2-Questions on Red Bugs

ryshark

ryshark

Active member
1. I got 3-new frags today Revive dipped them for a few minutes rinsed them in a cup of tank water and put them in the tank so I could get to work. While cleaning up, I noticed red bugs in the Revive water. Roughly 25-bugs came off the 3 frags (I poured the revive over a paper towel too see closer) When I got home from work I looked at the frags as close as I could and I did not see any red/orange specs with the naked eye....for whatever that is worth. QUESTION- should I go buy some Interceptor and a small QT for my shrimp and crabs and dose the reef just in case or should I just wait and see what happens?

2. I forgot the second question.............it'll come to me
 
You can wait and see what happens if you want.



SPOILER:
You have red bugs.

Treat your tank with Interceptor.
 
Id wait and see, maybe you got them all, and worse case you treat for them later if they did survive either way they dont do alot of damage overnight or days even, and treatment is no big deal so I wouldnt sweat it.
 
I would get the interceptor so its on hand and either put the coral in the quarantine tank or the shrimp because even if you got all the red bugs with revive I'm sure there are still eggs that will hatch. I use revive and coral Rx dip treatment on new frags and still ended up with red bugs, but on the bright side the interceptor treatment is not hard on the corals or the fish, but did kill my peppermint shrimp.
 
pwfish said:
I would get the interceptor so its on hand and either put the coral in the quarantine tank or the shrimp because even if you got all the red bugs with revive I'm sure there are still eggs that will hatch. I use revive and coral Rx dip treatment on new frags and still ended up with red bugs, but on the bright side the interceptor treatment is not hard on the corals or the fish, but did kill my peppermint shrimp.
Click to expand...

The latest info out there is that they are not egg layers. As for the shrimp I would have to say it is hit or miss as my shrimps both survived my interceptor treatment. So did all my snails and starfish. Infact my pep was out in the front of the tank during the entire treatment which is actually out of the norm for it.
 
Red bugs are live bearers. Unfortunately, nothing kills them 100% except Interceptor.
 
There is one thing that is 100% effective against red bugs - Interceptor. Stating that anything else has that effectiveness is spreading myths.

We have plenty of those in this hobby. We don't need another one.
 
I don't know about that Ronnie, it work for me and I no longer have red bugs. How do you know for sure? Are you a marine biologist or can you at least present some scientific evidence?
 
All the research has been done - I am just basing my answers on that.

Are you a marine biologist/can you present scientific evidence that your method kills 100%?

It has been proven that interceptor, and interceptor ALONE, is 100% effective if dosed properly.
 
Although dips may or may not be effective to remove red bugs on new arrivals, IME, this would not be an effective treatment to remove an infestation and ultimately will add undue stress on the coral. The Interceptor treatment is benign, treats the entire tank and is proven to eradicate even a heavy infestation. As it was mentioned early, if you have red bugs, they work very slow. In fact, some folks have kept tanks successfully without treating. Therefore, you have ample time to remove crustaceans before treating.
 
tmgill81 said:
I don't know about that Ronnie, it work for me and I no longer have red bugs. How do you know for sure? Are you a marine biologist or can you at least present some scientific evidence?
Click to expand...

So you dipped your entire tank in Revive for ten minutes? Or did you pull all your acros out, dip those in Revive for ten minutes, and then put them back in?

Or are you saying you bought a frag that had red bugs, dipped it in Revive for ten minutes, and now you don't have red bugs anymore?

If the latter is the case, I highly doubt the frag you dipped had any red bugs.

Please clarify your statement - things like this are misleading and can be a newbie's worst friend. They will read your post, and treat it like gospel, even though there are several differing ideals about what your treatment isn't doing.

HTH,
 
You would remove the colony and dip the colony for 10 to 15 minutes. The are more likely infest smooth skin Acropora species. These critters are Officially named Tegastes acroporanus, the red bug is in the family Tegastidae and is actually in the subclass Copepoda (a copepod). So they are are egg layers, not live bearers. I agree they I should have elaborated, but I did include a link that describes the process.
 
