How to get rid of unwanted critters in new live rock?
 

Bored at work and thinking on the upcoming upgrade. I'm getting about 50lbs of new rock, gonna run it in the new tank for awhile before making the switch.

Has anyone ever tried the soda water bath for ejecting critters out of their hidey holes?

Any other suggestions?

Nothing beats a Flame Thrower for getting rid of unwanted critters... :mrgreen:

I mean the critters on the inside not the out. I don't want a pile of hot rubble :razz:

I've heard of people using HYPER-salinity to drive out hitchhikers - say 1.035 or more.

The flame thrower suggestion isn't all that ridiculous. Some people have used butane torches to kill hydroids/aiptasia and other annoying things stuck on LR.

No I didn't think it was ridiculous at all, dramatic though :wink:

I've previously used a powerwasher to get rid of unwanted algaes and such. Works like a hot damn! I just find it easier to deal with things on the surface much easier to deal with than things that live inside the rock such as crabs or eunicid worms. I'm mostly worried about things that would damage fish or corals (and I don't really factor hydroids or aiptasia into that as they can be dealt with fairly easily IMO)

I used club soda on a few stubborn pieces of new rock. Had alot of holes for critters to hide in. Just used a turkey baster on holes you could inject, and on bigger areas I just poured it right out of the can or bottle. Found a lot of crabs that way - about 13 varying in size from 1/2 cm to 2 cm, and had very little if any greying on the rock (which would be die-off). I thought it worked great.

Oh ok, I thought maybe you had to dip the whole rock in it. Good to know :biggrin:

To remove a critter I held it over a bucket and injected a turkey baster with water. It just slide out, but I knew exactly what hole it was in. Had no effect on the rock at all.

i would leave the stuff in there and put it spread out in a tank to cure, then remove unwanted critters as they shpw up.. if you have the time... the problem with dipping is you also remove the wanted critters and if you do it wrong can kill the bacteria in the rock. the best bet is to get dead drhy rock and resead it, but this takes time that most people don't want to waist.

Steve