Repeated bayer dips to eliminate Red Bugs

[LobsterOfJustice]

I am just getting back into acros... I've picked up two in the past two weeks, and I'm pretty sure one has a couple red bugs on it. Since I've only got two in the tank, would I be able to treat with repeated dips instead of treating the tank? I'm not too keen on setting up a QT tank and keeping them there for several weeks either. I'm thinking maybe dipping them both each Saturday for a month or something like that? Just to take care of any stragglers that weren't on the coral when it was removed. Would this work or is it a waste of time?

 

[sahin]

Wow, good to see you're getting back into Sps corals. I enjoyed your tank in the past.

With red bugs: either you treat the whole system or take the corals out and let the system run without having acros in it for a couple of weeks.

The issue is even if you dip the corals, the bugs can and do roam around on the rocks, so after dipping they would just reinfect the coral.

If this system is being newly setup or restarted, I'd just treat the whole tank and then seed with some new good rocks to get the pods in again.

Adding a small ball of chaeto will also bring in loads of pods.

 

[MichaelW]

Sahin is right. I just treated whole tank last night. If you don't have any acros encrusted on rocks I may be tempted instead just to take them out in a quarantine tank for 2 weeks with a heater, power head, and some form of light (doesn't have to be great lighting, it's only temporary). Getting hold of the interceptor to do whole tank can be a pain.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Grrrr, really did not want to do a whole quarantine thing. Is 2 weeks enough time without acros in the tank for the bugs to die? I could probably handle 2 weeks... Is there a risk of infecting the QT tank if I use water from main system for small daily water changes on the QT?

 

[MrSandman]

Why not treat your main tank with spectrum or interceptor? It's pretty simple and effective.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Mainly because it's easier to remove 2 un-encrusted acros than 2 shrimp and a porcelain crab. Also have a lot of good pod/mysis diversity I don't want to lose.

 

[Tweaked]

Are they super expensive corals? I would just toss and wait it out if you are against the other methods.

 

[Pife]

Are they super expensive corals? I would just toss and wait it out if you are against the other methods.

This is what I have been thinking for a for days now.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

If I was going to do that, I'd at least try to treat them in QT. How long do I have to wait out the bugs?