Red bugs on your sps? Share your exp.

The bugs are now on more than one acropora and they are all fine over eight months. I had an acropora frag I got that was bleached die, completely lost all itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s flesh. It grew completely back over the algae on its skeleton and is a perfect purple with green polyps, with the red bugs. So Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m not sure they are the monsters every one is claimming . But I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t have all the facts yet. This is just my observations.


What are stenothoid amphipods, maybe this is what I have.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/june2003/feature.htm
right after "What ARE these critters?"


Where can I find the picks of the damage?



Thanks!

G.C.
 
Last edited:
Geepers Creepers said:
They were on a small tank raised frag of Acropora I have. The frag has split and branched off 21 times in eight months, full of color and polyp expansion, looks perfect. I think that the parasites are actually feeding on the slime the corals are producing and not the coral itself. But there may be more than one species of similar parasites. We just keep calling what we find as those little red bugs and if a coral dies, itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s the little red bugs that did it. Why canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t someone find out for sure what they are and what they actually are doing on the Acroporas? You may be doing more harm then good trying to remove them.

I will take all your frags with the bugs if you want to get rid of them. :D
Click to expand...

I actually had the bugs axamined by a copepod specialist over 2 years ago. They were keyed out to the genus Tegastes. Doing a search on the original descriptions for that genus lead to only 3 species which infected stoney corals and only one which infected acropora. The species is Tegastes acrophoranus Here is the first page of the Original Description for that species. If anyone is interested in seeing all the pages at full size shoot me a pm and I will email it to you. The bugs are mostly golden with a red spot but with the naked eye they seem kinda reddish orange.
 
Last edited:
The bugs I have are completely red no yellow. They run very fast for their size you can see them easily running around on the acroporas. They are so small they look like a dust speck the about the diameter of a human hair. Does this sound like the same thing that every one else has?
 
Last edited:
Thanks but I canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t make out the type on the page. The bugs I have looking at other photos, donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t appear to be the same thing. Is there more then one thing that is red that can be on an acropora and not destructive? I may have a completely different thing. What I have is so small and I have better then 20/20 vision, you canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t make out any features at all. I wish I had a microscope.

G.C.
 
With the parasites that people are experiencing problems with. Looking at them with the naked eye what do they look and act like? Are they all red or can you make out heads or tales?

cyrilp posted this pick, and this is why I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t think what I have is exactly the same thing. What I have are completely red no yellow. What do I have?

http://www.smallreef.com/img/BUGS/00.Blue_Acropora.JPG
 
Last edited:
Geepers Creepers said:
The bugs I have are completely red no yellow. They run very fast for their size you can see them easily running around on the acroporas. They are so small they look like a dust speck the about the diameter of a human hair. Does this sound like the same thing that every one else has?
Click to expand...
I think you believe they are all red but infact they are not. When you look at them on a coral, they do appear to look all red but all the microscopic pictures I have seen show them as red and yellowish. Mine look all red also but I'm sure they are what you see in the photos. I try and get a good look at them on the coral but they are very hard to make out exactly. The only way I think you'll be able to confirm that is to use a microscope.

BTW thanks AgentSPS. ;)
 
40232Acropora.JPG


This is a photo of the infested frag I got, it was the same size and shape of the frag on the left eight months ago. It was just glued onto the rock when I got it, not spreading out at the base like it is now.
Im not sure if the coloration is right or the growth rate is ok. It is off to the side of a 175 watt metal halide with good water flow. Is there anything that would suggest a problem?
The two frags are from this colony.

Dose anyone know what species of acropora this is?

Is it normal for a colony to have the bugs for over eight months, grow like this than just drop dead?
 
Last edited:
Another thing if the ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œbugsââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ are feeding on Zooxanthellae or tissue then why donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t they feed on other corals that contain Zooxanthellae? There must be something the acroporas are producing that they use. That is why I thought that it may be the slime the acroporas produce. Has there been a study on these things? I canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t find one thing about them on other research pages from a scientific study in the wild. Are people sure that they are killing the corals and not that the corals are dying from another reason?
 
Does anyone here have A. Formosa in there tank with red bugs?
Click to expand...
I have 2 different purple formosas and 2 different green formosas. Only one of the purple ones has the bugs. Other corals in my tank that are/have been infected are green gemmifera, blue/brown humilis, nana, SPSfrags blue tort, Oregon blue tort, and SPS frags purple stag. The formosa actually has the fewest amount of bugs compared to others that are/have been infected.

