please point me in the right direction before I panic...

bob · Jul 28, 2011

So while chatting with Troylee on another forum about sps browning and what not I decided to take some macro shots of my frag rack. I found some surprise visitors:

link to larger image: http://i.imgur.com/YKbzo.jpg

I had no idea how tiny these guys were until just now. I took shots of all my other frags on the rack and this seems to be the only one with anything visible (through a macro lens). Please point me in the right direction on what to do! I know there's a lot of posts on the subject but I was hoping for some advice on something tried and true on how to go about this.

Should I chuck the frag? Do you think they've spread to other frags even though I can't see them through the macro? What types of frags will these guys attack? I have some stags, echinatas, pocci, birdsnest, tricolor, stylophora, monti-caps, & undata on the rack along with it. This green slimer is the only one that looks to be losing color, the other ones are fine (cept one is getting browner, but has good polyp extension). Thanks for any help you can provide!

AcroholicReefer · Jul 28, 2011

No need to freak out over red bugs. Grab a tablet of interceptor and have at it. Just try to take out all of the inverts that you have. Red bugs are really easy to treat for.

This should help out.

Melevsreef.com - Interceptor | Red Bug treatment

bob · Jul 28, 2011

AcroholicReefer said:
No need to freak out over red bugs. Grab a tablet of interceptor and have at it. Just try to take out all of the inverts that you have. Red bugs are really easy to treat for.

This should help out.

Melevsreef.com - Interceptor | Red Bug treatment

thanks for the link, this is my first real 'pest' so I'm worried that my entire tank is going to die. If I cannot visually see any bugs on the other corals with my macro does that usually mean they are ok? I'm trying to find someone in town with interceptor before they jump ship to their neighboring acros.

joker295 · Jul 28, 2011

if you do an interceptor treatment in your tank it will kill the red bugs and you will be just fine..

swannyson7 · Jul 28, 2011

AcroholicReefer said:
No need to freak out over red bugs. Grab a tablet of interceptor and have at it. Just try to take out all of the inverts that you have. Red bugs are really easy to treat for.

This should help out.

Melevsreef.com - Interceptor | Red Bug treatment

+1 As far as pests go with SPS, redbugs are the easiest to overcome. It will take some time to really do much damage so it's not dire that you do an interceptor treatment immediately. Marc's site breaks down the process very simply and your best bet is to treat the entire tank with interceptor rather than dips IMO. They tend to prefer smooth skinned acros, but they wil rapidly reproduce and start to cover all your acros if you put off the treatment for too long.

PR_Reefers · Jul 28, 2011

Yup very hard to spot!! now you can imagine how many people have them and don't even notice!! but thankfully interceptror tx works just fine

KoleTang · Jul 28, 2011

#1 I got bugs.

#2 I Kill Red Bugs

#3 The Morning after my Red Bug Treatment

bob · Jul 28, 2011

yea it's quite fascinating and scary at the same time. i got my hands on some interceptor and will be treating the single coral tonight. at this point all of my acros are small sticks so treating them later won't be an issue if the bugs spread. thanks for your quick replies!

Troylee · Jul 28, 2011

Treat the whole tank bob not just that coral.... Interceptor is a in tank treatment that's completely safe... Fwiw I nuke my tank every 6 months just cause!!!! No need to worry man there like fleas man simple...

ronnie · Jul 28, 2011

I'd take red bugs over what I have now any day - AEFW....

Wanna trade?

Like was echoed - interceptor in the display.

What you really need to look at is getting a good solid QT routine down. For me, this was my undoing as well. I had a process, but it was clearly flawed.

I'm moving to a dedicated QT tank, that will run 24/7. From it, I'll dip every four days in Bayer Insectide at a dosage of 10ml per 1/2 cup. This will be done for six weeks on all acropora/monti. I haven't determined if LPS/zoas/shrooms are tolerant of the Bayer yet, so that is up in the air. Worst case I'll use Revive on those types. I doubt I will do any interceptor, as the Bayer is reported to kill red bugs as well. But I do have Interceptor on hand, in case something does slip through (I highly doubt it will with the new process).

I also plan to cut every acropora from their base - and discard it along with any dead tissue. This should help eliminate any AEFW eggs that may be trying to sneak in. I'll probably just buy fresh cut frags from here on out - just too easy to get flatworms from bases/dead tissue.

Landon · Jul 28, 2011

+1 on the whole tank. They are not just on that one frag.

bob · Jul 28, 2011

you're scaring me ronnie! and I think I'll nuke the whole tank before I switch over to my new one (/nudge Troylee); that will give me a chance to tear down the scape and remove all fish/inverts. Anyways thought you guys might enjoy this HD time-lapse video of the red bugs as I'm treating them with interceptor. It's shot from my iphone4 through a magnifying glass

!

[video=youtube;-Bd6EjCOhd8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bd6EjCOhd8[/video]