Please show documentation where it says red bugs are egg layers. I've not seen it yet.

Your system is flawed. Removing one colony and dipping it, and then putting it back in the system will simply reinfect that colony, especially if you have other acros in your system. The red bug has a 5 day survival rate with no acropora to feed on. Any infected colony would need to be out of the system (with no trace of any other acro in the system) for a minimum of 5 days, and I'd recommend a safer ten day acro-free period.

And I didn't see any scientific support on nano reefs post. All I saw was a bunch of blind people with red bugs.

I'm sorry, but there is just too much misinformation out there on red bugs. From the research I have read, seen, and trialed (not scientific, but I have seen it with my OWN eyes), red bugs are slowed down by revive and/or TMPCC and/or Iodine (TMPCC I believe) but not killed 100%.

I also failed to see where you saw they were egg layers - unless you were referencing one persons post of - "well it might take two times but thats about it. so do dip wait a week and do it again to kill all hatched eggs if any"

IMO, that post is as bad or worse than some of the posts on RC. A bunch of people touting a product (that is a GREAT dip, FWIW - but not for red bugs) that doesn't do what they need it to do.

You might also check out the first link in that google search. Marc has some great QT tips on red bugs as well.
 
Keeping in mind, my marine biology degree is in my drawer collecting dust so I'm a bit rusty. However, referencing the whole live birth vs. eggs, I'm not sure what studies have been done specifically on Tegastes acroporanus. However, with that being said, vivaparity (aka live birth) is pretty rare in crustaceans. Although it does occasionally occur (i.e. water daphnia). If I were a betting man, I would say that the female holds onto the eggs after they are laid. This may or may not be followed by a pelagic larval stage that would allow them to spread from coral to coral.

Either way, like most parasites in the marine realm, they are exceedingly adept at migrating from host to host. Consequently, I think its safe to assume that at some point they utilize currents to hop from coral to coral. In other words, if they're on your coral, they're in your system....therefore, a whole tank treatment would be highly recommended.
 
Good red bug discussion.
One thing I can say is that Revive does at least knock them off of the new frag. I can't say for sure that it knocked off every single RB, but I saw RB in he Revive dip and nothing on the new frags.
However, back to my original question #1- I think what I am going to do is keep a close eye out on all of my acros and as soon as I see 1-spec of orange/red anything, then I will go buy some Interceptor and treat the entire tank. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I have a lot of shrimp, crabs and emerald crabs which would suck to catch and keep separate for awhile.
I remember Question #2 now. What is people process for using Interceptor as a prophylactic dip for new frags just like Revive? Is it mixed in with Revive or a separate dip? Is there a thread or a link on how much to use when you are making a small amount for a dip? For example 1-litre worth of Interceptor dip. For 1-litre of Revive at the dosage on the label is approx 1-capful.
 
Go back to my google link and click on the first link. marc has a great preventative dip that I've been employing for a year now - with great results.
 
flamron said:
Go back to my google link and click on the first link. marc has a great preventative dip that I've been employing for a year now - with great results.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That was good, especially with the pictures. However, I wonder if there is a way to do it like you would a Revive dip...or at least the way I do a Revive dip, which is 1-litre of water and less than 10-minutes in the solution. With Melevs technique you need 2.5-gallons of water and over 2-hours. But, Melev was dipping a colony, I am talking about dipping a typical single branch frag that was just purchased. Can the coral survive a much stronger dose with much less time and of course still kill all the red bugs?
 
According to Hoff and Snell, The Plankton Culture Manual (6th ed. 2008, pg. 121) copepods with a brood pouch that typically retain eggs untill hatched, have the ability to release eggs for external development. This release could be triggered by environmental stressors, like toxins (interceptor, revive etc..).
 
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