Red Bugs and other pests
- Thread starter FishPharm
- Start date
blstravler
Member
I agree gflat65.
I have had them 2 times, from frags, I have always done a dip and QT and since I got them the first time and now I have them a third time. It's like an uphill battle and for the most part I don't think this hobby will ever escape away from this problem, if it really is one.
As with the first 2 times I have noticed no ill effects on my corals, but because I read so much I though I should kill the SOB's as quick as possible and I did. Each time I treated the tank 3 times at double the dosage over a period of about 15 days. Each time I killed them all along with all of the shrimp, hermits, snails, acro crabs and pods that I couldn't get out of my tank.
This time around I can't treat, I just had major surgery and walking is hard enough right now let alone doing 3 major water changes on a 180 (most of my corals are encrusted onto rock so taking them all out and dipping and QT is not an option). I can't even lift anything over 20 pounds for the next 3 months.
So far I have had no ill effects on any of my corals, in fact the are growing just as fast as they ever have and there have been no loss of color. I will continue down this road until I am able to treat however if nothing changes between now and then I will not treat. I am not going to kill off all of my shrimp, hermits, snails, acro crabs and pods that I can't get out of my tank for no reason EVER again. If I do go down the don't treat road I will be responsible and keep my frags to myself or let those who want frags from know that they will need to treat them for red bugs.
In recent months I have noticed other reefers taking on the same approach so it will be interesting to see how all of this truns out. I know for a fact there are some reef keepers that have had them for years and they have no issues at all.....
Just my opinion based on my experience.
Stoney Mahony
New member
I see lots of people say it does nothing to there corals but thats crazy to me. Noooooo loss of PE????? Thats how I noticed them in my tank, my yellow tort had zero,zip,zilch PE almost overnight. It didn't lose color in the month that it was infested but the freakin polyps didn't come out at all. Even at night they were barely breaking the surface of the coral. The polyps were just sucked in like a guy in a cold pool if ya know what I mean 
. An hour after my first and only interceptor dip I had full PE. Night and Day, im telling you. Im sure they don't have much of an effect on alot of corals but I have had a few that where PE was 100% directly affected by the redbugs. To me, the polyps are half the beauty on many of my corals, so I choose no RB's.
. An hour after my first and only interceptor dip I had full PE. Night and Day, im telling you. Im sure they don't have much of an effect on alot of corals but I have had a few that where PE was 100% directly affected by the redbugs. To me, the polyps are half the beauty on many of my corals, so I choose no RB's.
I agree. I have seen red bugs on acros that are growing well (thriving) and not losing color or polyp extension either. I am just not sure if red bugs are as detrimental to acropora corals as reported by various hobbyists. At the same time, I do suspect these bugs feed off of the slime and waste products produced by the acros, but until scientific research is done, we really don't know for sure.
Treating your aquarium or quarantine aquarium with Interceptor is risky because it does not discriminate between these pests and other inhabitants like shrimp, amphipods, copepods, and crabs.
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