We need some good answers here!

[FishyFishy!]

Ok, there is a bunch of threads on cooking, boiling, bleaching, hydrogen peroxide dipping, acid baths and fresh water dips to get rid of pests on live rock.

I have a bunch of rock with Byropsis on it. And a new bunch riddled with Aptasia and Majano's. I don't really want to risk pests in my new tank if I can avoid it. I really would like some good opinions on what to do to make sure that there is no pests in my new build, but the best alternative for the rock as far as being "live".

I know that some options like the boiling, bleaching, and the acid bath will completely kill the rock, but I have recently read on the internet that a freshwater soak would kill all pests, and keep the beneficial denitrifying bacteria alive, in turn keeping the rock semi-live. Has anyone heard of this before? Seems like a great idea to me if it works...but will it?

I was going to start boiling it all this weekend, but thought I should get it out there to see what may be "tried and true" so to speak. I also have tried cooking, and it didn't get rid of by Byropsis.

HELP A BRUTHA OUT!

[Nano]

if your going to be curing the rock for a while, why not get some Bergy nudis, or peppermints for the aiptasia, I had a peppermint, and he keep any of it clean. Byropsis ime (which I have had little) was more physical removal, and keeping nuitrients down to a minimum for it to die off.. so I had to cut back feeding. it was only on one frag but it was loaded with it, I thought of dipping it, but was told just to pick off all I could then cut back light and food source til it dies off. worked for me :P

[Slick Fork]

If there's Bryopsis kill the rock entirely, put it in the freezer for a week and then cook it for a month or two. I've battled that stuff and it is impossible to destroy if you're trying to spare the rock itself.

Any benefit you might see from keeping the bacteria alive is going to be offset by a massive ammonia spike from all the die-off. Kill, cook, celebrate pest-free living!

[burgerchow]

My magic potion is a kalk paste. Try to keep it as thick as possible, just enough so you can suck it up into a syringe. Blast the aptasia and any other pests. Get to the root, and I've never had another one pop out. This also works for me for nuisance algae breakouts, including hair and cyano. ( note. you gotta cover the whole area though, and the rock will turn white for a short time, but will go back to normal)

[FishyFishy!]

if your going to be curing the rock for a while, why not get some Bergy nudis, or peppermints for the aiptasia, I had a peppermint, and he keep any of it clean. Byropsis ime (which I have had little) was more physical removal, and keeping nuitrients down to a minimum for it to die off.. so I had to cut back feeding. it was only on one frag but it was loaded with it, I thought of dipping it, but was told just to pick off all I could then cut back light and food source til it dies off. worked for me :P


Unfortunately there is just no way I want to risk any of my pests returning in my new setup. And that is just way too much of a gamble.

I have fought with this Byropsis for 2 years! it's just crazy. it's completely gone for a couple months, then it comes back in full force.

[Nano]

. it's completely gone for a couple months, then it comes back in full force.

lol now I'm scared mine is lingering in the shadows waiting to pounce!

[Starry]

New build... new rock?

[toytech]

Bleach kills all ,and it wont make your kitchen stink.Im moving an i wanted to keep all my live rock so i bleached it all . i soaked it in a bucket with 1/4 bleach for a day and it came out squeaky clean . After a soak and a drying and another soak its perfect .

[coolhandgoose]

I think the problem is what works for one person doesn't work for another. If you're looking for a panacea then absolutely killing your rock would be the only option to get rid of unwanted pests.

I think diligence and patience are the keys to whatever solution employed.

[FishyFishy!]

Bleach kills all ,and it wont make your kitchen stink.Im moving an i wanted to keep all my live rock so i bleached it all . i soaked it in a bucket with 1/4 bleach for a day and it came out squeaky clean . After a soak and a drying and another soak its perfect .

Yeah that does sound like a good option. Boiling it stinks like crap.

Anyone heard of the Freshwater dip option?

