Red Bugs - Inevitable?

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i also had anthias in the tank when i treated, 4. they are all fine. my coral has regained lost color and i have seen a recent growth spurt. i believe the treatment was a good thing for my tank except for the hermits and crabs.
 
I have one coral that showed a difference....outside of that, not much in my tank. I'm guessing I'm an oddball by the looks of peoples posts. I still have to think though that for a lot of people a 30% water change is something they haven't done in either a long time, or possibly ever. Large water changes can have a significant impact on nutrient export and adds in trace elements that people typically don't dose. Also the large volume of carbon used in combination with the large water changes will drastically improve water clarity in tanks that lacked proper husbandry. No doubt the bugs are not good, but I'm not sold on them being as bad as all the hype would lead a person to believe...even after erradicating them. My 2 cents worth.
 
I read through most of this entire thread, and noticed occasionally a mention of a natural predator. I seen someone say the Dragon Faced pipefish, but they couldn't handle the flow.
My question, does anyone have a red bug problem and a Mandarin Dragonet? It seems the red bug would be exactly what a dragonet it looking to have for lunch. Will flow be a problem for the dragonet as well? If you allow the Mandarin to decimate your pod population, will it eventually eat all the red bugs as well?
Just throwing this out there, and sorry if this has already come up....
 
Krypticol - from what I've read on the various forums, mandarins don't do much for the red bugs. I did speak with a local hobbyist over the weekend that said his ate them, but I don't know if the mandarin was truely eating the red bugs or picking another type of bug that happened to wander near the coral. Either way, its probably hit or miss.
 
Any idea if anyone has tried Eugenol? This was an idea brought about by a couple of aquatic DVMs today as a possible dip. Eugenol is an anesthetic used for numerous inverts (MS-222 doesn't work, according to the literature, for most inverts). The interesting thing would be to see the effects on the coral as well. This would not be a viable option for the treatment of an entire system, but as a dip, this would probably be much easier to obtain than milbemycin oxime, lufenuron, ivermectin, etc... for the average hobbiest...
 
Scott - I haven't heard of it being used, yet. That is very interesting. You can buy it on Ebay for $3, for a 1 oz bottle. I suppose it would have to be anecdotally studied :rolleyes:, to find a proper dip length and strength, to ensure all the bugs were killed. Maybe a succession of different treatments would need to be tried.
 
Yeah, most herbal stores sell it. The dosages for anesthesia are easy enough to find, that is where I would start. They might have even tried it out Friday after I left (they were discussing it as we had an infected acro). I know that there is the potential for a good deal of red bug research to be published from an NCSU group in the near future (if someone else doesn't in academia).

Has the mechanism of attachment of these amphipods been discussed? Do they have some sort of modified appendages? Not sure if this has been discussed and I couldn't see anything under a scope...

Tak er easy
Scott T.
 
Scott - I suppose if there are modified appendages, it might allow them to hang on the coral in the anesthetized state? Have you checked out the microscopic images from the first post? Here is the link again...you might be able to see better??

Red Bugs
 
Recently, I am of the opinion that at least in my own tank, they are no big deal. I have had them for 3+ years, and have still continued to see adequate growth from all SPS coral. Until I start to see clinical signs, I refuse to treat. Even if I did see clinical signs, it would take quite a bit of diagnostics to even consider the that red bugs were the culprit.

Of course, I haven't kept up with the literature or forum discussions of red bugs. So, perhaps some people are having problems and I do think the milbemycin oxime treatment is feasible. I just don't want the headaches involved with that treatment.
 
OK, I will jump in. I have bought and traded corals with most of those in the NW either directly or on a via. With tri-focals and a magnifying glass, I could see no bugs but always assumed they had to be there just out of probability. My corals have always been bright colored and most fast growing. The slow growers were torts and turakis. My wife saw me using a mag glass and asked if I wanted a larger one. After looking through the HUGE magnifying glass, I saw them. Tons of them, all over a few corals, but only on the torts and turakis!

Did my first treatment and guess what happened, the torts and turakis growth took off!!!!!

I should have spent more time getting as many shrimp, crabs, mandarins out but - oh well.

IT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE. I plan on retreating in a month or so after pulling all the sensitive inverts and the last Mandarin out.

After that, plan on dipping as I used to over a year ago. What is the current dosage for strong dipping as in mg/gal?
 
Agreed Mike! I as well just treated for rb. Pe has improved tremendously and corals look much happier. It's only been 5 days now so color looks about the same but in a couple weeks I'm willing to bet it will only get better!:) I treated my corals seperately as most are frags/small colonies when I changed my aquascape and went bb.
 
Ok here I go. I will try a different approach to this topic and hopefully add some info.
I treated several time for this redbug and found so far that dipping the coral still don't kill them as far as I know. After treating all the corals I had gotten I did a 24hr dip. I tryed it after I treated my tank and thats how I fill I got it a second time ( nothing was placed in the tank with out a 24hr interceptor dip). I had the best luck with just one long treatment, left it in there for three weeks.
I now have a QT tank set up and will try some test and post my findings.
Best of luck
 
Last edited:
Tracy, It is already established that a dip needs to be quite a bit stronger than the tank dosage. What is needed is the highest dose acceptable for a few hours of soak. I have heard everything from 200-300% but don't know to recommended dose.

anyone... anyone...ANYONE? - Bueller?
 
a 1 hour dip? whoa, that needs a tank a pump and a heater.

Can we make it super strong, but dip it only in 10 min max? so we can just grab water from tank, put in the dossage, then on a zip bag, then hang on inside the tank or sump. Wait for xxx minutes then good to go?

Also, this treatment we are talking about. Will this do the same on all the parasites out there?

Or are we going to have a dip for RB, a dip for Iodine, a dip for AEFW... what else?

I was hoping we can make a potent dip that can be handles in those zip bags or small containers and not a full blown QT tank that needs its own maintenance.

Hope I make sense, sometimes im confusing myself too...
 
Katchupoy said:
a 1 hour dip? whoa, that needs a tank a pump and a heater.

Can we make it super strong, but dip it only in 10 min max? so we can just grab water from tank, put in the dossage, then on a zip bag, then hang on inside the tank or sump. Wait for xxx minutes then good to go?

Also, this treatment we are talking about. Will this do the same on all the parasites out there?

Or are we going to have a dip for RB, a dip for Iodine, a dip for AEFW... what else?

I was hoping we can make a potent dip that can be handles in those zip bags or small containers and not a full blown QT tank that needs its own maintenance.

Hope I make sense, sometimes im confusing myself too...
Click to expand...

Don't forget to dip for MEN, Monti eating Nudis. Or red planaria and Ich too :lol:

I bet a 10 minute dip in HCL would make it all safe, but of course kill the coral too. Me thinks that one dips for each concern and then QT to watch for any survivors and dip again and again as necessary prior to placing in display. My only question, what is the strongest dose of Interceptor that the coral can handle?
 
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