Red Bugs are yellow right?

[RichT]

Red Bugs are yellow right? Those are yellow bugs on my coral. So that means......... I have.........Red Bugs!!!!!!:mad2:

Two questions:
1. I saw the post where Merv is giving Keith his last Interceptor so where can I get some......vet right? What do I ask for? Is Interceptor the common name or a reef specific name?

2. I guess my crabs and shrimp, although I'll try, probably won't be able to catch so I guess they are goners right?

I would suggest that rkplucker look closely at the stuff I gave her. This is the only coral I've seen them on other than some unhappy digitata, I guess that's why they are unhappy.

The last stuff I put in my tank came from NEA, but that's not to say that's where they came from. I have a lot of stuff from Malcolm's breakdown and the particular coral in the picture came from a different rescue. I guess that's the risk you take putting neglected corals in your tank. If they came from Malcolm's breakdown then I would suggest Phyl, Ruden, Steve Ho, & Ribs look closely at their stuff.

Looks like I'm to be taught another lesson in proper reef husbandry. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[opie]

I have red bugs on a frag I got recently and a fellow member donated some drugs to help me out... I will be treating my tank soon and will let you know of any issues I run into.
Good luck....

 

[Phyl]

Whoah.... Man there's a bad bunch of those babies going around these days. I haven't seen any, but I haven't looked that closely. Would they be on *anything* or are they known to only make homes on acros? I have 90% cap, 10% other from the rescue. I haven't put any of these things into my main so *whew* there.

I've only ever seen super close ups of them and they're very yellow with a little red spot on them (who named them? The colorblind?!).

Vets are a good place to get the interceptor (someone mentioned bringing the directions from the net for dosage in order to get the script). Wonder if you can get it mail order. Can't you get animal meds online now?

What is the preventative for this (and flatworms)?

 

[ericp351]

I went to my vet, told him the story, paid my $48 and was on my way. He wrote the script to my wifes cat ....

Eric...

 

[RichT]

I have seen flatworms in my sump but none in the main. I think my 6 line or the CBB would keep them at bay from what I've read. I've also read that a fresh water dip as part of the initial acclimation helps prevent them (Red Bugs) from infesting your system if they are on the new coral. I should practice what I read huh?

 

[Kelly]

RichT - We absolutely treat all of our corals for redbugs, I can say it didn't come from us.
They only affect sps corals and are tteatable with Interceptor. Search on RC and you'll find the exact dosage needed. I had them last winter and treated 2X as specified and haven't seen them in my tank since.

 

[smcooler]

red bug

red bug

do a search, I found a place in the UK and ordered it online had it in one week same price as here and $3 to ship no scrip needed.I will try and find my paperwork and give you the exact name. My shrimp lived threw the treatments hermits are the first to go.


stan

 

[RichT]

Fred - Didn't really suspect they came from NEA as I tried to indicate. Your stuff looks great and is doing great. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase from NEA again.

I have a sallylight foot, emeralds, porcelain, and acro crabs and a peppermint shrimp that I'm not to confident in catching. My sexy anemone shrimp I might be able to get. The hermits shouldn't be too hard to catch. How about the snails, does it affect the snails? Or the anemones?
I gonna be real disappointed if I lose the sally, emerald, porcelains, acro's and shrimp. What are their chances?

 

[Kelly]

To the best of my knowledge it will only have a deadly effect on the hermits and MAYBE the shrimps. I lost a few hermits but my acro crabs and pep shrimp did just fine... I dont know about the snails, I gave up trying to count them. You should be ok, just run carbon after the 6 hour treatment period and do a water change.
LMK if you have a problem finding Interceptor - I may have one tab left. I've heard stories of vets unwilling to write a scrip for it even after you try explaining what it's for.

 

[Marcelog]

Rich,

Why don't you pull the piece(s) that are infected, and treat them in a separate tank? You'll use less medication, and wont harm any of the other tank inhabitants.

