Red Sea Dip-X 250ml

DipX is a highly effective dip for safely introducing new corals and live rocks to your aquarium.

A simple 15-minute bath in DipX before placing a new coral in the aquarium will drive away unwanted hitchhikers, thereby maintaining the safety of your reef.

Why do corals have hitchhikers

In nature, numerous species of tiny coral-associated invertebrates make their homes on corals and the reef rocks and are referred to collectively as opportunistic dwellers. The most common groups of these opportunistic dwellers include crustaceans, helminths (worms), echinoderms, nudibranchs, and snails.

In most cases, the dweller benefits from the host without damaging it, and in others (such as Trapeziidae crabs in Acropora) both host and dweller benefit from the relationship. There are however, some dwellers that cause damage to their coral host by feeding on it. In their natural habitat, these opportunistic dwellers are relatively few in number due to the scarcity of nutrients as well as having natural predators.

When corals are transferred from one environment to another, these opportunistic dwellers remain with their coral hosts, becoming incidental hitchhikers.

Suspecting your coral has a Hitchhiker? see the Hitchhikers identification guide