I'm pretty sure these bugs are bad, opportunistic, and impossible to get rid of once you have them. I have never dipped any of my corals that have the bugs and some of them have been able to ward off the bugs to the point where there are no longer any on the coral. One thing I know for SURE is that all the corals in my tank that have been infected are the slowest growing compared to the uninfected. These may just be slow growing corals or the bugs may have caused the slowed growth.
 
Travis said:
These may just be slow growing corals or the bugs may have caused the slowed growth.
Click to expand...

Exactly a good statement and observation how would you know if the slow growth is from the bugs or not, or coral deaths are caused by the bugs? I took a small frag form an infected colony and mounted it to a small rock. It is growing at the same rate with no ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œbugsââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ as the completely infested one.

This isnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t exactly a controlled study but this is all I can do at the moment.

I want to find out more about this parasite an do more research, does anyone know of a good source of information on the web or in books that cover this?


Theory
Does this sound possible?
The ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œbugsââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ are eating the slime or the stuff that gets trapped in the acriporaââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s slime. Stealing food, slowing growth rate?
 
Last edited:
This is a hard thing to Swallow

This is a hard thing to Swallow

But I am infected. I have never had this problem before. The only thing major within the past 3 weeks was I bought a 120g whole setup. It came with Corals and LR. The rock had aptasia and majano anemones were eradicated with Joes Juice in a seperate 135g tank(New). After about 3-weeks of quarenting the rock I setup the 120g tank. Meanwhile the corals that came from that tank I dipped in Lugols before i put in my established 80g. 80g was tore down and transferred to 120g. Everything was Heaven. Corals tips were shooting, then I noticed these little red/orange things running around. I scratched my head, hmmmm.......And went about my day. After the 3rd Day I decide to search on RC cause I noticed on another coral(Both Purple). 5th Day I noticed them on My Loisetteae. Here tips were bright blue 2 days ago now they're more pale. I dipped in Lugols and basted with clean tank water. Alot were removed but some still remain.

I know this thread started 2 years ago. Instead if going throgh every post,is there someone that can 1) Tell me if it is a fact that these pests are harmful or not? 2) Is there a remedy soloution to remove if harmful?

I need some peace here, all help welcomed.

Eric C
 
I have not tried to remove them and my corals are thriving :D

Constant dipping and blasting etc might be part of the cause of unhealthy corals...

Anyone else have red bugs and no noticeably problems?
 
I am now in the Red Bug club. :(

I noticed them last week and read through the whole thread. I wanted to take drastic measures and tried Northstars method by using Chemi-Clean which is a red slime remover. Today is the second day after the medication and no luck!! :( :( I still see them everywhere on my frags. I lost one frag recently about 1 wk ago and it was doing SOOO well and was my best blue one that no one had. It started to bleach on me, then it died. :( not sure if this was becasue of the red bugs but it was my first death. That is when I my lightbulb in my head lit up and sure enough the suckers were everywhere on my other frags. This is going to be fun!! :( and still no cure or explanation for these critters to this day.
 
I have not tried to remove them and my corals are thriving

I have not tried to remove them and my corals are thriving

How Long have you had them?

Are they on all your corals or just particular ones?

Are they not affecting your corals in anyway?

Scared, Eric C

:worried:
 
I have had mine now for almost 2 months. They are all over my tank. Some acros have a higher number on them, and some have a lower number. I am not sure if growth is affected or not, in that my corals are all growing anyway, despite the bugs. The heavily infested colonies do show some off coloration, but certainly not any bleaching. The worst of the infested colonies seems to show slightly less bugs than a month ago. I have not attempted any special cures, but have used flatworm exit twice in the past 2 months to try to get rid of flatworms. This has not affected the red bugs (or done a good job on the flatworms either) There you go - hope that is some useful random info.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
Help: SPS peeling strangely.
Replies
5
Views
211
griss
griss
EXTREMECORALS
Why Acropora Coral is a Must-Have for Your Aquarium ~ Extremecorals.com Blog
Replies
0
Views
118
EXTREMECORALS
EXTREMECORALS
8
Pinks, reds, oranges.
Replies
7
Views
338
Reefing102
Reefing102
Corals.com
**AWESOME SPS UPDATE** Big Colonies, and ORA Aquaculture Frags!!
Replies
2
Views
255
Corals.com
Corals.com
T Diddy
I’ve got a parasite problem
Replies
15
Views
580
griss
griss
Back
Top