potassium dip do you notice any changes in the coloration of your corals? I recently saw a presentation of dosing potassium into the tank to improve coral coloration and my curiosity makes wonder if dipping has any effect. Sorry, I realized I never answered your question. Actually, when my fish are back in the tank and my nitrate level returns to its usual 5-10 ppm, I was planning to run a potassium experiment.I think with the dip, it's too short of an exposure to really have a difference on coloration. I'm still curious if an elevated potassium level in the DT would have any positive results on coloration. I was planning on increasing mine 420 ppm to 600 ppm and see if I notice any difference in the corals. I don't want to do this experiment however until all my coloration returns to normal first so I have a controlled starting point regarding what best color I can achieve with just the standard 400 ppm of potassium, so it'll be a bit before I get to do this one but I'll post my results once it's time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Are you going to have a true control for this potassium experiment Ty? Or just settle with an extrapolated observation? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Always an extrapolated observation! I don't have the time to run a separate control tank on any of my experiments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Horner Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Hey ty! You videos have been helpful. I have been battling aefw for couple month now. Don't really have the right qt tank set up for sps but was going half way successful for 6 weeks. So I started a slow transition back to the display. I noticed after putting one of the coral back in after a potassium dip it had eggs tucked up under it ? In the display over night. My immediate approach was another potassium dip and chop off all bases. my question is, if you know. does the potassium dip kill eggs? If not, do you have any other suggestions? Would you qt if you made the same error or let it ride see what happens? Open to any and all collaboration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 24, 2017 Author Share Posted April 24, 2017 Hey ty! You videos have been helpful. I have been battling aefw for couple month now. Don't really have the right qt tank set up for sps but was going half way successful for 6 weeks. So I started a slow transition back to the display. I noticed after putting one of the coral back in after a potassium dip it had eggs tucked up under it [emoji17] In the display over night. My immediate approach was another potassium dip and chop off all bases. my question is, if you know. does the potassium dip kill eggs? If not, do you have any other suggestions? Would you qt if you made the same error or let it ride see what happens? Open to any and all collaboration. Hey Nick,Sorry you're having to deal with this as its no fun.The potassium dip won't kill eggs either so you'll have to be diligent while dipping weekly to cut off or scrape off any eggs you see. I used to just superglue over them and call it a day. I did make it part of my process. Dip, then inspect for eggs weeklyPersonally, if you see eggs, I would start all over again and dip for 6-10 weeks all over again. Better safe than sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.