Acro Bugs and Polyp Extension

Jettareefer223 · Sep 10, 2019

I’ve had grey/white bugs for almost two years because I never did follow ups and neglected my tank for a while. Now I’ve finally going through heavy treatments and 4 follow ups a week apart half way thru that currently. I’ve been doing 7x (Red bug dosage) which equates to 3 whole 11.5mg medium interceptor plus chews (34.5 mg’s total) on 55 gallons net volume at 18 hour durations each treatment with good success. I’ve done single treatments as high as 8-9x dosage (4 medium 11.5 mg chews), but they came back. Honesty half large dog pill on 140 isn’t going be effective. Interceptor is so safe even the crazy doses I’ve had no loses or any problems. With that said try treat with a high concentration multiple times, because with low doses that aren’t killing them is essentially making them more resistant and harder to eliminate.

The bugs I have can decimate certain corals in weeks. Some corals tolerate them forever loosing pe and the tissue is irritated. I have several that can get infested and don’t flinch crazy pe and you wouldn’t be able to tell. In terms visual numbers corals that loose pe the bugs hide in the coralites you don’t see them or a lot for that matter. Even you can see them It’s not like red bugs there’s huge populations and they don’t move fast in comparison either. They all start moving and coming out from the coralites once the interceptor has disperse in the water column.

Huskymaniac · Sep 10, 2019

Jettareefer223 said:
I’ve had grey/white bugs for almost two years because I never did follow ups and neglected my tank for a while. Now I’ve finally going through heavy treatments and 4 follow ups a week apart half way thru that currently. I’ve been doing 7x (Red bug dosage) which equates to 3 whole 11.5mg medium interceptor plus chews (34.5 mg’s total) on 55 gallons net volume at 18 hour durations each treatment with good success. I’ve done single treatments as high as 8-9x dosage they came back.

The bugs I have can decimate certain corals in weeks. Some corals tolerate them forever loosing pe and the tissue is irritated. I have several that can get infested and don’t flinch crazy pe and you wouldn’t be able to tell. In terms visual numbers corals that loose pe the bugs hide in the coralites you don’t see them or a lot for that matter. Even you can see them It’s not like red bugs there’s huge populations and they don’t move fast in comparison either. They all start moving and coming out from the coralites once the interceptor has disperse in the water column.

So the single treatments didn't work but the weekly ones are? I know you are in the middle of treatment but visually are they gone for you?

Jettareefer223 · Sep 10, 2019

Huskymaniac said:
So the single treatments didn't work but the weekly ones are? I know you are in the middle of treatment but visually are they gone for you?

Even with single treatments at high dosage and long durations 24-48 hours they would die and my corals would recover get their vitality back colors/PE/ faster growth. During the treatments around 12-18 hour mark when they would die and release from the acros. Within 3-5 months they would come back with a vengeance worse than before infested stuff they hadn’t touch previously. Follows are necessary there’s a debate about whether or not the bugs lay eggs... or if it’s stragglers that made it. Honestly I’m anal I didn’t see any bugs post treatment even two weeks after.

Currently being 2 treatments in out of a total of 5 a week apart back to back I’m confident I’ll finally exterminate them.

Huskymaniac · Jul 1, 2020

Finally treated my tank with 4x the interceptor dose for black bugs. Couldn't catch the shrimp and missed some of the hermits. They were dead within an hour. I let it ride for almost a year with the bugs. Basically most of my sticks lost PE.

Graffiti Spot · Jul 1, 2020

How did you keep the acros from dying during that time? Most people have lots of damage from the black bugs. I guess I remember a few who didn’t have as much trouble so maybe there are a few types. Hopefully the treatment worked for you!

Huskymaniac · Jul 1, 2020

Pedoconfuego said:
How did you keep the acros from dying during that time? Most people have lots of damage from the black bugs. I guess I remember a few who didn’t have as much trouble so maybe there are a few types. Hopefully the treatment worked for you!

The never did anything. Just noticed lost PE on my acros only. Assuming they were like red bugs. Just black. Not sure how quickly the polyp extension will come back. They seemed to like my staghorns the most. My Austeras were the worst. Haven't seen PE in over a year even though it was still growimg pretty well. Ditto with my green slimer.