Inspecting corals

NanCrab

NanCrab

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I'm sorry to bombard you all.with so many questions but I'm getting my very first frags tomorrow. They are from a member's tank but I've been watching a bunch of videos and still feel poorly prepared. Other than the obvious worms, how do I know what to look for on a new piece of coral, or on the frag plug itself? Does anyone remove frags from the plug they came on and glue them to a new one like I've seen in a few videos?

Is Bayer dip enough or should I do a combination of dips? When dipping do.you have multiple buckets of saltwater with heaters in them to keep the water warm during the multi step process? I dont think I need a professional dipping station but I just want to do it right and not shock the corals.
As always thank you for your help! I have watched a ton of videos but also like the experiences of you guys as well.
 
  • Remove coral from frag plug it came on most of the time & inspect frag plug.
  • I use a magnifying glass in good light to examine corals looking for eggs in particular
  • I typically use Thrive or CoralRx to dip. I have Bayer but it's just too toxic to be messing with all the time.
  • I pour the dipping agent into a container along with the water the frag came with.
  • Swish the coral, dipping agent and bag water around for a few minutes and see if anything falls off.
  • Then I start to drip acclimate the coral to the tank I'm going to add it to.
  • Continue with drip until acclimated.
  • Final rinse is in a small container of fresh tank water.
  • Then in to the coral QT tank.
The whole process doesn't take all that long and doesn't use too much water. Typically I'll use a few pints for a frag or two since I usually dip and drip in a pint of water (assuming the frags came with that much). In my procedure I depend on my eyes and the coral QT. If I see anything even questionable, I just throw the whole thing out, not worth the risk. I might be a bit more aggressive in my dipping procedure if I didn't have the QT but I depend on it to catch anything I might have missed. To that end, I don't keep any livestock in the QT, just corals. That way if there is some pest, it'll have the opportunity to do it's worst while in QT.
 
I’ve never personally used Bauer Dip. Instead I usually use Coral Rx, but I have done a few others.

Coral dips are generally short term (e.g., 10-15 minutes). If you use a bit of your tank water, it will already be the correct temperature, and shouldn’t lose too much heat over such a short time period. So no heaters are necessary.


What you will need is:
•a coral dip
•2 containers (1 for water plus dip, 1 for just tank water which is used as a rinse after the dip)
•pipette
•pre-warmed tank water

I would stick with a singular dip until you’ve had some practice. The dipping process is very stressful on corals, and too long a time can easily kill them.

Taking them off the plugs is recommended. But nobody would blame you if you kept them on the plugs until you gained some more working-experience. If you’re talking about a soft coral, I would definitely recommend leaving them on the plugs (for now). Soft corals, depending on the species, each offer unique challenges if you decide to remove them from plugs.
 
Use the pipette to gently blast the coral with current while its dipping, especially after the first few minutes.

you will like see stuff coming off the coral.
•detritus/dust
•Critters

some of these critters will be good, some bad. That you will gain and learn with experience. If in doubt, assume it’s bad. For these you can either toss them out, or quarantine them in a small separate cup/container (no heater or life support needed). This latter option can give you an opportunity to post photos on here, or scour in the web for help.
 
ill also add my little 2 cents. Sometimes its hard to take a frag off the plug...especially if they have started to encrust the plug. So i just follow what @ActiveAngel and @jcook54 have said. I dont have a coral QT setup so if i can pull off of the plug then i just go ahead and mount the frag onto my rock structure after doing the dip.
 
Yep these guys have it covered.
I use Bayer dip although its not Bayer anymore - its BioAdvanced and Lowes carries it. I drove to HD first and they didn't have it.
I was scared the first time I did it, but now, its pretty straight forward.
 
I add an extra step depending where the frag comes from . You can mix a really strong batch of dip rx like 1:1 and dip the frag plug almost to the coral . More then then likely any nasties will be on the plug , then from there into a normal ratio dip and submerge the entire piece like normal .
 
Ok guys, another question I didn’t anticipate. By the time I got the corals home they were all closed. We put them right into a warm insulated cooler for transport. I do not yet have the necessary equipment for drip acclimation so everyone floated for about 30 minutes. Their first dip was closed. I assume I will need to re-dip when they’re open. 2 of them are still closed, should I be worrie?
 
I wouldn't worry about it. Most of the nasties live on the frag plugs anyhow. Of course there are exceptions but everything's always going to be all closed up when you get it. Heck, if you move it within the tank they'll close up for a little while, usually. If they are in the display or QT right now, I wouldn't dip them again.
 
Corals do not require drip acclimation. The important things for corals are temperature and salinity. If salinity is already +/- 0.001 SG, then just float for 15-30 minutes.

After that, you can dip them, rinse in Saltwater, then transfer.

And no, you do not need to dip them while open. Generally, this never happens. It’s a good question though; and is possible it will affect results slightly.
 
jcook54 said:
I wouldn't worry about it. Most of the nasties live on the frag plugs anyhow. Of course there are exceptions but everything's always going to be all closed up when you get it. Heck, if you move it within the tank they'll close up for a little while, usually. If they are in the display or QT right now, I wouldn't dip them again.
Click to expand...
They are in the QT. How much flow is too much? I have the power head turned way down but they’re still getting a good bit. I just have the blue lights on right now while they get acclimated.
 
ActiveAngel said:
Corals do not require drip acclimation. The important things for corals are temperature and salinity. If salinity is already +/- 0.001 SG, then just float for 15-30 minutes.

After that, you can dip them, rinse in Saltwater, then transfer.
Click to expand...
Ok cool. I watched a video that said they did but maybe that is just an opinion. I checked the salinity and pH in all water before transfer. I have the Bayer dip but used a Seachem dip that’s supposed to be similar to Coral rx. Didn’t see anything recognizable as a worm or anything in the bowl afterwards but there was debris, not sure what it was.
 
NanCrab said:
Ok cool. I watched a video that said they did but maybe that is just an opinion. I checked the salinity and pH in all water before transfer. I have the Bayer dip but used a Seachem dip that’s supposed to be similar to Coral rx. Didn’t see anything recognizable as a worm or anything in the bowl afterwards but there was debris, not sure what it was.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the plastic from the bag irritates the corals more than any minor components in the water. So it’s not necessary. The faster you move the corals through the process, and let them sit and settle-in, the happier they will be.
 
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