Red bugs on your sps? Share your exp.

[J4Life]

TIA,
Why don't you try adding a couple of Yellow Clown Gobbies. Since they have been reported eating the bugs. It would sound like a good idea. Also since your tank is so large you could keep several without the worries of them beating each other up. The one draw back that people seem to say though is that if they are a mating pair they do some small damage to acros where they lay their eggs. Also if that is not a suitable solution then why not try doing a fresh water dip on just one piece for a minute and see if that helps. I am going to try it on my frag and see what comes out of it. Better to lose one then all and if it works it could save your corals.

Just my thoughts,
Bill

 

[David Grigor]

FYI: TIA means "Thanks In Advance" . Not the persons signature.

Anythings possible but clown gobies are not the silver bullet. In some case may work but not 100%. I have a pair and didn't do anything. They started perching on some of my uneffected corals causing not to extend polyps so I banished them to a softy tank.

Bill, You didn't answer my question: Where are you going to get the Oomed from ?

 

[J4Life]

David,
Sorry, not thinking to clearly today. I have alot of things going on right now. Also didn't mean to mistake some ones name for and acronym. I have no earthly ID where to get the OOmed. As a matter of fact I never even heard of it until now. That was the suggestion from Jake on my initial ?. I am going to try the FW dip and see if that works. Thanks and sorry Mia if offended you with my mistake.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[David Grigor]

Sorry Bill for getting that mixed up......

So Jake, Where are you going to get Oomed from ? I am quite positive they don't make it anymore.

Bill, FW dips don't work. I wouldn't even bother trying. This has been discussed thoroughly early in this thread. If you still want to try it, make the PH of the FW is the same as you tank PH. There are adjustment buffers you can get to do this.....

 

[mia1974]

Does anyone know what the active ingredient(s) in Oomed is? Wish I could find some, but I doubt of it...

I have 2 green clown gobies in my 360 right now (are they ever aggressive towards each other!)..they don't seem to eat the bugs, but don't bother my acros either (hopefully they don't spawn or I'll be eating my words...)

 

[J4Life]

Thanks David,
I guess I will just wait it out until I can switch tanks and get my hands on a Yellow Clown Goby. I don't have the best of luck with LFS's. We are in need of a good one here. Especially one that doesn't charge you and arm and a leg to buy things either.


Thanks again,
Bill

 

[JasonD]

In the past to give the corals a respite from the red bugs I tried a lugols dip for fiteen minutes. At a concentration of 10 drops lugols solution per liter. It got the red bugs off, but after a couple of months they came back

I don't know if the bugs were in the tank or if enough of them survived the dip to repopulate. I think this would work bettor then fresh water dip.


Jason

 

[David Grigor]

Bill, Not sure I would wait for the tank upgrade. July 4 weekend I moved from a 190g to a 322g tank. A number of corals ( mostly frags ) that were already stressed from the bugs didn't survive the transfer to the new tank. Best to try and knock it out BEFORE the move.....

Jason, I will give the Lugols a shot since I have some on hand. I will look through a magnifying glass to see if they jump off or not......

 

[turtlespd]

Just wanted to add my self to the list of causalties of red bugs. They have been chilling on a few of my acros. I was admiring one of my frags and was very happy it had orange and white polyps..duh the orange was the bugs. So i checked out all my acros and it seems they like some more than others. Oddly enough i was looking at my valida and noticed it didt have as many bugs..and did noticed the one blue leg hermit in the tank has been traveling within the acro for the past few weeks. i have had yellow gobies in the past and didnt noticed the red bugs till i redid all my rocks and somehow killed the little thing...so maybe the yellow gobie is the issue.

Paul

 

[G-money]

Just to reiterate my experience...

I am pretty sure a yellow clown goby got rid of my bugs for me. However, a pair is not required in order to stress corals to a noticeable point. The goby started perching in two corals which did not start extending their polyps again until 2 weeks after I removed the goby. Now almost 2 months later, the polyps are just about back to normal extension. Luckily, the goby always perched in the same two corals, so all I had to do was lift the coral out of the water and shake the goby into a net to remove it.

While they may rid you of your bugs, they may give you another problem all together. Luckily the corals the goby perched in were not stressed with the bugs or I am most sure they wouldn't have taken to that additional stress very well.

