Red Bugs Are Evil
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: SPS
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions SPS corals.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4998
Printed Date: February 20 2025 at 2:12am
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Topic: Red Bugs Are Evil
Posted By: jfinch
Subject: Red Bugs Are Evil
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 12:14am
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Corey came over to my house tonight to do a little trading and to take some pictures with his awesome camera. Look what the camera saw:
I can't even see them with my own naked eyes! Those buggers are small. So this explains why some of my acros don't extend... Anyone here treated their tank with Interceptor? Is there a "definitive" thread on reefcentral I should read (there's too many to sort through)? Everyone should have Corey come by and take pictures (you never know, you might have some), that camera is amazing! ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Replies:
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 1:06am
 Red Bugs are like a plague! They are so small, I didn't even notice them until i got home and looked at the pics. Sorry to have been the bearer of bad news Jon. I have treated my tank w/ interceptor and am currently red bug free ... It does hammer your small crabs and pod population. But it is well worth it IMO. I'll dig up the threads that i found to be the most helpful tomorrow. If someone doesn't beat me to it. Did you see Adams red bug picture? Talk about nice close-ups! |
Posted By: tileman
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 7:19am
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Sorry to see that Jon, Have you gotten any new acros lately that werent local? Shane came by wednesday night and took pictures of my tank, I hope he didnt find any in my tank, but it sounds like they are spreading everywhere. ------------- 335G Reef TOTM. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012 http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month & |
Posted By: ewaldsreef
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 8:14am
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There is a thread on reef central. I will try and find it for you. ------------- Contact me for professional aquarium maintenance and localy grown coral frags. [URL=http://www.aquatitranquility.com][/URL] |
Posted By: Riley
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 9:21am
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jon I just treated my tank yesterday all is good but all crabs and cleaner shrimp are toast. What size tank do you have I may have enough interceptor for you if you already dont have it ------------- Riley Herriman |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 11:05am
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Ok. Any suggestion on how to catch all my shrimp and crabs? I'd like to save 'em. Sorry to see that Jon, Have you gotten any new acros lately that werent local? My tank's like the girl at Time Square... Hey sailor What size tank do you have I may have enough interceptor for you if you already dont have it I've got about 125 gallons to treat. At 25 mg per 10 gal that's just over 300 mg per treatment x 3 treatments = about 1000 mg. How much do you have? Did any of you have any difficulty buying the stuff? ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 11:34am
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i didn't have any shrimp die .. but i did have small crabs die (the bigger ones were fine). i got my interceptor for my dog .. if you (or anyone else) needs some. i can go back for more. sounds like you need one pill. if i remember correctly they are 1000mg each and 300mg would be about 1/3rd of a pill. I'm sure you took it into account, but remember to consider the water in your 'fuge, skimmer, and CA reactor. |
Posted By: Riley
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 1:03pm
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I bought the smallest pills available that only have 2.3mg active ingredient you would definatly want the larger ones. I ordered mine at pet meds online they never asked for a prescrition. ------------- Riley Herriman |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 1:56pm
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this was my dosage ... i would bump it up to 33% of the pill for 125g tank. "tablets are just under 1 gram each and contain 23mg of Milbemycin Oxime" and "The dosage used in an aquarium to kill redbugs is 25mg (0.025 grams) per 10 gallons of actual tank water . That is 25mg of the entire tablet. Each tablet in the pack of 6 will treat about 380 gallons." this means that 1 tablet contains 1 gram and 90g of water volume = 0.225g of total tablet OR about 25% of a single tablet. my plan was dose 0.225g as above 1st water change -- 25% water change after 6 hrs 1st run of carbon for 24hrs 2nd water change -- 25% water change after 24 hrs 2nd carbon change at 24 hrs Bruce: did you use interceptor? Did you get rid of your red bugs? |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 2:17pm
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Corey, did you treat it three times? ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: January 14 2005 at 2:31pm
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I did ... after reading tons ... I decided that they (red
bugs) reoccurred to often in cases where people did not dose all three times. I didnt want to take that chance. |
Posted By: Arcar
Date Posted: January 17 2005 at 3:10pm
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In my tank i have little red bugs! I saw them on my glass cleaner? What are they are they harmful? Is this why my tank is having probs? ------------- Go 4x4 It! |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: January 17 2005 at 5:19pm
i doubt these are the same 'red bugs' ... The 'red bugs' in jons picture live on acros (parasite), I dont think you'd see them on your glass cleaner. The only real problems they create are that they make your acros look bad. |
Arcar wrote:Posted By: rstruhs
Date Posted: January 17 2005 at 5:50pm
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All, check out this article from Drsfostersmith.com http://www.etropicals.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=350&ref=3290&subref=AR - http://www.etropicals.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesi d=350&ref=3290&subref=AR ------------- Rodney, Sandra, Jeffery, and Laura Struhs South Jordan, Utah 98th South & 40th West. (801) 282-2744 75 gallon reef 55 gallon reef 55 gallon FOWLR 20 gallon FOWLR |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: January 23 2005 at 5:30pm
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Well I started my first treatment of Interceptor... I couldn't get any of my shrimp or crabs out of the tank It's 3 hrs in and pretty much all of my acro crabs are dead ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: January 23 2005 at 5:35pm
