Red bugs on your sps? Share your exp.
- Thread starter Mark
- Start date
So, can anyone join this club? I too have these now and just watched them for 30 minutes under the microscope.
Couple of new observations.
There appears to be clear variations of these bugs...same shape and slightly smaller interacting with the larger amber/red ones.
Both were observed running across the center of polyps. The coral retracted,although I am sure the size would be appropriate for the polyp to consume the bugs.
I watched as some were stationary, resembling a mosquito feeding. Butt up in the air and apparantly feeding off the surface of the coral. This coral frag BTW, has almost completely bleached. It was doing very well before noticing this infestation.
While watching them (in 300ml of water) I slowly added tincture of iodine until I saw a reaction. They clearly did not like this. I added 6ml total and after running around for about 5 minutes, the bugs stopped moving. I then blew them off with a baster. 20 minutes later they still appear dead at the bottom of the petri dish.
Other organisms were not as sensitive to the iodine. worms,snails, etc were still moving last I looked.
From my viewpoint, these bugs were irritating the polyps, causing retraction. I do believe they are harmful, although I am not qualified to pass that as a fact. I also believe my tank would be better without them. Maybe we need a product called redbug exit!!
The condition of the frag is yet to be determined.
Couple of new observations.
There appears to be clear variations of these bugs...same shape and slightly smaller interacting with the larger amber/red ones.
Both were observed running across the center of polyps. The coral retracted,although I am sure the size would be appropriate for the polyp to consume the bugs.
I watched as some were stationary, resembling a mosquito feeding. Butt up in the air and apparantly feeding off the surface of the coral. This coral frag BTW, has almost completely bleached. It was doing very well before noticing this infestation.
While watching them (in 300ml of water) I slowly added tincture of iodine until I saw a reaction. They clearly did not like this. I added 6ml total and after running around for about 5 minutes, the bugs stopped moving. I then blew them off with a baster. 20 minutes later they still appear dead at the bottom of the petri dish.
Other organisms were not as sensitive to the iodine. worms,snails, etc were still moving last I looked.
From my viewpoint, these bugs were irritating the polyps, causing retraction. I do believe they are harmful, although I am not qualified to pass that as a fact. I also believe my tank would be better without them. Maybe we need a product called redbug exit!!
The condition of the frag is yet to be determined.
Lunchbucket
Premium Member
nice info. hope we can figure this crap out...some of my acros look like POO
Lunchbucket
Lunchbucket
I also noticed a bug "jump" off of the frag and free swim away.
I'm going to setup a 5g tank I have and try the eurythromycin as in "red slime" killer. If it doesn't work, I'll see if my LFS has any cyano I can "borrow", kill it in the 5g with an infested frag.
Overall, most of my colonies look OK, but a few are declining.
As a reference, I have a frag in realy rough shape that has NO bugs on it. Makes me think that the bugs aren't scavenging dying tissue. This frag was a "save" attempt from another hobbyist's tank.
I'm going to setup a 5g tank I have and try the eurythromycin as in "red slime" killer. If it doesn't work, I'll see if my LFS has any cyano I can "borrow", kill it in the 5g with an infested frag.
Overall, most of my colonies look OK, but a few are declining.
As a reference, I have a frag in realy rough shape that has NO bugs on it. Makes me think that the bugs aren't scavenging dying tissue. This frag was a "save" attempt from another hobbyist's tank.
Can I get anyone to post if they've gotten rid of the bugs and how they think they did it and how long they've been gone?
Also, while browsing thru the tank at 3AM, I noticed a large amphipod running around inside an affected acro...wonder if it was eating the bugs?
How many treated for cyano and then noticed no more bugs?
Thanks!
Also, while browsing thru the tank at 3AM, I noticed a large amphipod running around inside an affected acro...wonder if it was eating the bugs?
How many treated for cyano and then noticed no more bugs?
Thanks!
Greg Hiller
New member
Only guaranteed way I know of to get rid of the mites is to remove ALL, I mean ALL Acropora in the tank. This means every little piece of tissue that might be alive. ONLY Acropora need be removed because they DO NOT affect any other genera of coral.
