I'm dosing Interceptor tonight!

[kikireef]

Ok everyone so I am dosing interceptor tonight. I have 3 frags that are covered in red bugs. I am sure I have others but not sure. All frags are encrusted over rocks so I am treating the whole tank. I am posting this in hope of getting feedback of what I am planning on doing from those that have done it before.

The last 3 days I have spent trying to find and remove all my hermit crabs to my sump for easy removal tonight during the dosing which I believe I have done.

I have approx 100 gallons of actual water volume (maybe more) with 125 gallon tank and 30 gallon sump.

I have 2 of the interceptor pills. I plan to dose 1/2 of one tonight by crushing it and disolving it in tank water first. One pill is supposed to treat about 380-400 gallons of water. I have not heard of really any major negative effects of dosing a little too much. I will be dosing approx 1-1/2 to 2x the recommended dose. This will go in around midnight.

I am disconnecting my GFO and Carbon reactors and completely cleaning them out and letting them dry overnight.

I am disconnecting the air intake tube for my ASM skimmer.

All other equipment will be running as usual. This should treat ALL water in the system.

Tomorrow I will be doing a 25 gallon water change around 10 am. (10 hour treatment) and filling the reactor with about 5 cups of carbon (no GFO yet). Also re-attaching the skimmer air tube.

So does this sound like a solid plan? I will be doing this for a total of 3 treatments 1 week apart from eachother. I am questioning going for 3 weeks without GFO. I am also questioning wether or not to change the carbon a day or two after I add it. I have plenty of carbon if I need to but don't want to waste it if its not necessary. What I mean is leave 5 cups of carbon in the system until the next week when I change it again and retreat the system.

Let me know what you think.

Keith

 

[dnov99]

Have done this treatment before, and you have a solid plan. I would go along with your exact plan. I think you could leave the carbon in until next week and be fine. Good luck

 

[kikireef]

Awesome. Thats what I was hoping for. Any other thoughts are welcome

 

[dan223]

I used the recommended dosage, basically half of what you plan to. I dosed one time and have never seen them since. I wouldnt want to treat 3 times if its not needed.

 

[kikireef]

I used the recommended dosage, basically half of what you plan to. I dosed one time and have never seen them since. I wouldnt want to treat 3 times if its not needed.

Thanks for chiming in. Can I ask you how long ago that was? I would prefer to only do one dose however about 90% of the research I have done says to do 3 seperate doses which is why I have planned on that. I have heard of people who only do one dose and it has done the trick but it doesn't seem to be recommended by many. I'm eager to hear any and all responses.

 

[kikireef]

Well yesterday I did my water change and added the carbon back to the system and I am very pleased to say that everything looks great and not a red bug in sight. I am getting polyp extension already on a few corals that I haven't seen extend in a long time so I am guessing they were affected and I didn't even realize it. My coral looked kind of funky about 30 minutes after adding the medication which worried me a little but everything in the end is great.

I am still curious if anyone else has any experience with only doing one dose. I am still planning on another 2 treatments but am curious of others experience.

Keith

 

[Keyvan S]

I did the same only once last Nov and have never seen them again.

Good luck.:thumbsup:

I used the recommended dosage, basically half of what you plan to. I dosed one time and have never seen them since. I wouldnt want to treat 3 times if its not needed.

 

[dwhanc00]

I am in the same situation and need to dose soon. I have two cleaner shrimp and we cannot catch them. Tried using a net with food in it, they will not come near the net. I really do not want to loose them. They are $30 each at our LFS. Plan to pull out as many hermits I can find, just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on catching the shrimp.

Anyone dose and have them survive? I did read one person that had them make it, just wondering if there are others out there.

 

[kikireef]

I ended up having to dose with them in my tank. I unfortunately couldn't get them either and my coral banded NEVER comes out. I have 2 cleaners and a coral banded. All are perfectly fine. They didn't come out for 2 days and stayed in the rocks. They were definetly shaken up I think but all is good and they are back to normal and I did double the recommended dose. Obviously I would recommend removing them but if worst comes to worst you might just try it. I also left in the dose for 12 hours!

 

[dwhanc00]

Thanks, that is encouraging. The longer I wait the worse my acros will be. Once I get my carbon reactor this week I am going to go ahead and dose.

Anyone else use interceptor and not kill your shrimp?

 

[qfrisco]

I did two doses one week apart on my 90g and my cleaner shrimp as well as my harlequin shrimp both made it! They didn't even seem dazed during the treatment. I was really concerned about the harlequin as I absolutely love that shrimp.

The strength of dose was just over 1/4 pill for each of the doses for 24 hours before running carbon and turning the skimmer back on.

 

[dwhanc00]

dosing tonight. I will let you know how it goes. following your plan. we have a 120 with total water volume around 150

 

[dwhanc00]

Did you dose directly in your display or in your sump output back to the tank?

 

[qfrisco]

Did you dose directly in your display or in your sump output back to the tank?

I dosed into the return section of my sump.

Also, I put the pill into a baggie and mashed it with a rolling pin. Wasn't hard at all. Good luck!

 

[dwhanc00]

cool. I think that will be best on the inverts.

 

[kikireef]

I dosed straight to the tank near my mp40. It was super easy. It was really intimidating doing this kind of treatment for the first time but I would totally do it again....I hope I never have to though. lol

 

[dwhanc00]

Well, all looks good. Not sure about the shrimp this morning. I did see them last night around 2 am, but they are either hiding or didn't make it to this morning. Can't wait for the lights to come on so I ca see if it got all the little bast....ds! lol

I have started running carbon this morning. I am doing a water change in about an hour. Should I start running my GFO?

 

[kikireef]

I did start running my GFO the next day and didn't notice any negative results from doing so. I figured that my tank is used to having it there so I probably shouldn't take it away for a couple weeks and cause phosphate to creep up. As far as the shrimp, its probably too soon to tell yet. Mine were in hiding for a couple days but they came out during feeding after I think the second or third day. Good Luck and keep us posted here.

 

[dwhanc00]

Not a redbug in sight! :dance:

 

[qfrisco]

Not a redbug in sight! :dance:

Cool! Do check again in a week though, to make sure. I found a couple on a Lime in the Sky frag that was just covered with them before the first dose, so I decided to do a second dose.