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Jon .. I think you'll notice a diff in about 2 - 7 days . You get more polyp extension AND more color! on a side note .. did you decide on your new bulbs? |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: January 23 2005 at 11:30pm
Well... it wasn't nearly as bad as I orginally thought or worried about. It looks like I only lost a couple small hermits and I'll be danged if the acro crabs didn't resurect from the dead  . They actually came out of the inner branches and layed out like they were dead, but now they're back inside the branches and appear to be fine. Strange. All my shrimp and large crabs look just fine. I hope it killed the red buggers!------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: Riley
Date Posted: January 25 2005 at 10:20am
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LUCKY!!!! I lost everything including all crabs acros and hermits and all shrimp. I hope all turns out all right for you. I have yet to notice any red bugs since my treatment. ------------- Riley Herriman |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: February 15 2005 at 11:45pm
| How goes the battle with these guys Jon? |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: February 16 2005 at 12:29am
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Two weekends ago was my third and last treatment. I haven't seen a bug since the first treatment, but again my eye's suck. I only saw a couple with my own eye's through a magnifying glass so I could be missings some... I need someone with an awesome camera to take some more pictures But, about a week before I started the treatment my largest milli started to rtn and although I've fragged it, I doubt any will make it. This acro used to be very hairy up until about Aug-Sep (when I think I got the bugs). It's been fully contracted since. The good news... most of the other acros in my tank look MUCH better now. I've still got a couple smaller colonies that don't extend much during the day, but everything (other then the milli mentioned above) opens up nicely at night. Anyone reading this... if you have acros that don't extend their polyps look real close for these bugs. That is the first sign that you have 'em. I would definately recommend Interceptor for anyone with acro bugs! I only lost one small hermit out of a myrid of other hermits, emeralds, cleaner and fire shrimps. And (here's the sale's pitch ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
. Posted By: Firefish
Date Posted: April 07 2005 at 6:43pm
bump, I just thought Dan might want to read all of this  I was curious too. Now I'm certain that this is what they are.------------- 5 gal fluval spec v http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65727&KW=&PID=531710&title=my-new-little-one#531710 12 gallon jbj nanocube reef Stansbury Park (Tooele Area) |
Posted By: smatney
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 9:05am
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I got a bottlebrush from Dan on Wednesday. I don't see a red bug but am wondering if I should treat just in case. Shane H. said it's too late to quarantine the frag because the red bugs have probably made it to other corals right now. What do you guys think? Should I be safe rather than sorry? It's a bummer for Dan. He has an awesome tank! ------------- Susan Matney Farmington, UT |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 9:11am
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It's a bummer for Dan. He has an awesome tank! It will just look better once he treats it!  |
Posted By: dmanshep
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 9:25am
 Bummer yes.. i can treat this thing I got the med's I just feel so bad
that I possibly gave these buggers to someone else.. do you guys think 1 pill would cover my tank? it's 240 display 45 gal refug 40 gal sump.. prob need 2 pills i'm guess'n... anyone got any spare pills I only have the 1 |
Posted By: smatney
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 9:34am
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Dan - the pills come in different doses for different size dogs. Look on page one - CoreyK outlines the dose and the process. "The dosage used in an aquarium to kill redbugs is 25mg (0.025 grams) per 10 gallons of actual tank water ." The large dog size dose is 1000 mg but you need to look at see what you got. You need to dose 3 times. Did you get any extra? ------------- Susan Matney Farmington, UT |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 12:32pm
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here is the big guide http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45859 - http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45859 |
Posted By: dmanshep
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 4:25pm
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Allright so ? for ya'll would I seriously need to do 3 or 6 25% water changes through this process? man this is gonna cost me some $$ considering each water change will be 80 gallons.. plus whats the best method for the carbon, I haven't ran it in this system as I have ozone to keep my water sparkley... Thanks for the ideas ... I also have to ? how bad these little guys are as I haven't had a bit of problem with coloration or polyp extension..
dan |
Posted By: Firefish
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 4:47pm
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I'm not sure what to do with this frag I got from you Dan. Does anyone have a method for spot treating? I can't see spending the extra$ for some meds that probably cost more than the frag. ------------- 5 gal fluval spec v http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65727&KW=&PID=531710&title=my-new-little-one#531710 12 gallon jbj nanocube reef Stansbury Park (Tooele Area) |
Posted By: coreyk
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 4:49pm
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would I seriously need to do 3 or 6 25% water changes through this process? IMO ... No. I feel its just to get the interceptor out of your system so it does not keep killing pods and crabs, etc. That is just a personal opinion. man this is gonna cost me some $$ considering each water change will be 80 gallons I would consider it an investment .... now you'll be able to sell some parasite free frags to pay for your salt. how bad these little guys are as I haven't had a bit of problem with coloration or polyp extension.. I have read about them getting so bad that some species of corals will die. They are a parasite and I think they are bad enough that i don't want them in my system. I think you'll be surprised by how much happier your corals are after. I was. |
Posted By: dmanshep
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 5:01pm
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Hey Firefish if you bring it back to me i'll give you your 20 bucks back and deal with the problem in my system..
