SoundsFishy2me2
New member
camera skills is too..
camera skills is too..
shows how stressed he is about de-bugs!!!
camera skills is too..
shows how stressed he is about de-bugs!!!
SPS PREADATORS Red bugs, AEFW's ,Monti nudis and Sea spiders. Pictures Inside
- Thread starter clkwrk
- Start date
I have some experiences with dealing with sea spiders. I had them between 2003 and 2006 until my tank crashed. I tried many different attacks with some things being more successful than other things. I personally didn’t find iodine dips to be successful for the most part as they were able to remain attached to the acro. I tried shooting them off with a turkey baster which mainly worked with the babies. I also tried plucking them off with a tweezer which caused more damage to the acro than I thought reasonable.
The best thing I found was to take the acro and put some tank water in a bucket and shake it vigorously which would knock off the spiders. Each time it looked like none were left but they appeared every night. I believe they could be on the surrounding rocks or corals or just floating around in the tank. In the height of the infestation I even saw them walking on my zoanthids but it did not appear they were being damaged. Repeat this every night for a week or so and gradually the amount of spiders will lessen each treatment to none. Even with doing this religiously they come back.
I then did a little experiment and put an acro in a 10 gal bucket with some live rock and a pendant for light. I noticed that after everything looked clean and clear about 3 weeks later a new “batch†of very small spiders would appear. It appears the spiders lay their larvae somewhere in the acro. I don’t know at which stage they reproduce but it appears if you can catch this “batch†when they are young, they are unable to reproduce. It is easy to wipe out sea spiders from a Q-tank but much harder from a reef-tank.
I had a discussion with some workers at my LFS that I bought most of my corals from. They knew about the spiders and thought the spiders could have a beneficial impact but I doubt it. I think more people have problems with sea spiders but don’t realize it because of the nature of the spiders.
The best thing I found was to take the acro and put some tank water in a bucket and shake it vigorously which would knock off the spiders. Each time it looked like none were left but they appeared every night. I believe they could be on the surrounding rocks or corals or just floating around in the tank. In the height of the infestation I even saw them walking on my zoanthids but it did not appear they were being damaged. Repeat this every night for a week or so and gradually the amount of spiders will lessen each treatment to none. Even with doing this religiously they come back.
I then did a little experiment and put an acro in a 10 gal bucket with some live rock and a pendant for light. I noticed that after everything looked clean and clear about 3 weeks later a new “batch†of very small spiders would appear. It appears the spiders lay their larvae somewhere in the acro. I don’t know at which stage they reproduce but it appears if you can catch this “batch†when they are young, they are unable to reproduce. It is easy to wipe out sea spiders from a Q-tank but much harder from a reef-tank.
I had a discussion with some workers at my LFS that I bought most of my corals from. They knew about the spiders and thought the spiders could have a beneficial impact but I doubt it. I think more people have problems with sea spiders but don’t realize it because of the nature of the spiders.
Arnar
Premium Member
I've seen some people in Europe are having trouble getting their hands on the Interceptor drug so I wanted to tell them about an alternative drug that worked very well for me.
I went to a local vet here in Iceland and she gave me a drug called Doramectin which has the same effect as Interceptor. I've heard Milbemycin is also good. The Doramectin was very cheap and in liquid form as well
The dose I got was a 2.5ml syringe. (10mg/ml of Doramectin)
Here is a short list of my procedure :
* Refugium was a 10 gallon tank with small T5 lights and 2 powerheads.
* I took about 75 liters or about 20 gallons from my main tank, put half into the refugium and filtered the other half through a double coffee filter.
* Put 1ml of Doramectin into the tank and added one coral to see effect
* 2 hours later and no bad effect on coral I added rest of my corals(12) into the fuge and added 1.5ml of Doramectin just to be sure.
* I then waited ~15 hours and it seemed to have killed all the red bugs. I took out all the medicated saltwater, rinsed the fuge with clean water and added the other half of the original seawater from the main tank.
* Now I waited for 5 recommended days. The corals seemed to be fine after those 5 days and they got a final rinse in a small batch from the main tank to clean of any meds before they were returned to the main tank.
I haven't seen the bastards since
This is from my tank before the treatment:
I went to a local vet here in Iceland and she gave me a drug called Doramectin which has the same effect as Interceptor. I've heard Milbemycin is also good. The Doramectin was very cheap and in liquid form as well
The dose I got was a 2.5ml syringe. (10mg/ml of Doramectin)
Here is a short list of my procedure :
* Refugium was a 10 gallon tank with small T5 lights and 2 powerheads.
* I took about 75 liters or about 20 gallons from my main tank, put half into the refugium and filtered the other half through a double coffee filter.
* Put 1ml of Doramectin into the tank and added one coral to see effect
* 2 hours later and no bad effect on coral I added rest of my corals(12) into the fuge and added 1.5ml of Doramectin just to be sure.
* I then waited ~15 hours and it seemed to have killed all the red bugs. I took out all the medicated saltwater, rinsed the fuge with clean water and added the other half of the original seawater from the main tank.
* Now I waited for 5 recommended days. The corals seemed to be fine after those 5 days and they got a final rinse in a small batch from the main tank to clean of any meds before they were returned to the main tank.
I haven't seen the bastards since
This is from my tank before the treatment:
Well here is my unfortunate picture contribution to this pest-picture thread:
This was a blue-tipped Acropora, which shows all the indications of AEFWs (Acropora-eating flatworms), loss of coloration and growth and tissue recession from their base:
I cut off the infected arm (left on above picture) and inspected it closely, and found eggs:
I have never seen any flatworms even after I dipped the rest of the coral in freshwater for a long time (>20min). However, I didn't take any chances and threw the coral out
/Magnus
This was a blue-tipped Acropora, which shows all the indications of AEFWs (Acropora-eating flatworms), loss of coloration and growth and tissue recession from their base:
I cut off the infected arm (left on above picture) and inspected it closely, and found eggs:
I have never seen any flatworms even after I dipped the rest of the coral in freshwater for a long time (>20min). However, I didn't take any chances and threw the coral out
/Magnus
Rosseau
New member
Well, I have not seen any nudibranch pictures in this thread. I believe a few were posted, yet they are no longer hosted.
Here's what I've found in my tank. I don't know if it targets SPS, yet I believe it is a cnidarian feeder in general.
Maybe 2-3mm in length.
http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=triteleg
Here's what I've found in my tank. I don't know if it targets SPS, yet I believe it is a cnidarian feeder in general.
Maybe 2-3mm in length.
http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=triteleg
Chaloupa
Member
I have read the entire thread...some bits twice and can't really find an answer on dealing with sea spiders....I have them on a monti....ok probably more than that...but how do you deal with them? I just treated for red bugs and now find I have sea spiders feeding on a very cool blue monti...I FW dipped it late one night as I was very angry and upset, and it did seem to kill them...but of course there are more and I have a fully stocked SPS reef....if anyone does have any answers I would really really appreciate it!
wentreefgirl
New member
Can you post a pic of these sea spiders. Cant visualize.
melev
Well-known member
wentreefgirl
New member
Those are nasty. Do they eat the corals or just bother them. Thanks Mark.
And if you have one of those critters shown in Herpervet's avatar your tank is doomed. 
Michael7979
New member
Just wanted to say "THANKS!!" to all that have posted these great pictures!!
They will surely help people out.
They will surely help people out.