I did this with two frag tanks and left them free of Acropora for two weeks. They never returned (8 months and counting), even after adding many Acro frags that I knew were particularly suseptible to the mites. Of course, removing every piece of living Acropora tissue in a long-term established reef/display tank is nearly impossible (like I need to tell you!).
After doing this you must (or course) be VERY careful never to reintroduce them into the tank. Easier said than done because a lot of folks, even some vendors, seem to be plagued with them.
- Greg Hiller
I did this with two frag tanks and left them free of Acropora for two weeks. They never returned (8 months and counting), even after adding many Acro frags that I knew were particularly suseptible to the mites. Of course, removing every piece of living Acropora tissue in a long-term established reef/display tank is nearly impossible (like I need to tell you!).
After doing this you must (or course) be VERY careful never to reintroduce them into the tank. Easier said than done because a lot of folks, even some vendors, seem to be plagued with them.
- Greg Hiller
OrionN
Moved on
My Orange Montipora Carpricornis was infected with them before so i know at least one of these red mite species infected Montipora also. IMO, these mites seem to be an oportunistic parasites. They infected weaken colonies but not healthy and well colony. I have two frags side by side of the same species, one infected and the other grew really fast without evidence of infection.Greg Hiller said:
Minh Nguyen
Greg Hiller
New member
Minh,
Anything is possible I suppose. There are likely parasites for a very large number of different species of coral. I know there are parasites for many Montipora species, though fortunately, I've never seen them first hand. I have seen certain species (this is going to sound really scientific now!) of tiny black elongated specks that move on certain corals that were in their death throws for one reason or another. These specks seem to eat the dying tissue, but I don't think they bother healthy Acros. I have never seen an otherwise initially healthy coral quickly covered with parasites, other than these parasites (the 'red mites') that we now are discussing.
I can only relate my experience. I had about 7-10 other species of SPS in the frag tank that was infected including closely related Anacropora, and including many M. caps (of course, now we are getting into questions of taxonomy, I think my M. caps are actually probably M. foliosa, or M. delicatula, but we could question that for days!). I never, ever saw any of the mites on anything other than Acropora, and only certain species. One of the species that was infected and did poorly was an Acropora that I've propagated for years, in some cases in very poor conditions, and is IMO/IME a VERY hardy Acro, yet, it would get very sick when placed in a tank with the mites.
Again, my experience was, remove all Acros for a short time. All mites gone for good.
- Greg Hiller
Anything is possible I suppose. There are likely parasites for a very large number of different species of coral. I know there are parasites for many Montipora species, though fortunately, I've never seen them first hand. I have seen certain species (this is going to sound really scientific now!) of tiny black elongated specks that move on certain corals that were in their death throws for one reason or another. These specks seem to eat the dying tissue, but I don't think they bother healthy Acros. I have never seen an otherwise initially healthy coral quickly covered with parasites, other than these parasites (the 'red mites') that we now are discussing.
I can only relate my experience. I had about 7-10 other species of SPS in the frag tank that was infected including closely related Anacropora, and including many M. caps (of course, now we are getting into questions of taxonomy, I think my M. caps are actually probably M. foliosa, or M. delicatula, but we could question that for days!). I never, ever saw any of the mites on anything other than Acropora, and only certain species. One of the species that was infected and did poorly was an Acropora that I've propagated for years, in some cases in very poor conditions, and is IMO/IME a VERY hardy Acro, yet, it would get very sick when placed in a tank with the mites.
Again, my experience was, remove all Acros for a short time. All mites gone for good.
- Greg Hiller
MrSandman
Team RC
Just thought i would report something odd.
After upgrading tanks and adding some more acros, the red bugs came back. They were mainly on an acro frag (looks like an A. nana) and they were all over it. The frag had become tan and lost all color. In an effort to try something different, i moved that frag to a shady part of the tank, lower and further from the lights and under less current. Two weeks later, i looked at the frag and all of the bugs were gone! Maybe these bugs are photosynthetic? Nothing else different was done to the tank and the only other frag in my tank that has them remained untouched and still has the bugs. Just thought that if anyone here has a frag covered with them and is willing to experiment, move it into a shaded area of the tank away from any current and see if they go away. Man, i wish i had taken before/after photos. I've moved that frag back under the lights and in stronger current. We'll see what happens next. I'm crossing my fingers hoping that they don't come back.
After upgrading tanks and adding some more acros, the red bugs came back. They were mainly on an acro frag (looks like an A. nana) and they were all over it. The frag had become tan and lost all color. In an effort to try something different, i moved that frag to a shady part of the tank, lower and further from the lights and under less current. Two weeks later, i looked at the frag and all of the bugs were gone! Maybe these bugs are photosynthetic? Nothing else different was done to the tank and the only other frag in my tank that has them remained untouched and still has the bugs. Just thought that if anyone here has a frag covered with them and is willing to experiment, move it into a shaded area of the tank away from any current and see if they go away. Man, i wish i had taken before/after photos. I've moved that frag back under the lights and in stronger current. We'll see what happens next. I'm crossing my fingers hoping that they don't come back.
|ReEFnEwB1E|
New member
Hmm... Seems only solution is to get rid of the Acros you currently have that are infested then simply wait till it's safe to put other Acros back into the tank.
Anyone even know if these things have an incubation period like ICH? If so then I might just do so with my one Acropora Valida frag I got from a local reefer. It's just not worth the trouble later on down the road when I get more frags of Acros. :sad1:
Anyone even know if these things have an incubation period like ICH? If so then I might just do so with my one Acropora Valida frag I got from a local reefer. It's just not worth the trouble later on down the road when I get more frags of Acros. :sad1:
justletmein
Premium Member
|ReEFnEwB1E| said:
If they're only on that one frag you can probably dip it (SeaChem Reef Dip or other Iodine stuff) to get rid of the bugs. Ideally this would be done before putting it into your tank.
|ReEFnEwB1E|
New member
Commencing dips with Seachem Reef Dip 4X's the recommended dosage. I will post up on how it goes.... 
|ReEFnEwB1E|
New member
2:29 AM about 6 hours later. I think first wave was successful and tomorrow I will be sending in the second wave of Reef Dip to make sure all the pockets of resistance are taken out. 
|ReEFnEwB1E|
New member
Dip was successful but I won't be able to tell until months from now if they do come back. I think I caught it early since there were only a few on the frag. Maybe under 10 altogether when I counted before I nuke them! Crossing fingers 
Great now I have them. I purchased this tricolor frag from a LFS in the south east Michigan area who got it from a local reefer. I've had the piece a month and a half and was just waiting for the polyps to come out. They do at night but not during the day so I thought that was fine. I'm still undecided about treatment though.
justletmein
Premium Member
Dazureus, you should probably dip/quarantine that sucker before they spread to your other acros...
So far I've been dipping all of my infected acros every two weeks or so. I've got two that are encrusted onto huge pieces of live rock that I cannot dip. I would assume these are re-infecting the rest, but maybe the red bugs hang around in the live rock too.
Has anyone successfully gotten rid of the bugs?
So far I've been dipping all of my infected acros every two weeks or so. I've got two that are encrusted onto huge pieces of live rock that I cannot dip. I would assume these are re-infecting the rest, but maybe the red bugs hang around in the live rock too.
Has anyone successfully gotten rid of the bugs?
newkie
Premium Member
I don't think high flow is going to make a bit if difference. I would either (A) try MrSandman's suggestion and move the coral to a shady area w/ no direct light or (B) dip it before it spreads. I tried 8 drops of tinicure of iodine in 2 cups water for 20 mins and all red bugs died. HTH
I recently have noticed these damn bugs on a few of my acro frags. I did the dip and they still come back. The most interesting thing to me was when I looked at the tank at night (about 2 hours after the lights go off). I took a flash light to the side of my tank and OH MY GOD! There must have been thousands of red bugs swimming around. Now I can't tell if they are the same but after catching a few with a turkey baster and putting them into a stirafoam cup they looked exactly like the ones that fell off after the dip.
Have you guys experienced the same?
They are eating away at the corals. Fading them first then dead...
Has anyone tried OZONE? Do you think this may take care of our little annoying friends?
Have you guys experienced the same?
They are eating away at the corals. Fading them first then dead...
Has anyone tried OZONE? Do you think this may take care of our little annoying friends?
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