Natural control of red bugs?

[JJohn]

Help. My nicest coral has RB's. It is well encrusted on a ten-pound very large rock that has many other things living on it. I cannot remove it without a teardown. Another constraint is that I have several masked acro-crabs in my other colonies. Those colonies are also well encrusted and near impossible to remove. I have several shrimp, many hermits, a great pod population and very little ability/space to setup another tank. I can't see doing the interceptor thing.

Does anyone have any experience with natural control methods. There has been speculation about Dragon-faced pipefish (sp?). Anyone try one? Mandrins have been said to be not effective in posts on this and other forums. Any other ideas? Here is an image I took this morning? First time I have taken a nice image and can't stand to look at it.

Thanks, I am getting desperate,
John

 

[clkwrk]

if skillful enough you can pop of the colony but you should assume they have spread.

 

[kybreos]

dude, there's no other way, youre gonna have to treat your whole tank or take out all acros, but if you leave and encrusted pieces behind the RBs will most likely come back.

 

[jjackson]

a dragon faced pipefish will eat them but to what extent I do not know... I have been living with RB in my tank and still have great color growth and PE.

 

[jjackson]

 

[jjackson]

I am not saying that what I have done is the correct thing... just letting you know that I am living with them for now. If I see things go downhill I will be Interceptoring the tank...

 

[blstravler]

I have had them for a while as well, my tank is fine and my corals grow like weeds. If you keep your water quality up and take good care fo your tank you may be just fine.

It's a personal decesion as well as one that many on RC will make you a great target of criticism for.

 

[jjackson]

I know same feeling I got... I have heard alot of storys about interceptor and then all the sudden AEFW.... who knows maybe there is a link.... ???

 

[JJohn]

Thanks, I am going to try to not panic and just keep an eye on things for the next couple of days. I have not added anything new in months so I guess the RB's have been in my reef for quite awhile.

Pipefish are cool. I may try one anyway just to see if they are effective. My guess is that RB's will never be totally exterminated by any fish.

I will also start trying to figure out a way to save my acro-crabs. I really do like those little guys, as do my kids. Note: I can find no bugs on the colonies with crabs. I may also see if I can find a source for more acro-crabs. Maybe they hold the populations of RB's in check.

If the tank starts going downhill, I'll try to remove the acro-crabs and then nuke it with interceptor. Until then I'll watch and learn what I can about natural controls.

John

 

[JJohn]

If anyone else is following this thread. I have sent emails to others, spent hours on the web, and have found noone who has been able to control RB's with a natural predator. There are stories of the pipefish plann but noone who had actual success. Interceptor seems the only alternative.

John

 

[clkwrk]

INTERCEPTOR is the only IN TANK treatment.

There are other ways in QT.

 

[JJohn]

Clkwrk - have you had success with in tank treatment? Were you able to remove and save any acro-crabs or other desirable crabs/shrimps? How long have you been free of bugs? How do you treat new frags to ensure you don't reintroduce them? Did you treat three times with interceptor as some suggest? Any other advice? What is the current best treatment in tank with Interceptor? I can't seem to find a consistant dose or timing plan.

Thanks again you have helped me more than once in the past, I appreciate that you take the time.

John

Anyone else have advice? Should we make a sticky on treatments in this forum. The existing one at the top is more to id than treat common problems.

 

[blstravler]

Try these 2 links, should be everything you need-

http://www.ericborneman.com/Tegastes-content/Treatment.html

http://www.ericborneman.com/Tegastes-content/Dorton treatment.htm

I have treated my tank in this way twice and both times I was bug free for a good 18 months. Ater the first time I did TMPCC dip and Interceptor dips on all in coming corals, no idea how I got them the 2nd time. The third time was a few months ago I got very ill and was not bale to treat the in coming frags, even thought they were from a very well know on-line retailer. I dont consider it their fault or mine, they are naturally occuring "pests" as some call them, it's bound to happen againso I am not treating this time and my tank is fine. I keep my water quality very well kept and all has been fine. Also I do not want to kill all of my acro crabs again, almost all of my corals are encrusted so I would have to do the total tank treatment as I did the last 2 times and I do not want to kill my crabs again.

You will find others on RC with drop dead amazing tanks that have red bugs. If my tank gets to be half the tank/equipment of these peoples I would be even happier then I am with my current tank.

