I have red bugs!

DLANDINO

DLANDINO

D.L. Heritage Rings
So, I have red bugs on my acros. It is ike they came out of nowhere. All was fine until tonight when I noticed that I had little polyp extension. Close inspection shows these little guys runnig all around on my sps. So, I called my vet and they agreed to giving me Interceptor. I plan on dosing phase 1 this weekend and have read and understand melev's instructions. Does anyone have and first hand advise for me before I start. I am totally freaked out about the process. Thanks guys! Help is appreciated.
 
Been there, done that. Sorry to hear about it. Dose, water change, dose again, water change. Don't wuss out, do the whole series of treatments regardless of if you think they are gone or not.
 
Yep, me too^^^about a year ago. Bugs are an easy rid. Pray you don't get the bad stuff (monti nudis/AEFW). 3 doses a week apart per instructions.
 
remove shrimp and crabs as the treatment will kill them (unless you don't mind them dying). Move them into QT and keep them there for a while.

I delt with it a long time ago (had to treat 150 gallon tank), but it does work and like the others said it is fairly easy to get rid of.
 
I had a outbreak last year. Got rid of it just fine though. Pretty easy. Just save some interceptor to use as a dip for new frags you get.
 
Thanks guys, I have one hermit, one mythrax(spelling), a serpent star, various snails, and an urchin. Are all of these guys in danger or just the crabs? I don't have a QT tank. Which, in hind sight, is how I got into this mess.
 
I believe all the crustaceans are at risk. My snails and things survived when i did it. I agree with fitch, dont wuss out, dose the tank according to the directions, if you dont they will come back.
 
Crabs are very sensitive to the treatment, so I wouldn't add them back into the tank until the end of the 3-week treatment, or else you're just going to lose them all. If you can, see if the LFS will take them back for the time you treat and then just get a credit for them to get 'em back when you're done.

I don't worry too much about the dosage, but a little does go a long way. You won't notice die-off until a few hours after dosing (3ish). I usually let my interceptor dwell overnight and the following morning I'll do the water change and run a fresh batch of carbon... But if you don't have any crabs/shrimp in the tank that need to go back in, I'm not even sure how important the water change really is... If it doesn't affect anything in the tank, why not just let the medication run through the system until your 3rd treatment and your inverts need to go back in?

I've had them twice... This time I'm doing multiple doses. I will probably only do 2 though.
 
Thanks again for the tips on this, I am a bit more at ease knowing that this is a common problem with a proven treatment. Can someone please comment on the survival of snails, star fish and urchins specifically. The star and urchin are pretty much hidden and impossible to get out of the thank without pulling everything apart. Also, my corals are permanently epoxied to the rock work.
 
FYI, after I treated, hermits/crabs/shrimp would not survive in my tank for 3-4 months post treatment. This was with 10% weekly water changes and new carbon every month. There is a residual lasting effect of the med in systems treated. I would test it here and there with a couple hermits to see if they survive before you restock them. I would toss a couple in every 2-3 weeks and they would slowly die w/in a week. It was roughly 3-4 months before any would live. All is fine now.
 
Thanks Cato! This is all good stuff, please keep them coming everyone. I guess the more we all go through the better it will be for us when swapping.
 
You can go buy a 10g quarantine starter kit like I did at petsmart for 30-40 bucks with a light to view your creatures, a heaters, and some pvc to let your animals hide. It was a cheap solution to treat my clowns and wrasse from ich as well as several corals I got in the mail. Very useful and easy to mantain (besides annoying salt creep) For corals though, you would need a good light on it (got a used 72 watt for mine for free from the Norwalk Aquarium, which is only good for softies and LPS for a short period, not SPS I think) Unfortunalty. my clowns seem to love this tank better than my main set-up :)
 
I am going to start my first treatment today. I always do a 10% water change every Saturday so I figured that I would dose in about an hour and let it run through the system for roughly 24 hrs. I have one question, maybe more after once I begin but we'll see.

Is closing my air intake valve all the way closed acceptable to shut down skimming while leaving the pump running or do I actually have to remove the air line. I can't see much of a difference but also want to do it right. It is easy to shut down the valve and a bit harder to get at the air line in the pump. Thanks.

Dave
 
As long as the skimmer isn't "skimming" you will be fine. Shutting off the air should work.
 
THanks, I just got back from the vet who was eager to help. I got pills for small dogs. They are 2.3 mg each. Is it safe to assume that one pill will treat my tank? I have a 46 gallon tank. Factoring in LR and LS that give me about 31 gallons of water. Thanks again!
 
HI again and thanks. I researched it, it is 0.25mg per gallon, so one pill would treat about 63 gallons of actual water. I dosed double the 0.25 suggestion 3 1/2 hrs ago. The one blue leg hermit that I have is on hi way out, not dead yet but going. I feel terrible but he is my "rabbit test" for the lack of a better term.. I imagine that my green mythrax will go too, couldn't fine him when I was dosing. The tank continues to look normal except that as soon as I dosed my sun corals were more full than I had ever seen them, I think they like the beef flavor of the tablet.

Also, I ended up removing the air line entirely rather than just closing the air tap. The deltec instructions stated not to close the tap and allow the pump to run because it could damage the pump.

If anyone is interested I will keep this thread alive with my results.

Thanks again Argi!

Dave
 
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