SORRRRRRY
I had no idea.. but then again thanks for spotting the problem |
Posted By: Firefish
Date Posted: April 08 2005 at 5:20pm
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No sweat! Everything in your tank looked great to me! I thought it was wierd that they were on there, because I didn't see them in your tank, I thought that maybe somehow they got some cyclopeeze stuck to them magically. I'm back on my work schedule (lots of long ours) and I will be finding the time until I can bring it back. In the mean time I will be observing it in the Qtank. ------------- 5 gal fluval spec v http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65727&KW=&PID=531710&title=my-new-little-one#531710 12 gallon jbj nanocube reef Stansbury Park (Tooele Area) |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: April 11 2005 at 7:48pm
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I got a beautiful turquoise green acro from Renee and Damon about 10 days ago. Now I know what red bugs are!
Cool... and yet not cool. I looked at other acro's in the tank, a green slimer and some purpleish and some bluish acro's. No other problems visible at this time. So I removed the red bug infested coral and gave it a freshwater dip, because a dose of Greenex had no effect on the bugs. They seem to be dead but many are still stuck on the surface of the coral flesh while it sits in saltwater in the treatment cup. I hope they are dead, because I don't want to give the acro another 5 minute fw dip. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: dmanshep
Date Posted: April 11 2005 at 8:43pm
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welcome to the bug club :) I did the first treatment on sun and so far so
good... lost a few hermits and 1 acro crab. but no bugs to be found.. I would be willing to bet that alot of people have them in their tanks and just don't realize it.. |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: April 11 2005 at 8:50pm
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Mark, let us know how your treatments work out. There's a super long thread on reefcentral where Eric Borneman was trying to find something that you could dip your frags into and kill the bugs. From what I remember he had the most luck using a strong iodine (lugols) dip. The bugs are tenacious. They are protected from most dips by the slime coat of the coral and they have even been reported to crawl inside the corallites to get away! ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: April 11 2005 at 8:53pm
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I would be willing to bet that alot of people have them in their tanks and just don't realize it.. You could be right. In my tank it caused the infected corals to close up and not show much polyp extension. I now watch my acros for this and will look REAL close if they start closing up. I think the bugs killed three acros in my tank ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: April 12 2005 at 3:16am
I watched them while they were still stuck to the coral slime, but definitely not moving, even when the freshwater was exchanged with tankwater. I even saw a dead bug falling off the coral trailing a tiny slime thread. Just looked at the coral in the dark. This baby looks pretty bad right now. Earlier when the lights were on most of the color was gone. I may have dipped it so long that it will die. Thank goodness that in the process of checking all SPS in my tank, I checked some in the far corner that I hadn't bothered to look at for months. To my surprise, I've got another turquoise green and a green with blue tips that seem to be clear of bugs. I didn't know that I had some other pretty SPS!  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: smatney
Date Posted: April 17 2005 at 1:26pm
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Today's my first interceptor day. I've got the water ready. I'm going to take out all the crabs I can find and put them in my frag tank before I start. Thanks to Amie - she got the interceptor from her vet for me. Anyone that needs it can get some from me for a frag (for Amie). We've got enough for 15 tanks. ------------- Susan Matney Farmington, UT |
Posted By: tileman
Date Posted: April 17 2005 at 2:19pm
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WOW, That must have been a pretty sick dog. On the serious side I hope everything goes well for you Susan, I didn't know you found them in your tank. ------------- 335G Reef TOTM. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012 http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month & |
Posted By: smatney
Date Posted: April 17 2005 at 6:20pm
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Three hours into the treatment and the red bugs are still hanging on. When did you start seeing them disappear? On a good note, the polyps are starting to extend. It's an awesome coral, green with blue tips, from Renee and Damon. ------------- Susan Matney Farmington, UT |
Posted By: smatney
Date Posted: May 01 2005 at 12:59pm
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The last treatment was done yesterday. What a pain it has been doing such massive water changes! Thanks to Amie for getting the interceptor. I have it if anyone else gets the dreaded red bugs. I hope to never see them again! ------------- Susan Matney Farmington, UT |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: May 01 2005 at 8:56pm
Congratulations! Is there someway to avoid adding red bugs to your tank when you get a new frag from someone? Can you dip them or something? |