So if you are wondering if you can keep coral with red bugs, yes you can, just be warned, there are some on RC that will get very nasty over you keeping them in your tank, trust me.

 

[clkwrk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8301896#post8301896 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JJohn
Clkwrk - have you had success with in tank treatment? Were you able to remove and save any acro-crabs or other desirable crabs/shrimps? How long have you been free of bugs? How do you treat new frags to ensure you don't reintroduce them? Did you treat three times with interceptor as some suggest? Any other advice? What is the current best treatment in tank with Interceptor? I can't seem to find a consistant dose or timing plan.

Thanks again you have helped me more than once in the past, I appreciate that you take the time.

John

Anyone else have advice? Should we make a sticky on treatments in this forum. The existing one at the top is more to id than treat common problems.

I did the treatments a long time back was bug free for a while . Then decided to get some frags local trusting the source. At that time I decided I would not treat again. But I did one more time . The returned after the single treatment regimine but not after the 3rd time in the treatment prior.

I live with them now and have good luck .The most important thing is to keep your params inline while you decide which method will work for you . I don't wanna say much more because I wan't the thread to stay civil.

As for dose or timing I followed Dustins orginal guidelines. When I dose interceptr in a QT I overdose big time.

 

[jjackson]

bls I completley agree... I have talked to several friends that have done it and some others that havent... I dont want to get attacked here but I still am not 100% convinced that they are as bad as people make out... I remember the whole asterena starfish thing from garf..... who is to say that there arent 2 or more species of these things..... I mean think of how many things in nature mimic one another... especially in the sea.

 

[jjackson]

clkwrk I think I was on your thread about living with them....

 

[JJohn]

When I setup my first reef tank more about 16 years ago. We all looked for ways to get rid of bristle worms. We tried everything, chemicals, predators, manual removal, getting rid of the sandbed (oh... we still do that), and all sort of traps. We often saw the worms on dying coral. The worms were doing us a favor and eating the dead tissue. We thought them to be the cause of the coral death in our ill-thought-out aquariums. At some point I gave up trying to control them and we all learned something.

I am sure RB's cause some damage and in many (maybe most?) cases they need to be treated. My best coral has them. It is the coral that people say looks stunning. It must have had them for months and yet it is very healthy looking. I am going to take it slow and really monitor things closely. I will get some Interceptor somehow and have it available if the colony starts to go downhill. My acro-crabs are very interesting and the favorite things in the tank for my kids. They say "Look they are waving at us." As the crabs always seem to be moving their larger claw back and forth. Wish me luck as I try to learn something about my particular corals and my little RB's. I may even do some experimentation using pipefish and acro-crabs themselves.

Thanks again all. And, please, no warring, I will never give anyone a frag unless they have been gone for 6 months,

John

 

[murphreef]

i have red bugs in my tank but they stay on the a. valida and this thing has been growing like crazy with nice PE and awesome color

they have been in my tank for at least a year now and havent spread to my other corals that i can tell and there numbers have stayed very small.... maybe some help of the acro crabs or the yellow wrasse i have who knows but anyways im just lettin them be since i dont wanna lose all the lil inverts in my tank

heres a pic of the infected valida

 

[pham411]

<a
I have treated my tank in this way twice and both times I was bug free for a good 18 months. Ater the first time I did TMPCC dip and Interceptor dips on all in coming corals, no idea how I got them the 2nd time. The third time was a few months ago I got very ill and was not bale to treat the in coming frags, even thought they were from a very well know on-line retailer. I dont consider it their fault or mine, they are naturally occuring "pests" as some call them, it's bound to happen againso I am not treating this time and my tank is fine. I keep my water quality very well kept and all has been fine. Also I do not want to kill all of my acro crabs again, almost all of my corals are encrusted so I would have to do the total tank treatment as I did the last 2 times and I do not want to kill my crabs again.

You will find others on RC with drop dead amazing tanks that have red bugs. If my tank gets to be half the tank/equipment of these peoples I would be even happier then I am with my current tank.

So if you are wondering if you can keep coral with red bugs, yes you can, just be warned, there are some on RC that will get very nasty over you keeping them in your tank, trust me. [/B]

wow, this exactly right. some people feel like you got some terrible disease if you have redbugs. geez.... untill they get it themselves.

 

[panic]

I had a couple of pipefish to try out that theory. They may have picked at them, but they certainly didn't kill them. Interceptor is the way to go.