How long can AEFW and red bugs survive without host corals?

[wongster]

I wondered how long AEFW and red bugs can survive without host corals? Has anyone seen any studies of this?

The reason I ask is that I know my frag & holding tank has some red bugs and black bugs and I have removed 1 large AFEW from a frag in the frag tank (so am assuming there might be others in there somewhere).

I'm hoping to set up a new display tank and was going to be using the rock that I already had. My original plan was to move the sand and rock into the tank when set up and just leave it cycling.

I'd hoped that perhaps if I didn't put any SPS in there that any AEFW or bugs would die off eventally. Not sure how long that would take though. Or even if it would work. I was then going to treat all new additions from my frag tank before introducing them via a quaranteen tank.

Thanks,

Will

 

[wongster]

PS I had thought about getting hold of some interceptor for the treatment of the bugs, but wondered if I could avoid unintended invertebrate casualties by just waiting them out. Plus I've heard it can be quite difficult to get hold of the stuff in the UK.

 

[dzhuo]

For red bug, both Eric Bornemon and Dr. Ron have observed in just about 5 days without a host, pretty much all of them were dead. For AEFW, no one knows. However, the length of embryonic development for AEFW is approximately 21 days at 76–78°F (~25°C) so I imagine you need at least 30 days for the eggs to hatch plus however many days to starve them to dead.

 

[wongster]

For red bug, both Eric Bornemon and Dr. Ron have observed in just about 5 days without a host, pretty much all of them were dead. For AEFW, no one knows. However, the length of embryonic development for AEFW is approximately 21 days at 76"“78°F (~25°C) so I imagine you need at least 30 days for the eggs to hatch plus however many days to starve them to dead.

Hi thanks for the info, only just seen this post. Thanks for the reply. Reassures me a little that I can do this by keeping a system host free My Mandarin will be happy that I don't have to kill it's food supply whilst trying to rid of the bugs

 

[spsfreak1977]

i heard 6 months to be safe

 

[wongster]

i heard 6 months to be safe

Eeek I don't think I can wait 6 months, but perhaps I'll try not to stock any shrimps or hermit crabs to start with and that way if they reappear, I can blitz the system with Interceptor or similar.

Is there anything else interceptor would kill other than pods, shrimps and crabs? e.g. are clams sensitive to it?

 

[JMLewis]

Clams are fine with it. I did 3 doses separated into 3 weeks and my emerald crabs lived and pods came back strong.

 

[dzhuo]

Wong,
You asked red bugs and AEFW in your original question but per later discussion, you seem to be mostly concern about red bugs (judging the fact that you seem to be most interested about dosing interceptor). If you are just trying to rid of red bug, you don't need 6 months; not even close. A couple of weeks are all you need. As long as your tank is free of acros, the red bug wouldn't be able to survive more than a week or so. Bornemon even did an experiment to see if red bugs would accept Montipora sp. as host but they don't. If you do end up using interceptor, you need to proceed with the assumption that the medicine will kill all of your crustaceans despite lots of us have experienced otherwise. It's better to prepare for the worse case scenario and plan accordingly. If you have a Mandarin, I would just wait it out. Interceptor should not bother your clams.

If you are also dealing with AEFW then it's a different story. As I mention earlier, no one knows how long AEFW can survive without a host so I suppose 6 months can be a possibility.

 

[dzhuo]

Sorry double post.

 

[wongster]

Thanks,

phew. Mainly worried about red bugs and monti black bugs, you're right. I have had AEFW in my frag tank, but not in my holding tank which has never had Acro's in it. So my plan is to quaranteen all acro's transferring to the new display tank or holding tank to limit chances of it getting into the display tank. I might try the Bayer insecticide dip treatment on some of my acro frags as this seems to have some good success on this forum.

Thanks again,

Will

Wong,
You asked red bugs and AEFW in your original question but per later discussion, you seem to be mostly concern about red bugs (judging the fact that you seem to be most interested about dosing interceptor). If you are just trying to rid of red bug, you don't need 6 months; not even close. A couple of weeks are all you need. As long as your tank is free of acros, the red bug wouldn't be able to survive more than a week or so. Bornemon even did an experiment to see if red bugs would accept Montipora sp. as host but they don't. If you do end up using interceptor, you need to proceed with the assumption that the medicine will kill all of your crustaceans despite lots of us have experienced otherwise. It's better to prepare for the worse case scenario and plan accordingly. If you have a Mandarin, I would just wait it out. Interceptor should not bother your clams.

If you are also dealing with AEFW then it's a different story. As I mention earlier, no one knows how long AEFW can survive without a host so I suppose 6 months can be a possibility.

 

[NewbyReefer]

I know its a little old, but how did you make out?

I'm currently going through the same thing and opt to QT and treat the SPS with Bayer Advanced for about 3 weeks because I also have a type of manderine.