[Nano]

I fw dipped a rock with a fire worm in it, but it had coral too I haven't seen the fire worm in a few months and the corals fine

[whatcaneyedo]

Bryopsis was actually pretty easy for me to get rid of. First solve your phosphate problem, here is how:
Phosphate and the Reef Aquarium
by Holmes-Farley, Randy
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php
Second, buy a few jugs of Kent Tech M and use them to keep your Magnesium up at 1500ppm until the bryopsis goes away. Thats what worked for me anyways.

I've also used natural control for aptasia and any majano that I've seen have peeled easily off of the hard surface that they were on. A friend of mine shared a trick with me that worked well for him. While cooking some live rock he shined a narrow light onto a spot in the tub where he was keeping his rock. Slowly all of the aptasia and/or majano migrated to the spot of light where he was then able to remove them.

[FishyFishy!]

Bryopsis was actually pretty easy for me to get rid of. First solve your phosphate problem, here is how:
Phosphate and the Reef Aquarium
by Holmes-Farley, Randy
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php)
Second, buy a few jugs of Kent Tech M and use them to keep your Magnesium up at 1500ppm until the bryopsis goes away. Thats what worked for me anyways.

I've also used natural control for aptasia and any majano that I've seen have peeled easily off of the hard surface that they were on. A friend of mine shared a trick with me that worked well for him. While cooking some live rock he shined a narrow light onto a spot in the tub where he was keeping his rock. Slowly all of the aptasia and/or majano migrated to the spot of light where he was then able to remove them.


I have done all of the above and it's great for a couple months, but it always returns. The thing is, that I don't want to be dealing with these problems in a new tank. I feel like these are all temporary solutions to the problem. This is why I would like to boil or bleach. I would just like to see if there are any solutions out there that might make sure that they don't come back, other than those stated in the main post. I assure you I have spent countless hours researching this topic and have found no real methods to erradicate pests for sure without killing the rock.

Seems like there isn't much of a point to do anything but kill the rock entirely to ensure a problem free rock in the future. I just hate to see all of this nice coraline and beneficial bacteria die. A lot of my rock was imported from Jakarta and as soon as it was put into my tanks it flourished with amazing amounts of life and coraline on it. Will be sad to see it killed.

[DiverDude]

Depending on what you use and what you've got on the rock, you can have success with many of the techniques mentioned.

But really, for all the time and money you spend on your tank and for what reefer rock costs, why screw around ?

It's the only way to be 100% sure.

[whatcaneyedo]

I have done all of the above and it's great for a couple months, but it always returns. The thing is, that I don't want to be dealing with these problems in a new tank. I feel like these are all temporary solutions to the problem. This is why I would like to boil or bleach. I would just like to see if there are any solutions out there that might make sure that they don't come back, other than those stated in the main post. I assure you I have spent countless hours researching this topic and have found no real methods to erradicate pests for sure without killing the rock.

Seems like there isn't much of a point to do anything but kill the rock entirely to ensure a problem free rock in the future. I just hate to see all of this nice coraline and beneficial bacteria die. A lot of my rock was imported from Jakarta and as soon as it was put into my tanks it flourished with amazing amounts of life and coraline on it. Will be sad to see it killed.

You could sterilize everything you have but unless you have the patients to quarantine for months at a time you'll just end up re-introducing things like bryopsis and aptasia again. What I've done for control has worked very well on my own tank since 2008/09. Whether you consider that to be a temporary solution or long term depends on how long you foresee yourself running the tank. At the moment I have approximately 2 square inches of bryopsis in my 240gal system. Which is not a big deal in my opinion. Yesterday I also picked another aptasia off of the Derasa clam that I bought a few months ago. So are the pests completely eliminated from my tank? No, but I'd hardly consider them to be problematic. Pocillopora has actually become one of my biggest 'pest' problems lately. Every piece of live rock in my display has Pocillopora growing on it now and its at war with some of my Acropora.

[kobelka]

I have heard of an acid bath to draw out all the phosphates in old rock? Anyone know about this?
I would go the bleach route. The "live" part will come back. You dont want to keep battling pests in a new tank!