Red Bug Research..

[treehugger]

As most of you are aware, Interceptor has been used in the treatment of red bugs for some time now. I myself have used it with great success, however, it can be a bit more tricky to get a hold of as a veterinarian has to prescribe it. While talking to some vets that I work with about it's use in the reef world, one of them suggested some other drugs that act very similar to interceptor (milbemycin-oxime) and can be purchased easily. The main one was ivermectin which is found in heartgard for dogs. Having access to ivermectin in its injectable form, I tried using it to treat for redbugs in a dip. It appears to have been very successful in killing the redbugs and minimally affecting the coral. There was a bit of stressing to the coral and some color loss initially, but appears to be doing just fine. Next I will be trying some heartgard to see if I have similar results and effectiveness as I did with the injectable. Just wondering if anyone out there has tried heartgard at all as a treatment. If so please let me know. I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THIS AS A TREATMENT AS I HAVE NOT RESEARCHED IT ENOUGH AND DO NOT KNOW THE LONG TERM EFFECTS TO THE CORALS TREATED YET! IF YOU DO DECIDE TO TRY IT PLEASE DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK AND DON'T TREAT YOUR WHOLE TANK JUST TRY A DIP IN A SEPERATE CONTAINER! I just wanted to share the information and see if anyone out there had any thoughts or past experiences.
jeff

 

[trido]

Keep up the good work.
Alot of reefers, including myself. Just called the vet, explained my circumstances, also told them that I dont have a dog and was sold interceptor over the counter without a problem.

 

[Snowboarda42]

+1

I had to go the extra step however, and print out an article from the internet and bring it in to the vet.

I found mine here: