Ironman
Reef enthusiast
Just some advice some of you newbies might not know. When buying corals from your local fish store or getting new corals from anyone always examine the tank they are coming from closely. Look for little things running or moving in the tank that could be hazardous hitchikers on your coral. Some of the main critters found in our local stores are Red Flatworms, Nudibranchs, whelks, and preditory crabs.
Red Flatworms - these are very small red dots that usually once noticed are already in great numbers. they look like tiny red squares half the size of a pencil eraser or smaller. they arnt uncommon and dont necessarily mean that your tank is in trouble. however you need to iradicate them asap, once they get heavily populated they are hard to get rid of. you cant kill them in great numbers cause they contain a toxin that poisons the tank. So kill them before they become a problem. If you go into bermuda look in the rear main coral tank. look closely at the lower glass or on small rubble on the sand bed you should see thousands of little red flatworms.
Nudibranchs - these can be all different sizes, sometimes you will see them crawling on your glass and they look like a little slug, other times they are very tiny or camoflaged with corals. if you do see one on the glass do not squish it wit your bare skin, some of them are poisonous and can mess you up bad. If you notice that alot of your zooanthids are closing up for no reason and eventually are dieng, you need to look closely at the colonies for nudis or there eggs. Ive seen them recently in local stores.
whelks - these look just like a nassarious snail and are tipically hitchhikers on live rock. whelks snout has a blackish gray color and when retracted have a hard shield that covers there hole up. these snails dont affect everyone, in fact I had them in my tank for several years and didnt know what they were, They will however eat clams and potentially other corals. which mine ended up doing.
Crabs - There are alot of different crabs that can come as hitchikers on new corals or especially liverock. sometimes they are ok but most of the time these crabs are going to kill fish and nibble on corals. If you find one look it up and make sure its a good one.
My recomendation is to buy a good coral dip ( bermuda now stocks "tropic marin pro coral cure" or a lesser option is lugols solution ) dip everything that enters your tank, then examine every inch of the coral for any large hitchilers to remove.
Anyway Im no expert but thought id give a few tips ive had to learn the hard way, anyone else have anything they want to add or disagree with join in
Red Flatworms - these are very small red dots that usually once noticed are already in great numbers. they look like tiny red squares half the size of a pencil eraser or smaller. they arnt uncommon and dont necessarily mean that your tank is in trouble. however you need to iradicate them asap, once they get heavily populated they are hard to get rid of. you cant kill them in great numbers cause they contain a toxin that poisons the tank. So kill them before they become a problem. If you go into bermuda look in the rear main coral tank. look closely at the lower glass or on small rubble on the sand bed you should see thousands of little red flatworms.
Nudibranchs - these can be all different sizes, sometimes you will see them crawling on your glass and they look like a little slug, other times they are very tiny or camoflaged with corals. if you do see one on the glass do not squish it wit your bare skin, some of them are poisonous and can mess you up bad. If you notice that alot of your zooanthids are closing up for no reason and eventually are dieng, you need to look closely at the colonies for nudis or there eggs. Ive seen them recently in local stores.
whelks - these look just like a nassarious snail and are tipically hitchhikers on live rock. whelks snout has a blackish gray color and when retracted have a hard shield that covers there hole up. these snails dont affect everyone, in fact I had them in my tank for several years and didnt know what they were, They will however eat clams and potentially other corals. which mine ended up doing.
Crabs - There are alot of different crabs that can come as hitchikers on new corals or especially liverock. sometimes they are ok but most of the time these crabs are going to kill fish and nibble on corals. If you find one look it up and make sure its a good one.
My recomendation is to buy a good coral dip ( bermuda now stocks "tropic marin pro coral cure" or a lesser option is lugols solution ) dip everything that enters your tank, then examine every inch of the coral for any large hitchilers to remove.
Anyway Im no expert but thought id give a few tips ive had to learn the hard way, anyone else have anything they want to add or disagree with join in