Marcelo -

 

[Steve Ho]

Sorry you got the red bugs Rich. I haven't seen any in my tank either, so Malcolm's teardown probably wasn't the source. Good luck with the Interceptor treatments.

 

[concept3]

Yow! Rich, I'm going to attempt to see my dog's vet with a print out of the Redbug treatment page so that the vet will understand what I'll be using the pills for. I went last month to get more so I can have a box handy (for situations like this), and they only sold me one and made me sign a disclaimer. Hopefully with a picture of my tank, the bugs, and the treatment page, they'll understand this time. I'll see what I can do today.

I bought a box of Interceptor last year at petmeds.com, but recently have started asking for a prescription. I don't know why they changed that all of a sudden, I bought a 6 pack box for only $32 and SCOOTER's vet charges $8/pill.....talk about profit!

 

[RichT]

Apparently, according to the reading I did last night, they only go after the Acroporas. I think I got all the acros from Malcolms tear down so they probably wouldn't show up if they were from his tear down.

 

[RichT]

OK....problem 1 solved. My vet is a good guy. Quick consult, sign here - "I'm not responsible", $25, "you want 3 white's or yellows"? "I'll take the whites" "good luck", "try to avoid collateral death", "let me know how you make out"

Proud owner of 69mg of Interceptor.

Now, the next problem. Treat the display tank or pull all the sps including the bits and pieces and treat in a hospital tank? As all my stuff is either frags or very small colonies, I'm leaning towards the hospital tank. I feel it would be somewhat irresponsible of me to treat the tank, knowing other stuff is gonna die, when with a little more work, I have a good chance of killing the bugs and keeping everything else alive.

After reading up on Eric Borneman's information, seems the bugs need a host just as the ick parasites do to survive. Unlike ick, there are no eggs and they are direct developers. The host free survival is a mere 4 or 5 days. So if you "fallow" the display for 6 to 10 days, no more bugs in the display, no more bugs on the coral in the hospital, done deal.

It's worth the chance on reinfection at my level due to the relative ease of removing and reintroducing the acro's to my display compared to a much more mature, fully encrusted tank. Besides the corals don't quite move as fast and aren't as good at hiding as the sally, sexy and their buddies.

 

[RichT]

Any ideas on how to get the acro crabs out of their colony?

 

[Kelly]

wooden skewers that you would use for shishkebob's worked for me, just dull the point a bit

 

[blstravler]

RichT-

I'm going to treat my whole tank. Probably only 2 times as I do not see many bugs. It will be interesting to see how my results and yours differ. I'll keep posting as I go. I am picking up the pill from Merv tomorrow and dosing Wednesday morning. I'll try and keep a photo library and write u pmy results.

Some questions-

I understand snails and hermits will not fair well. What about snails, urchins and zoos?

Also how long should I wait in between doses. If I do one Wednesday can I do the next Sunday?


Also my wife and I where looking at the tank and I have a few frags I would like to donate to the club. Once I am 100% positive the bugs are gone maybe Merv or Phyl and I can get together so I can give them away.

On a side note my company now ships both AGA and Oceanic and I am going to contact them about donating a tank for auction to raise money for the club I have a meeting with them after Labor Day and I'll let everyone know what they have to say.

Thanks to Merv and everyone out there for their help both now and in the future.

Regards-
Keith

 

[blstravler]

Oh and what about my clams? Will they be ok?

 

[RichT]

The only things, as I have read thus far, that is affected are the crabs, shrimp, and pods, and maybe the snails but I haven't read where anybody has mentioned snail death. Acro crabs seem to be a definite and hermits are a probable collateral damage. I have a 25H so Im going to go with a hospital tank. I want to try to avoid any collateral losses. I'll keep everyone posted. It will probably be a week or so before I get to it.

 

[ruden]

WOW, Rich good luck not sure I can help any but if I can let me know.

Bob