questions about pests/dipping/quarantining

[ALang]

How much iodine to how much water? and for how long?
Myka, you mentioned that FW dips aren't for LPS, so iodine is OK?
What about clams? Do you dip in FW or in iodine/Water sol??

[Myka]

Many years ago I used Lugol's solution to make my own iodine dip, and I lost many LPS corals doing this. LPS can be quite sensitive to dips. Buy a premixed dip. I recently switched to Coral Rx, but have used Tropic Marin Coral Cure and Julian Sprung's TLF ReVive Coral Cleaner in the past. As well as others I can't seem to think of right now. TMCC is iodine based, and ReVive and Coral Rx are not. I haven't used Coral Rx long enough to give an opinion, although the reviews are really good on it.

Dips are worth their weight in gold if you don't use a quarantine tank for corals. With no QT you rely on that dip to protect your reef from incoming infection. I don't know about you, but I have a lot of money tied up in corals, and I am not a happy camper when my reef gets infected!

For clams, freshwater dips are the only thing I would ever recommend, but I only dip clams for pinched mantle. Newly incoming clams get their mantles washed in freshwater and scrubbed with a toothbrush. Clams are usually fairly sensitive, so I don't use any sort premixed dip on them. They need at least a few days to acclimate to the tank before doing any sort of dipping, and even then I would only dip if there is a problem.

[albert_dao]

You may also want to consider 'after-dip', longterm solutions such as Yellow Coris Wrasses and their ilk.

[ALang]

Thanks, that's easier to understand now.
Will be looking for said pre-mixed dips. And fw dip and scrubbing for that new Cook island clam!

[Myka]

No no, don't dip it when you get it. It will already be quite stressed, and fw dipping it right away could kill it. when/if you ever do a fw dip whether it is on a fish/coral/clam be sure to use a digital pH meter when you match the pH. The drop test kits are notoriously inaccurate, and a pain in the butt when you have to test, adjust, test again, adjust...etc

[ALang]

Thanks, Myka. That's why I love this forum. I would've dipped them and not know why they won't do well.