roscoe
Well-known member
Yeah thats is what I figured Duane that it would most likely nuke the tank but it is good to know that you can treat for RB and AEFW with one medication so that is a plus.
Melafix..red bugs
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mschrissygil
Well-known member
Do red bugs only come in your tank from acros? Or could they hitch hike in on an LPS or other sps? I'm wondering where mine came from and which corals to dip?
NC2WA
Well-known member
mschrissygil,
It is my understand that red bugs are only a sps/acro problem. They do NOT apply to LPS.
It is my understand that red bugs are only a sps/acro problem. They do NOT apply to LPS.
jnarowe
Beer-a-holic
SO I have been meaning to chime in here. After seeing Duane's demonstration using Melafix for AEFW, I decided to go ahead and use it in my QT for a couple fish that were having problems. While it did not save the fish, I did take care to note how all other animals in the QT were reacting.
As background info., when I QT fish, I have a lot of macro covered rocks, pods, snails etc. in the QT to give the fish the best possible environment in which to recover from shipping and handling. I have a skimmer and UV on the tank as well as auto top-off. SO when I placed these fish in the QT, there were many animals present. MANY MANY snails and pods, mini-brittle stars etc.
I then felt compelled to dose melafix and that's where Duane's demo came to mind. I knew it would not adversely affect corals, so maybe I would leave in everything and dose the tank, which I did. The fish struggled for about 3 weeks and never recovered unfortunately, but the interesting thing to note, is that the tank inhabitants all fared well also.
I doesd a capful of melafix each day (40g tank with skimmer and UV off) for 2 weeks. The snails, pods, macro, SPS, LPS, palys, stars, and macro all did just fine with this rather agressive Melafix dosing. I am amazed really, and this again points to the "herbal" nature of Melafix. WHy it kills AEFW and red bugs, but not all these other sensitive animals is beyond me.
As background info., when I QT fish, I have a lot of macro covered rocks, pods, snails etc. in the QT to give the fish the best possible environment in which to recover from shipping and handling. I have a skimmer and UV on the tank as well as auto top-off. SO when I placed these fish in the QT, there were many animals present. MANY MANY snails and pods, mini-brittle stars etc.
I then felt compelled to dose melafix and that's where Duane's demo came to mind. I knew it would not adversely affect corals, so maybe I would leave in everything and dose the tank, which I did. The fish struggled for about 3 weeks and never recovered unfortunately, but the interesting thing to note, is that the tank inhabitants all fared well also.
I doesd a capful of melafix each day (40g tank with skimmer and UV off) for 2 weeks. The snails, pods, macro, SPS, LPS, palys, stars, and macro all did just fine with this rather agressive Melafix dosing. I am amazed really, and this again points to the "herbal" nature of Melafix. WHy it kills AEFW and red bugs, but not all these other sensitive animals is beyond me.
krisfal
Well-known member
I think this might have something to do with the concentration. IME when I did the coral dips at a concentration of 5ml/quart of tank water the pods, brtittle stars etc. are definately adversly effected. I feel sorry for the poor little brittle stars, so last time as they fled the coral I pulled them out and moved them into the bucket of clean saltwater I had ready to rinse the corals in after the dip. Even with quickly getting them out of the dip they continues to show signs of stress and eventually curled up, so I tossed them.
I am currently trying to treat for monti eating nudi's with melafix, so far I have done 2 dips on the effected corals and it definately kills the adult nudis, I hope to only have to do a couple more dips to get all the newly hatched nudis. The last time I got these buggers I almost lost my monti caps (in spite of iodine dips) and had to frag my large colonies down to dime size pieces. So far I have been able to prevent loss of large areas of the corals (just a pea size spot so far) and am very hopefull of this treatment. The nudis that came off in the dip eventually disintegrated (fell apart) so it definately is effective on the adults.
jnarowe
Beer-a-holic
VERY NICE.
krisfal
Well-known member
You wouldn't happen to know some good articles on life cycles of various coral pest?
I think if we find that a melafix dip will kill the adult pest an understanding of the life cycle i.e how long before the pest is sexually mature, it would be possible to figure how often, and how many dips we should do to eradicate them.
Since I am definitely getting die off of the adult nudi's I am thinking I just need to dip often enough that the newly hatched nudi's are not reproducing and do it enough times that all eggs have hatched.
jnarowe
Beer-a-holic
good point, and no, I am not up on such articles. only so much room in my brain! 
Kris, when I had my small bout with Monti Eating Nudis (MAN) I could see the egg cluster on the underside of the coral nead the base plain as day. A big white cluster that actually looked feathery and somewhat like an adult MAN.
snapperface
Member
so anyone else tried this and worked for getting rid of redbugs? Has anyone seen any redbugs come back after couple months?
snapperface
Member
this treatmeant doesn't work. I use half quart of water with 3ml of melafix It killed 95% of the redbugs with half hour dip and some of the bugs are still swimming in treated water after 2hours. I must gots bad a$$ redbugz
jnarowe
Beer-a-holic
As far as I know, it doesn't kill FW either, but makes them convulse and fall off the coral. I would guess extended exposure may kill them, but I have not experimented with it yet (THANK GOD).
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mschrissygil
Well-known member
I tried this twice and used more melafix than recommended. The bugs came back both times. They don't seem to really bother the acros that they are on, though. I'll probably eventually try the Interceptor...just haven't done it yet.
I was lucky enough to get to try this as i found some red bugs on two of my acro's : ( Not a bad invasion as there wre really just a few, but i put them in a gallon of water, two cap fulls and let them soak for a good 20min. I then blew them off with a turkey baster for a bit, then put them back. I noticed all astria stars died as well as all pods. It did take them a good 10min to kick the can. I had a hermit crab get in there too and he receded in his shell immediately. I took him out though. I'll repost in a few days about them coming back. Oh yea, the corals had some slime secretions once added back but already have polyp extension. So far pretty good results.
snapperface
Member
anyone know how much intercepter cost
chend2
Achilles Reef Nugget
Even if it doesn't kill the red bugs isn't getting them to fall off good enough? You can put your acro back bug free. Also anyone try using it on a fix with ich yet? I wanna see if it kills parasites.
jnarowe
Beer-a-holic
I did try this with a couple of tangs and it was unsuccessful.
chend2
Achilles Reef Nugget
darn dems the breaks
NC2WA
Well-known member
yeah, doesnt really work on Ich (or never did for me)..
