Red bugs on your sps? Share your exp.

[ScavDog]

Well the bugs have returned! These guys were hanging out in one of my systems last winter and seemed to be annoying my purple tip acros. Then they disappeared completely. I have a couple theories as to why they vanished, but cannot be positive.

This past Xmas they returned. Yep it seems to be an annual thing! I am 99% sure that they came in on a frag from a local reefer.

I have waged war on these SOB's and have been dipping with lugols at a strength of 50 drops per gallon.

IMO you accomplish much more by using a small powerhead while treating. I use the freebee that comes with the bucket of IO.

See the attached pic for a nice little macro of some dead bugs floating in some coral mucus. DIE DIE DIE!



http://scavdog.com/reef/images/800x600/spscritters3.jpg

 

[3_high_low]

I still have them. I think I got mine from one of the LFS's. I wish I knew a bit more about them, what they eat. They don't seem to be killing corals but I have a feeling they aren't helping either. I won't bother dipping. They are everywhere and my corals are well encrusted onto the LR.

I need a preditor!

 

[justletmein]

Is it possible they're toxic when ingested? Maybe the effected acros are catching them in their polyps and being poisoned. They are orange, many brightly colored critters in nature are poisonous.

 

[newkie]

My understanding is that there are at least two varieties of the bugs.

Some claim no harm, others clam much harm.

Only you can decide for your corals.

mgk

Yes, god forbid there may be more than one type of "Red bug" in the entire ocean! I have a coral thats had red bugs for years: they never spread, the coral grows like a weed and happens to be very aggressive to boot. Here is a pic:

Anyhow, I beleive that the type of red bug on this coral is not harmful. But I feel I would have to give people a huge disclaimer if I were to frag it.

 

[Lunchbucket]

WOW Lunchbucket wanty fragy

 

[Jake]

I for one would like to recieve one of those disclaimers newkie....along with a frag of that coral!!!


You fragging?

 

[ridetheducati]

Newkie,

I would like to see a macro shot of your bugs.

Attached is a pic of a frag suffering from red bugs (Mar 2002).

I rebooted my tank just to get rid of the bugs.

 

[newkie]

Newkie,

I would like to see a macro shot of your bugs.

Just took this tonight, note several red dots on the tissue, at least 10 or more are visible, I'm sorry my camera is not capable of a better macro shot than this.

 

[Mike A]

I've got these little buggers too.

They are most numerous on a solid purple acro that has
been in my tank for years, and they've also been seen on
a blue tortuosa colony grown from a frag purchased from
Upscales.

Though I have a few bottles of the reef dip, I haven't had
a reason to use it on any of the sps colonies in my tank.

I've been told that they are responsible for causing sps
corals to lose their color and eventually turn brown and
possibly rtn (rta) ?

My own observations don't support what I've been told.

The sps in my tank are as colorful as they've ever been and
growth rates are good. I caused some instability about a month
ago where the temperature was low. A couple of wild
colonies went into decline, and I eventually lost them. While
I didn't really notice any type of infestation in the corals that
died, it's possible that when a coral is stressed, these bugs add
enough stress that the coral is doomed and can only be saved
through aggressive iodine treatments or fragging off the healthy
branches.

ScavDog, did you lose any sps from these bugs ?

 

[newkie]

My own observations don't support what I've been told. ... A couple of wild colonies went into decline, and I eventually lost them.

Its more likely that your wild colonies simply couldn't adapt to captive conditions. This is why so many people are adamant about purchasing frags.

 

[Mike A]

I would be in agreement with you except for the fact that
the wild colonies I lost were in the tank for several months
and had begun to grow out.

Are you sure that most folks are adamant about purchasing
frags ?

Seems to me that FFExpress, Dr. Mac and quite a few other
outfits are moving quite a few wild colonies these days.
Someone is buying them.



mike

 

[David Grigor]

I would be in agreement with you except for the fact that
the wild colonies I lost were in the tank for several months
and had begun to grow out.

mike

I have had acropora longer than that and for no apparent reason be gone is 24 hours. While hundreds of others were totally fine.

IMO: No one will probably ever know what went wrong.

 

[newkie]

I didn't say most.. I said many... and when I say "many" I mean many people here in this particular forum. I'm sure that wild colonies, on the whole, are much more popular. But with serious sps keepers in this forum I think more people purchase frags. I've seen wild colonies doing fine and growing and not make it past a year. The explanation is that all corals have a tolerance for various factors (lighting, nutrients, etc). Frags or wild colonies that have lived for yeras in captivity have proved that their tolerances fall in to the range of what we can provide in captivity. An unproven wild colony with tolerances unknown may not be possible to keep, even with the best captive reef conditions. It may be able to tolerate a low or high end of a particular factor for several months but utlimately the stress leads to RTN.

 

[Marcosreef]

This is a very interesting and informative thread. Thanks to all you have shared their info and experience.

I also have these red bugs on an acro, but on no other coral. It has quadrupled in size in a years time, and AFAIK, seems unbothered by them. It's interesting that a large number of people have these...

Marco

 

[David Grigor]

Macro, I wouldn't base it on 1 coral. I have about 200 sps and a wide range of results on how a coral handles the population of red bugs. Some corals seem unbothered by them while others definately are effected in coloration, polyp extention and growth.

Even thought it seems harmless now, I would get them under control before putting any other acropora that could be suseptable to the bugs in the tank.

 

[Marcosreef]

Hi David,

I have some of Seachem's Reef Dip, I'll try that.

Even thought it seems harmless now, I would get them under control before putting any other acropora that could be suseptable to the bugs in the tank.

Most definetly! I just don't know which is the best method (if any) for eliminating them.

Marco

 

[David Grigor]

I have had better success with Seachem ReefDip more than any other. Keep in mind this is a way to control the population. I have on two occasions done the dip on about 40 corals all at once that had a least one VISABLE or was a coral type that had potential for bugs. Closely inspected for 2 weeks I didn't find any bugs. However 6 weeks later bugs showing up again but in low number.

Definately controls the population but not for sure if can totally erradicate. At least not when the number of potential carries is high like in my case.

By keeping you corals from encrusting onto the large LR structure and on it's own rock is essential in dipping the corals for future infestations so I would try to plan future livestock additions with this in mind.

 

[Trapper]

Well, I'm another to find these little guys on my acro's. I'm planning on doing a dip with some iodine. I just got some acro's from Flying Fish. Must of come from them. It's amazing how much we still do not know in this hobby. What an amazing bunch of animals that inhabit our oceans. Just wish I could control which ones I put in my tank. I was reading some of the posts in this thread when I stumbled across one of the remarks as to how the corals tend to lose color and fade to tan when affected with these bugs, when I thought I have one acro with those changes taking place in it now, I decided to go look and low and behold I have the same infestation GREAT. It's just one thing after another. I've been in this hobby for 8 years now and it's just one thing after another. I will follow with any sort help or remorse that insues.:eek1:

 

[jimroth]

I could just ....

I could just ....

Well, I've got it now too.
I had an acro bleach out over the last month or so. Looked at it today, and there they were, dozens of them.
They join the flatworms and hydroids in my "typhoid mary" 58G tank.
Frags anyone?
:mad2:

 

[Marcosreef]

Hello,

I did the Seachem Reef Dip on a 6" Acropora (only one that's got the buggies so far). I did the double dose for 5 minutes swishing the coral around for the entire duration. There were probably 100 (estimate, rough) red bugs on the bottom.

The coral responded very well to the dip, not sliming at all. It has extended it's polyps later that night.

Marco