do i need to clean my live rock?

[shoelevy]

hi peeps, i have some fiji live rock in my tank and i intend to get more.

the trouble is before i put into the tank, i see ALOT of organisms living on it and henceforth the name is live rock.

the trouble is i heard some of the liveforms are undesirable?

like i caught a small crab in the live rock, should i put it in?

and there's some sponge on the live rock too and some tubeworm looking thing but is very very short. something like a mushroom without its umbrella.

and the other time i broke a small piece off and a WORM fell out!....yucks!!!

can anyone please tell me if all these organisms are "approved" and ok to put into the tank or should i remove them?????

[Vinoth]

It really depends on what kind of worms and organisms. Some are really beneficiary and some are bad.

Hyposalinity is the best way to clear all the worms. Increase your salinity and dip your rocks one by one for few minutes and all the worms will come out.

The choice is urs

[shoelevy]

but if i leave the worms in?

will it harm me aquarium?

what about the sponges?

[eques]

blister worm will kill small fishes for food so it is better to get rid the worms , as for the sponges i think it should be alright.

[Vinoth]

Sponges are not harmful. Post the pic of the worm then we will know whether its harmful or not.

[shoelevy]

the worm looks like an OVERSIZED tubifex worm

i fed it to the fishes already

haha

oh, i've got a mandarin goby too and i know it gets food from the live rocks so does this change anything?

[shoelevy]

blister worm will kill small fishes for food so it is better to get rid the worms , as for the sponges i think it should be alright.

when you say small, how small are we talking?

[eques]

around 4 cm and below ,but they can still cause quite a deep bite at large fish .bring your live rock to the toilet then spray hard on the rocks with water after that fresh water dip for five mins. that will get rid of most of the pest there.

[eques]

the worm looks like an OVERSIZED tubifex worm

i fed it to the fishes already

haha

oh, i've got a mandarin goby too and i know it gets food from the live rocks so does this change anything?

for the goby try to train it to feed on brine shrimp or else you need to keep buying new rocks for him.

[shoelevy]

eh

how do i train my gobi to feed on brine shrimp?

and also, paiseh but i can't possibly everydae go get live ones. i only have frozen ones....are these ok for the goby?

[shoelevy]

around 4 cm and below ,but they can still cause quite a deep bite at large fish .bring your live rock to the toilet then spray hard on the rocks with water after that fresh water dip for five mins. that will get rid of most of the pest there.

hm....spray hard with water meaning tap water or salt water?

will dipping in fresh water kill the precious bacteria and coralline algae?

[eques]

put it in a empty tank with only sand and saltwater just put the frozen brine shrimp in . until it know how to come towards your hand for food then put it back inside your main tank , this is not 100% .

[eques]

hm....spray hard with water meaning tap water or salt water?

will dipping in fresh water kill the precious bacteria and coralline algae?

spray it with fresh water . as for the algae and bacteria dun need to worried , you can always grow them . (clacium and nutrifying bacteria will do the job for you.)

[shoelevy]

ok

thanks eques.

hm...i just haf one last thing on my mind.

when you say clean with freshwater

do you mean tap?

and if not will tap water be ok?

[eques]

tap water . ready a plastic bag to hold all the worms in . (spray at all those holes)wish you luck .

[shoelevy]

OMG....plastic bag?...can't i just wash them down the drain??

i reckon this will be messy

oh ya...can i feed my fishes with the worms??

[Nautical]

first, let me apologize for being bold.

you appear to be popping questions as they come to mind.

i would suggest you do some (or lots of) reading of other people postings and

experiences such as those found in the forum "new to the marine aquaria hobby."

not only you find answers to your questions, you will also read up on other

stuff which i am very sure will come into your path in the days, weeks and months

to come.

obviously my suggestion does not mean that one cannot ask, but what is better

than to find out by oneself.

i humbly ask that you don't take it personal.

[FuEl]

Dying sponges give out very harmful toxins.

[weileong]

Someone mentioned worms?

Here's some of the worms I removed from my 100kg of LRs. I guess just play safe, good or no good remove them.

I still see some worms in my tank after that!

[RAV-65]

Someone mentioned worms?

Here's some of the worms I removed from my 100kg of LRs. I guess just play safe, good or no good remove them.

I still see some worms in my tank after that!

seems like more work has to be done!

[Nautical]

weileong, what are those white thingy in the box of worms ?

looks like lychees to me ..... hahaha

if you have them removed, can i assume they are also quite harmful, or not sure ?

[weileong]

Oppss sorry never post in detailed.

Those are market prawns... no money to buy so took from my mum's fridge where she had cut into small pcs.

The reason why they are there is I put in too many pcs to kick start the cycling and when the water turned too smelly I remove these few pcs at the same time when I add in more LR. These worms are actually from about 50kg of LR.

[shoelevy]

ew...disguisting

ya....i ask as the questions come to mind.

u must understand la...i don't haf the kinda time to slowly read all the posts....asking will get people's response much faster

[shoelevy]

oh man thiss is so cool!

i spotted ALOT of baby tubeworms growing on the liverock i bought.

haha...maybe can feed them then sell!

[terryansimon]

1) flushing your liverocks with freshwater is equal to pouring acid on your bed and then lying on it. its the same for your liverocks. you'll be killing EVERYTHING *GOOD and bad* so do weigh the consequences of your actions before proceeding.

2) not all worms/hitch hikers are irritants. in fact, certain worms actually help in the stirring of sand so as to prevent clumping within the sand bed itself.