Be careful what you wish for! For example, I wished I could get rid of all my little Aiptasia, so I got a few peppermint shrimp. Aiptasia all gone. Now I wish I had my bristleworms back (the peppermints ate them ALL!) Realize that there are very few biological controls without side effects - very few. My yellow clown goby wouldn't eat prepared food either (but some do), so that is a consideration as well...

 

[coralite]

Graham, peppermints, arrow crabs, and dottybacks altogether could not eradicate your bristleworms. I guarantee you if you look, ye shall see. There's still some in there, besides, I haven't ever heard peppermints being accused of eating any BSW. But, yellow clowns are next on my list of Clown Gobies, the blacks eat pocillopora nd the red spotted green, G. histrio, hasn't done much that I can tell.

 

[G-money]

Jake,

Correct, they are not ALL gone - their populations are severely decimated. However, I will snap a picture for you the next time I watch a peppermint pull a bristleworm out of the rock and proceed to eat it (just saw it again the other night). The bristles used to POUR out of the rock when I fed the tank. Those ones lost the "survival of the fittest" battle. Now whatever is left are quite cryptic indeed...

 

[J4Life]

Graham,
Please don't take any offense to this, but are you sure that it in fact is a bristelworm and not a peanut worm. Peanut worms also hide in the rock and come out when the tank is fed. I have never heard of peppermint shrimp eating bristleworms in my experience until now.

I do know that they will eat aptasia though.


Thanks,
Bill

 

[G-money]

Bill,

Yes, I know the difference (and no offense taken ). I have seen my peppermint(s) eat bristleworms. The common, everyday spikey pinkish light red bristleworms. Also, they are peppermints and not camel-backs, as well. This is the first time I've ever had pepps eat bristles, but they do - at least one of them does (I have 4 all about the same size and it's hard to tell the difference.)

I assume it's much like different individuals of any animal species will eat different things depending on what's available. Certain cherub angels will eat all your little fanworms, some won't touch them. Some emerald crabs will eat your Valonia, some won't. Some clown gobies will eat your red bugs, some won't, some of the "flatworm-eating shrimp" will eat your flatworms, some won't etc...

 

[J4Life]

Ok. I here you. Sure would like to see a picture if you can catch it in the act. I have 2 huge bristle worms in my tank. Both are close to 12 inche I am guessing and about as big as a pencil. They are ugly things, but have I have never seen them harm anything yet. I have had several trochus snails die recently and have seen them eating the remains. I have also read that some bristleworms aka(the fireworm variety) will eat snails and kill them by covering them with a mucus blob. I noticed that blow on one of the snails they had been snacking on. Although I don't really care if they eat the snails. They are much cheaper to replace than any fish or coral.


Thanks again. Post some pics if you get the opportunity to catch it in the act.

Bill

 

[unknownReefer]

GUYS GOT A GREAT IDEA MAYBE THOSE CRABS THAT PROTECT ACROPORA maybe tehy can be teh cure to the red bugs i dunno just a suggestion

 

[ridetheducati]

Good try unknownreefer.

I do not think you understand. We have tried everything except bleach. Which I might try soon. :eek1: :eek1: :eek1:

 

[dflad]

I found them on my slimer. That makes 2 colonies and 2 frags in the last 4months that have had them. I lost the two frags and the slimer colony is on the way out. The only thing that may have cued it was the following:

5 months ago my mandrin jumped out of my tank
4 months ago I got a purple tipped frag that had red bugs on it, and it died subsequently. The bugs jumped to my pink table top frag and that died. Now it is on my bright green bottlebrush and my slimer.

I do have a yellow goby, but the affected corals were not positioned in a place where it would have perched. I have changed that and placed both of the corals in a higher flow area as well.

I havent tried any chemical dips or concoctions yet. I have tried isolated flushing of the coral with a baster. That did not really seem to do anything.

Just a few thoughts/observations.

 

[shawnz28]

Just curious if anyone has made anyheadway? I am about to find someone with a red slime problem and add some to my tank and then add the remover

Anyway I have a question for everyone, with not trading for a long time now some of my montis ect..need a trimming and was curious what peoples thoughts on the saftey of trading non-acros were with others(of course other than warning them of the situation).

 

[David Grigor]

As recommended by others in another post,

I dipped some frags that were infested with a Lugols Iodine dip of 10-12 drops per quart for 10 minutes. Most bugs fell off althouth not 100%.

Don't expect it to totally erradicate but all the ones that I dipped improved in color and look better than they have for 6 months.

While not perfect, it is a way to slow them down.