Bugs on monti setosa

I found these on my monti setosa for the past week. I kept blowing them off with a turkey baster hoping they wouldn't return but now there is 4 of them. They look like little beetles and not like pods. They almost look like they have a speckled shell like a beetle. Any idea what these could be? I'm sorry I can't get the camera to focus on them.

Thanks guys. I hope they are not a pest but I believe they might be because they are always hanging around.

 

Not positive on the ID. Is the frag new? Are there any other new frags? I don't trust anything running around on the coral and I would take them out and dip them if you can.

 

Hundreds if not thousands of different Arthropods that are parasitic to some degree to sps.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/3/corals

I would start by dipping the coral in Bayer Insecticide or simply treat the whole system with Interceptor (after researching).

 

That is the same link I brought up. Didn't link it though. You win.

 

Assuming the tank is suitable (large enough, a sandbed, and completely covered), I would suggest adding a Halichoeres Wrasse.

 

It's one of my favorite bookmarked links.

 

Oh no! I was worried this was it. They look like the black bugs. I have not noticed any tissue damage and polyps still look normal. Funny thing is this monti frag has been in the tank for a very long time and I haven't adding anything new in a while. I added some more coral today but I've seen these guys for a week or so. I have some revive coming in the mail that I am going to use on all new coral additions. Would dipping it help now? Wouldn't they be in the rocks and just jump back on? Is treating with interceptor the only solution? I've only seen 4 and I got 1 out today. How fast can these guys reproduce and would me trying to manually remove them do any good? Thanks for all the help!

 

The corals has color loss, if that is not due to transfer and lighting then you may want to try Interceptor. Interceptor is an easy and non intrusive treatment. Hermits and crabs and shrimp are adversely affected by it because they are Arthropods, so you need to consider the risk but over all I really like the treatment and have done it successfully for the treatment of RedBugs.

 

It's hard to tell with that photo. Red bugs are more round.
Do you see them crawling around and are they on other corals? Red bugs do cause color loss like that.
Plus 1 for treatments mentioned above.
If you have to do interceptor send me a pm. You can't normally buy it without prescription.

 

Thanks again guys.

I believe the color loss could be due to a GFO overdose I had 2 weeks ago. I changed up how I placed the GFO in the reactor and I think I ran the tank for 2 weeks stripping all phosphates from the tank. Another encrusting monti I had located directly under the light completely bleached and I just tossed it. I removed all GFO from the system since then and phosphates are still hovering around .00 - .02 (can't read the stupid red sea test kit to save my life).

But these little guys could be causing the color loss too I guess.

I have been catching them and dumping them down the drain. I will see if I can get a better photo of one. They definitely don't look like "red bugs" that are red/yellow. This coral is the only place I have seen them. If I blow them off they are back on the monti within a few hours.

I may buy some interceptor from you for a just in case plan. I purchased a really nice rainbow monti recently. If that coral gets infected with the bugs I will have no problem wiping out the arthropods in the tank. So interceptor will not harm anything other than arthropods? Would killing all the pods in the tank be enough to start a cycle? Would I need to buy another bottle of tiger pods afterward to re-stock the tank with pods? Or is that where I got the bugs in the first place?