Interceptor help & advice

[Frag_mad]

hello reefing community. Been fighting acro bugs for a few months. Tried removing and dipping all affected colonies in 12 hour interceptor dips on a weekly cycle 3 times. Now 3 months down the line and the little buggers are back. Which means I’m left with no other choice but to dose my system. So I have 2 main concerns and 3 questions for you folk that have done this....

1, I run without a skimmer... am I going to need one?

2, CUC... I’m going to remove all I can but what are the survival rates of CUC?

3, How many occasions do I have to do it? Some say 1 dose works and do 2 to be safe. Others say 3?

thanks for your help

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Are they red bugs?

 

[Frag_mad]

White bugs. But affectively the same as red bugs and dealt with the same way from my research

 

[Cuong]

Dr G’s sps coral dip. Used it for my system about a month ago. All inverts including urchins, snails, christmas worm rock, and shrimps are still alive. Interceptor can be too harsh. This stuff worked great for me. Works on flatworms too.

 

[LOVEROCK]

do you have a picture of this white bug ? , is it some sort of pod?

 

[Frag_mad]

Dr G’s sps coral dip. Used it for my system about a month ago. All inverts including urchins, snails, christmas worm rock, and shrimps are still alive. Interceptor can be too harsh. This stuff worked great for me. Works on flatworms too.

Can’t get that in the uk.

 

[Frag_mad]

do you have a picture of this white bug ? , is it some sort of pod?

Haven’t get a good enough camera to get a brilliant picture but this is best I can do. They’ve stopped polyp extension and caused infect corals to loose colour

 

[Graffiti Spot]

No need for the skimmer I would think. Maybe aerate the water after the treatment? Some crabs die and some live. I normally have most shrimp live with one that might die. Red bugs are live bearers so one treatment normally does it. I would think these would be the same but no way to know, that’s why most suggest two rounds.
Are you sure they are bugs and not just mesenterial filaments?

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Running no skimmer is fine. 2 treatments is what I always have done. Never had CUC die from interceptor.

 

[Frag_mad]

No need for the skimmer I would think. Maybe aerate the water after the treatment? Some crabs die and some live. I normally have most shrimp live with one that might die. Red bugs are live bearers so one treatment normally does it. I would think these would be the same but no way to know, that’s why most suggest two rounds.
Are you sure they are bugs and not just mesenterial filaments?

I’m not sure, think they are bugs as you can see them moving, they live purely on a few acro. Multiply a lot and seriously upset the coral. I’ve done 3 interceptor dips which worked for3 months now they seem to be coming back again so going to dose the DT. Going to remove as much CUC as possible

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I would love to see a better picture. If they are bugs I would do a double dose in the tank. Red bugs are easy to kill, white I haven’t seen much and black are really hard. So I am going to guess the white are in between and you might have just been leaving a few in the tank when you pulled the corals to dip. Hopefully the in tank treatment does it for you!

 

[Frag_mad]

I’ll update this thread as I go. Thanks for your help

 

[Mercado]

Hi Frag_mad thank you for bringing up the topic and please keep us posted.

 

[Softhammer]

I have heavily dosed my 180 reef and had zero collateral damage. Clams were fine, all snails are still alive as well. emerald crabs are still kicking too. I ran the skimmer for a short bit just to circulate the medicine but turned it off for 8-10 hrs. I treated overnight also when the bugs are more active. Corals looked great afterwards as I believe the may have fed on all the dead planktonic organisms. My mysis population was hit pretty hard but amphipods survived. dont hesitate, I did two whole tablets for 230ish gallons. Worked great.

 

[Frag_mad]

So dosed 1/3 of a tablet last night. Appears to have had no affect . Do I not do the water change and carbon and just dose again a larger amount?

 

[Frag_mad]

I have heavily dosed my 180 reef and had zero collateral damage. Clams were fine, all snails are still alive as well. emerald crabs are still kicking too. I ran the skimmer for a short bit just to circulate the medicine but turned it off for 8-10 hrs. I treated overnight also when the bugs are more active. Corals looked great afterwards as I believe the may have fed on all the dead planktonic organisms. My mysis population was hit pretty hard but amphipods survived. dont hesitate, I did two whole tablets for 230ish gallons. Worked great.

Thanks for your response. I need to dose more I think . I’m not going to bother with the water change yet and dose I full tablet tonight.

 

[Softhammer]

I would. It’s really not that big of a deal. I actually did a treatment with no water changes afterwards and all was fine.

 

[Frag_mad]

I would. It’s really not that big of a deal. I actually did a treatment with no water changes afterwards and all was fine.

I full tablet going in over night tonight. How did you dissolve/ crush the tablet?

 

[Softhammer]

I initially crushed in a mortar and pestle but later discovered that the tablets fall apart when wet. So the short answer, I didn’t crush, just swirled in a cup of water and in it goes.

 

[Frag_mad]

So 1 full tablet thrown crushed and dosed last night has reduced them by 60/ 70% but hasn’t eradicated them all. I have 2/3 of a tablet left. I think today I’m going to do my water change add carbon back in and I need to order more from Australia and do 3 treatments over 3 weeks.