Thirsty's SPS journey

The battle continues to rid my tank of flat worms.

I also have some black bugs that are super aggressive. I had dipped here and there and reduced the overall population, but they still came back. So recently I decided to dip every 5 days, aiming to do 5 sessions.

Here's the tank with the pieces I'm dipping.

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Time lapse video of me doing the dipping

https://youtu.be/K570kH9VmR4


For some positive thoughts, corals have been doing well and growing.

Here's a collage of a purple monster frag that was half dead but now came back

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A friend of mine has a pm colony that was browning out. Apparently he doesn't mind infecting his corals with my tanks pests lol.

I've had it for almost 6 weeks now, color is coming back

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Wow, that's some work you have there. Sucks about all the bugs. Maybe try some flatwormstop and see if it helps keep the black bugs from going nuts. You have switched corals from tank to tank a number of times though. In my experience when dealing with bugs, stability is key. If the tank is stable the acros are healthier and can deal with the pests much better. Switching from tank to tank might be part of the problem. Dipping and putting back in the same tank is what I always tell people is best but there are many ways to do it. Good luck with this tank and keep us updated!
 
Also, do we know where these black bugs are coming from? Are they mainly spread through trading or selling aquaculture stuff or are they coming in on wild or maricultured from a certain area? I have yet to encounter them but I only buy wild and maricultured stuff for the most part.
 
I'm not quite sure how I got the black bugs. Initially I got AEFW back in July of last year, and since I had so many pieces I wasn't sure how to even deal with it.

Eventually I noticed colonies started to deteriorate really quickly and that's when I noticed these other bugs.

I've done 3 full tank treatments to 1 tank, and started on 1st treatment on tank #2 this week. I plan to do 5 total treatments for each tank, once every 5 days.

I don't see any bugs during the dip now, but I am going to complete the 5 dips to be safe.


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Your dipping for the black bugs? They always seem to be on the base of the coral on dead skeleton on all of the pictures I see. Are they on the flesh of the corals too, if so in large numbers like the base? What signs do you notice when they start to affect an acro? Are they anything different than red bugs like are they leaving bite marks or anything like damaged areas?
 
Yes I'm dipping for everything!

I figure if I dip every piece and multiple times whereupon eggs hatching will be removed by the next dip.

With black bugs, they destroy a colony in a matter of days. They start at the base and just mow it down, not just bites here and there like an AEFW.

You start seeing the base looks bruised and tissue missing and they work their way up


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Wow. What an ordeal!!
You have the mental fortitude and patience of ten men!!
Caribbean peppermint shrimp are also voracious hunters of aefw eggs. Maybe they'd like black bugs as well....
Good luck.
 
Yes it definitely takes a lot of patience and time. Each session takes about 1.5 hours.

I started dip 1 of 5 of my other tank on Tuesday. Tomorrow I will dip both tanks. It will be 4/5 of tank 1 and 2/5 of tank 2. I can't wait for this to be done and the pests gone.

I will hope that these dips get rid of everything. If not then I will go cry.

Some pics
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Dipping of second tank

https://youtu.be/L6AJtBGZccI


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