Sentinel for red bugs
- Thread starter rtbm
- Start date
AquariaEye
New member
I just bought some Sentinel Spectrum to dose my tank for a redbug breakout I have. Will this effect my anemone, urchin, or star fish?
chopper320
New member
Has everyone that had done this treatment been able to re-establish their pod populations after treatment? Is there any concern with long term effects from any remaining chemicals in the tank?
Also, if you remove shrimp and crabs, when is a safe timeframe to return them to the tank?
Also, if you remove shrimp and crabs, when is a safe timeframe to return them to the tank?
chopper320
New member
Is anyone still using this stuff?
jlombardi29
New member
Just added first doese to my reef
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Hey everyone I'm in need of a dose as I have red bugs and interceptor is obviously no longer available. My vet is real good and knows my situation, but was asking what dosage I need?
Can someone point me to some information about which pills to get, dosage, etc? I have a 150G system with 40B sump, but generally estimate it to be 150G when measuring.
I've seen mixed reactions with hermits, but what about cleaner shrimp and serpent sea stars? Thank you in advance!
Can someone point me to some information about which pills to get, dosage, etc? I have a 150G system with 40B sump, but generally estimate it to be 150G when measuring.
I've seen mixed reactions with hermits, but what about cleaner shrimp and serpent sea stars? Thank you in advance!
Andyf30
Member
Hermits were hit or miss in my tank, some died some lived, not sure what the deciding factor was there. Shrimp I'd try and move elsewhere. I personally didn't have any when I did my dose but I'd air on the side of caution. Sea stars should be okay? I haven't heard of any adverse reactions with echinoderms vs. crustaceans. The drug in the pill itself only effects crustaceans as far as I know. As far as dosage, if you search around you'll find mixed opinions. One I found stated one large dog pill, 23mg of M. Oxime (the active ingredient that kills those little buggers), per 300 gallons. Personally i went overboard in my 50 gallon and did 11.5g which is enough to treat around 100-150 gallons. Hope this helps
Peter Eichler
New member
You will want to use half (or slightly less than half) of a large dog pill. Only crustaceans will be in any danger.
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Thanks guys!! From what I read it's 12 hours, then do WC, how large of one did you guys end up doing? Also I want carbon\gfo offline correct? I currently run both.
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
No problem, I can take GFO & Carbon offline for 12 hours. I am getting the script today and will order, ironically enough it's 50% cheaper going through DrFosters than through my vet... go figure.
Now to reestablish my pod population post treatment (I have a mandarin so that's important), would it make sense to take my big chaeto ball, put it in a 10G with a heater, powerhead and let it sit there until treatment is over, then put my chaeto back in my fuge? The worry is, would I run the risk of reintroducing red bugs, or do they not hang out on my chaeto?
Anyone?
D-Nak
Active member
Actually, what I would do is empty both carbon and GFO cartridges (or bags or whatever you're using) and leave it running. In my case, I use two BRS media reactors, so I emptied out both cartridges and left the pumps on so water circulated through it.
Same with your protein skimmer -- remove the airline so that it's not skimming -- but keep the pump on.
The idea is to have the medication touch all parts of your tank so that it can kill any red bugs that may happen to be free-floating. There's no point in essentially treating only part of your tank when complete eradication is the goal.
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
I had a local reefer use Interceptor and had no issues with his S. Gigantea. Do you have the same experience D-Nak?
D-Nak
Active member
As I mentioned previously, the goal is complete eradication, so leave your fuge as is. Unfortunately, all of your pods will probably die, and your mandarin may starve. If you can hold off on treatment for a few days, set up a QT tank with your mandarin and chaeto ball. After you've completed your 2-3 rounds of Sentinel treatment, you'll need to re-establish your pod population in your tank. After a few weeks, you an re-introduce your mandarin, and throw out the rest of the contents of the QT tank (though I really think it's highly unlikely that the red bugs will survive a few weeks without SPS).
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Makes sense.... I have seen mandarins get treated poorly in LFS around here and survive weeks without eating, so my guess is once I reintroduce the chaeto or macro, the pod population should come back quickly. Catching the mandarin has proven to be rather difficult (sneaky little bugger). We'll have to let it ride.. I need to catch our cleaner shrimp and I know there is a peppermint shrimp that is somewhere, but I never see him..
So actually, reading Melev's article he didn't specify doing a water change after treatment, just reinstating carbon\GFO to get rid of the interceptor\sentinel. Did everyone do a water change? Probably isn't a bad idea and can be scheduled with the weekly ones.
Last edited:
kaserpick
Keeping it Simple
Not an in-tank treatment here, but I dipped a rock structure for an hour. My superman Digitata had black bugs. Here's what I did:
-Filled 5 gallon bucket with tank water
-Added heater and Tunze 6025 for flow
-Mixed one level scoop (Salifert scoop from Mg test kit) of crushed sentinel pill in RODI water
-Poured mixture into 5g bucket and let mix for a few minutes
-Submerged rock structure with corals (Acros, pocci, and Monti's)
-Let sit for 60 minutes
-While waiting, I filled another bucket with more tank water and added 10 gallons of fresh saltwater to tank.
-I then removed corals and dunked structure in fresh tank water bucket to rinse off slime and meds
-Placed structure back into DT
No coral problems and black bugs were gone! Have not returned in over a week.
-Filled 5 gallon bucket with tank water
-Added heater and Tunze 6025 for flow
-Mixed one level scoop (Salifert scoop from Mg test kit) of crushed sentinel pill in RODI water
-Poured mixture into 5g bucket and let mix for a few minutes
-Submerged rock structure with corals (Acros, pocci, and Monti's)
-Let sit for 60 minutes
-While waiting, I filled another bucket with more tank water and added 10 gallons of fresh saltwater to tank.
-I then removed corals and dunked structure in fresh tank water bucket to rinse off slime and meds
-Placed structure back into DT
No coral problems and black bugs were gone! Have not returned in over a week.
