Are these Red Bugs ? (Tegastes acroporanus)

[Newb_reefer1]

Just like the title says I went and got a few corals from a local reefer & one sps frag in particular seems to have what I can only guess is red bugs (Tegastes acroporanus) ? I can’t get a good enough picture from my phone but I was able to take a video where you can actually see the little critters moving around on the flesh of the coral. I’d like some other opinions from people who have experience with them to weigh in, are they in fact red bugs or possibly something else ?

 

[wareagle]

The one I saw moving was a red bug, and I'd keep looking at night with a flash light for white bugs too. You're going to need interceptor.

 

[Newb_reefer1]

The one I saw moving was a red bug, and I'd keep looking at night with a flash light for white bugs too. You're going to need interceptor.

Thanks for the input ! Is interceptor the only thing that will get rid of them ?

This may sound slightly stupid but It was the only thing I could think of at the time. I took the frag out of the container it was in and very violently dunked/shaked the coral in a Rubbermaid tub of saltwater for a good 5-10 minutes. I then emptied out the water in the container and put some water from my display back inside, dropped the frag back in to observe it and I could no longer see anything on the coral. I then took it out and gave it another 30 second hurricane in the Rubbermaid tub water & back into the container to observe. Couldn’t see anything on it after that so I just dropped it in the display… hoping that wasn’t a dumb decision on my part :/

 

[wareagle]

Thanks for the input ! Is interceptor the only thing that will get rid of them ?

This may sound slightly stupid but It was the only thing I could think of at the time. I took the frag out of the container it was in and very violently dunked/shaked the coral in a Rubbermaid tub of saltwater for a good 5-10 minutes. I then emptied out the water in the container and put some water from my display back inside, dropped the frag back in to observe it and I could no longer see anything on the coral. I then took it out and gave it another 30 second hurricane in the Rubbermaid tub water & back into the container to observe. Couldn’t see anything on it after that so I just dropped it in the display… hoping that wasn’t a dumb decision on my part :/

The Bayer dip may work, but interceptor is a much better option, especially if you now have them in your display. Keep looking at night with a flashlight and the magnification on your cell phone, one hour after lights out seems to be the best time to find them.

 

[coral reeftank]

I can’t see the video, but if it is on the skin of the acro then it is probably a pest and needs to be dealt with.

If they are red bugs, 3 rounds of interceptor should decimate them. The interceptor will be fine for snails, but most crustaceans, bristleworms, and feather dusters will be affected and their populations will be heavily impacted. Other than that interceptor should not affect the corals or fish. Just make sure to do a 20% wc after each treatment and run activated carbon after each weekly treatment to mitigate the die off from all the critters.

 

[Newb_reefer1]

Here is a picture I screen-shotted from the video infected areas are circled in red

 

[Newb_reefer1]

I think I may have gotten lucky with my “Method” I checked last night with the flashlight maybe 40 minutes after lights out & couldn’t see anything on the Acro skin that was moving. I checked again this morning before lights on and same deal it appears to be no longer infected. The frag had 0 PE in the container when the bugs were on it but now it seems to be happy in the display with full PE ? Should I still do a few rounds of the interceptor or wait a bit and see if any pop back up ?

 

[Newb_reefer1]