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Red bugs

GluttonousSolarWrasse

GluttonousSolarWrasse

Hey All,

So it appears that I have red bugs on some of my colonies. Now this is not a definitive identification, but they they are on acropora colonies of various types, they are small and red, and the look like bugs LOL. Jonathan noticed them when he was taking pictures of my colonies during my weekly water change. So far I have seen them on a pearlberry colonie, a purple bonsai colony, and a Miami orchid colony.

Now, the kicker is, that my coral has never looked better. With the exception of the miami Orchid, (which never colored up all that crazy) but has grown onto the rock fairly well. I just figured the colony supposed to be a pale purple, and is quite beatiful that way anyway.

Now I know the treatment is to nuke the tank with interceptor, but there are many reasons I don't think that would end well for me. I have many pod eating fish, including several wrasses, and a mandarin, and I don't want to nuke the billions of pods in my refugium. Also I have untold hundreds of baby hermit crabs, and smaller snails that I'll never be able to get all out of the tank. On top of that there are 6 emeralds, 2 porcelain crabs, a cleaner shrimp, 2 harlequinn shrimp, and tons of larger hermits too. Also in the refugium, there must be untold thousands of stomatella snails.

My thoughts are if I can't get most of that out, it'll all get nuked, and cause a micro cycle, killing the rest of my goodies. Also I think it is a horible idea to kill off all my pods, when I have tons of pod eating fish.

Does anyone have any other possible suggestions? the only thing I can think to do is remove all acropora colonies (everything I have sps wise besides my monties. (15+ colonies) and move them to tank to treat, and isolate until the bugs run course in the display tank, and then move them back.This also seems like a rediculous solution.

Jonathan will be posting pictures in a bit, so you can see the pests.

There seems to be some difference of opinion out there regarding how damaging these guys are. What do you guys think?
 
GluttonousSolarWrasse

GluttonousSolarWrasse

Found something from michigan reefers about using the commensual acropora crabs to eat them. I was kind of hoping to hear that, it was my first thought for a treatment. Just need to find some acro crabs now...
 
howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
Pics:

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greybolt03

greybolt03

Are they bugs or flat worms? This really sucks I was just there the other day to pick up the fish from Jonathan and your tank is absolutely amazing... I would think if the crabs don't work you would have to remove each colonie and treat in a different tank.. The only problem is if the bugs lay eggs in your live rock you will never get rid of them...
 
Baxreefs

Baxreefs

Yup you got em.

You've already listed your options. Treat the system or isolate and treat the acros. Pods bounce back. Given all your larger inverts though you may want to isolate the inverts in a QT and treat the system.

You can also isolate SPS and dip like crazy.

As far as "how bad are they" long term I feel they are bad. They can reduce PE but that is not so aweful my dwarf angels do that but only during day light. SPS need night time PE is all about feeding.

The RBs gotta go!
 
GluttonousSolarWrasse

GluttonousSolarWrasse

Thanks for the tank compliment!

I'm pretty sure they are red bugs, judging on some of the photos I've seen so far. I've heard that the interceptod treatment might be ok for the snails, but might be a no-go for clams. I am certainly not risking my clams, they are one of my favorite things ever, and 2 of them are permanently attached to unmoveable rocks. In some of the research I've done, it seems the red bugs have a host prefrence. If this is the case, I can pull the affected colonies, and treat them seperately. This in my mind, is the best way to do stuff, because I really don't want to nuke all the micro & macro support fauna in my tank. There also is a bit of literature (anecdotal of course) that may implicate acropora crabs, certain pipe fish, and yellow clown gobies as natural enemies of the red bugs. I'm trying to come up with treatment strategies now that won't involve interceptor in my display tank.
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
Your acros will lose color over time. The interceptor will not affect any of the snails it will just kill the shrimp and crabs. The acro crabs will not work. Your pod population will bounce back quickly. I would remove all the crabs and shrimp and do the treatment, its really a simple and easy way to get rid of the red bugs.
 
GluttonousSolarWrasse

GluttonousSolarWrasse

Baxreefs said:
Yup you got em.

You've already listed your options. Treat the system or isolate and treat the acros. Pods bounce back. Given all your larger inverts though you may want to isolate the inverts in a QT and treat the system.

You can also isolate SPS and dip like crazy.

As far as "how bad are they" long term I feel they are bad. They can reduce PE but that is not so aweful my dwarf angels do that but only during day light. SPS need night time PE is all about feeding.

The RBs gotta go!
Click to expand...

Hey Bax,

What is your experience with host preference and life cycle length for these guys? Did they seem to attack millipora too?
 
GluttonousSolarWrasse

GluttonousSolarWrasse

dnov99 said:
Your acros will lose color over time. The interceptor will not affect any of the snails it will just kill the shrimp and crabs. The acro crabs will not work. Your pod population will bounce back quickly. I would remove all the crabs and shrimp and do the treatment, its really a simple and easy way to get rid of the red bugs.
Click to expand...

Darren, will the interceptor hurt my clams? Also I have 2 pistol shrimp that I'll never be able to get out.
 
howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
Ah poo. I guess I'm going to have to keep a close eye on my SPS that was in there. Haven't seen any yet. *knocks on wood*
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
I had a huge Derasa when I treated my tank and it was fine. Unfortunately there are going to be certain shrimp or crabs that you may not be able to get out and they will have to be sacrificed if you want to get rid of the bugs. You can try and remove the colonies and treat them by dipping them, but there is still a chance that there will be red bugs elsewhere on your LR and they will return. The only way to get rid of them is by treating the entire tank, I know you dont want to do it, but it really is not a big deal at all.
 
greybolt03

greybolt03

i may have some interceptor pills left ill check tomorrow if i do they are yours if thats the route you want to take. its the least i can do for the free fish..
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Is it possible at all to take your refugium off line? Just throw a power head and heater in there and let it run while you are treating the rest of the tank? This would give you a safe haven for all your inverts and would not affect your pod population during the treatments. The basic dosing it one dose a week for three weeks as with any treatment it does not go after the eggs. Good news is that the interceptor treatment works as advertised and is pretty easy to do. Of all the SPS pests out there red bugs is the easiest to rid. If you need any interceptor, we have a bunch on hand, shoot me a pm.
 
howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
Now why didn't we think of that!!!! Seems like it would work out pretty well. He has valves everywhere so he could pretty much close off the sump, treat and reopen it. I guess run some carbon for a bit before reopening it. Good idea Mike! You've earned your vote!!;)
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
+1 on the fuge treatment, but once again you never know if there are going to be stray red bugs in the fuge. And FYI red bugs are live bearers which does make it easier to kill them off. The first time I treated them years ago they came back in 6 months, so I increased the dosage the second time and havent seen them in years.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

any thoughts on how it was intro'd? i'd hate to hear that you got it from a fellow nj reefer who doesn't know he/she has em.
 
Baxreefs

Baxreefs

GluttonousSolarWrasse said:
Hey Bax,

What is your experience with host preference and life cycle length for these guys? Did they seem to attack millipora too?
Click to expand...

They definitely "prefer" some specific SPS.

But that does not matter. Remove the prefered SPS and they'll take what they can get.

Clams, larger shrimp and crabs are fine with Interceptor. More delicate things are the issue. You need to treat every three weeks four times. Definitely dip the target colonies too initially. You'll be amazed how many there are on one colony or frag.

These bastages are persistent so you have to be too.

QT all furture incomming corals. Snails too if you like your clams pyrams come in on CUC snails and will go right for your clams. QTQTQTQTQTQTQTQT!!!!
 
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