Red Bugs

[falcon41176]

the six line and dragon face. will get along. but watch the six line with the mandarines. you should be fine becuase you had the mandarines first. but if one of the mandarines would ever pass. you would have to watch adding a new mandarine with a six line. as dr dee said thoe do a dip it will help to lessing the population of the bad bugs.

 

[falcon41176]

also if you have chaeto in your sump growing you should have plenty of bugs. also through a tiny peice of a cocktail shrimp. in your sump for the bugs they have to eat to reproduce quickly. i do this once every week or two. you can also train the sixe line and the pipe fish to eat red bugs and flatworms if you can collect enough off the bad bugs and keep them in a bare bottom ten gallon tank for a week or two the will get a taste for them.

 

[brandyrb]

Thanks

Here's another link I read from liveaquaria concerning dragonface pipefish eating the red bugs. http://www.captivereefing.com/showthread.php?p=22533
I haven't seen any dragonface pipefish in the local fish store though or if I did, I didn't notice them.

 

[brandyrb]

falcon,

What other fish do you have in your tank and how long have you had the pipefish? I've read in some posts that the pipefish didn't do much for the redbug population. Did you notice a difference?

 

[falcon41176]

the red bugs are gone. but that was with a dip to.i have had the pipe fish for 6 months. they are very cool to watch they use there tail like a monkeys does to hold onto things. they hang on the acros and peck. but i am sure that not all pipefish will have the same hunger for red bugs. so you have to train them and when you put them in your tank make sure you put them in a acro so they know were they should be. fish are much smarter than we give them credit.sometimes i think the fish watch us more than we watch them. but the only reason my fish watch me like they do is becuase they always think i am coming to feed them. man i probally sound like am idiot!!!!!!.

 

[falcon41176]

just go to your local fish place and have them order them for you on there next fish order. if they are ordering from a area that has them. i am sure they want to make a buck. also i have the grey pipefish put if you look at them close like in a macro shot they have very pretty colors

 

[kevinpo]

Hi Brandy,
We often stock the Dragonface pipefish (I ordered 2 today). They are in with the Seahorses. I have tried them several times but they didn't work. On a side note I have never seen any fish control populations of flatworms or redbugs to a satisfactory degree.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[falcon41176]

kevin i had a florida green acro that had red bugs all over it. but i have 2 madarines, two pipe fish. six line. and a cleaner wrasse. and dipped the coral once with no return of the bugs. thats why i also said about the ten gallon tank bare bottom. to train them. but what works for me might only be working for me. but i have seen videos on the net of a guy tought a fish to swin through pastic rings, and dolphins but in shows for us. so what i am saying is if you put the time in to make your reef a happy place, you would be a happy reefer. not trying to attack any body just trying to share my what i have learned.

 

[kevinpo]

not trying to attack any body just trying to share my what i have learned.

Hello,
Thank you for your contribution! I also am just sharing my experiences
I have learned long ago there are very few absolutes in this hobby.

Regards,
Kevin
PS: We have a fish that swims through a ring for treats.

 

[brandyrb]

We would like to try the dragonface pipefish and six line wrasse along with tropic marin pro-coral cure for a dip. Kevin will you also have the six line wrasse and tropic marin pro-coral cure at the same time you get the pipefish? If so, we'll take the two dragonface pipefish, a six line wrasse and the tropic marin pro-coral cure on your next shipment. Which is when?
The dragonface pipefish are so darn cute, we'd like to have them even if they don't eat the red bugs, but I'll try them in a small tank with the red bugs to see if they do or not before adding them to the main tank.

We bought a used 50 gal acrylic tank with a high hood and stand that came with a retro fit 250 halide and 2 vho atinics and ballasts because our fist plan was to seperate the coral and treat them with interceptor, but unfortunately the ballasts don't work and the retrofit is basically junk, so we'll be looking for a good deal on lights/ballasts and a reflector for that too.

We paid $200 for the tank and at first I thought we were getting a good deal, now I'm not so sure. It also is drilled in the bottom center of the tank and we need advise as to how to plumb it so that we aren't risking losing the whole volume of water if anything were to ever happen.

Kevin,

Sorry to change the subject but we'll be asking a lot of questions on our next visit as to the best/cheapest way to setup the new tank in order to keep sps in it. I'll also bring in a red worm on the front glass to see if it is the flatworm or not.

 

[Dr. Dee]

Yeah i was talking about the six line wrasse.Because i had no success with that fish,but some have with the dragonface pipefish not the ones from Indo sea they did not live long no more than 2-3 months.

 

[barrierreefcf]

Salsaking has a Dragon Face Pipe in with an Emperor Angel and other assorted reef fish. I don't know how long he's had it though. Also Dave B. came up and gave a talk for the PSAS about Pipefish in reef tanks and his thoughts were that they can live with most fish and in high flow reef systems just fine. He showed pics of his tank with Dragons and a few other species mixed with other reef fishes. We have had success mixing them in our reef tanks as well. Most LFS's can get the Dragon Faces in if you ask. Of course compatability is always a case by case scenario.

 

[brandyrb]

I was just browsing through old posts and figured I should provide the update on what I did for the red bugs.

I tried the dragon face pipefish and that didn't work out at all. I acclimated it using a slow drip and the moment it was added to the tank, a cleaner shrimp grabbed it and started tearing it apart at the mouth. At first I thought the shrimp was just curious, maybe it sensed stress? Either way I wouldn't try this fish with cleaner shrimp anymore. I got the pipefish away from the cleaner then my pink spotted shrimp gobie bit at the pipefish because it swam to its territory. It hid under a rock and died. It was very sad and I personaly wouldn't recomend this fragile fish for red bugs having tried it.

I ended up taking an infected frag to a local vet to get interceptor and was charged around $100 I think, maybe more, it was a while ago. Anyway after I dosed three times, once each week for three weeks, I no longer had red bugs and have not had them since. I also haven't gotten anything new as far as corals go and wont without quarentine.

Each time I dosed interceptor I waited 48 hrs before doing a 20% water change. I did lose all the crabs, but the shrimp survived. I also lost my sleeper banded gobie. The gobie used to both sift through the sand and eat prepared food, but wouldn't eat prepared food and probably didn't have much to sift out of the sand after the interceptor treatment. My mandarin survived though.

 

[jedimike]

Tanks for the update... I've noticed some red bugs on my tricolor. They don't seem to drift to the other acros. My Oregon tort looks fine. They are lightly glued... so I think I will just pull them out, dip them, then re-glue them. Rinse, repeat as necessary.

Sorry to hear about the pipefish. Nothing worse.