Red bugs

Alright so I was looking at my green slimer closely today and I saw a few tiny red dots on it. I assume these are red parasitic copepods. Has anyone had experience with red bugs? The slimer looks perfectly fine, good polyp extension and color. Can acros live with red bugs?

 

jhawkor, did you get a good look at them? if they are completely red they might be some other pest, the parasitic copepods known for eating acropora's are actually yellow in color. If they are indeed "red bugs" I have heard that the dog heartworm treatment interceptor can eliminate them quite easily. Although your area may be different, some have had trouble getting this treatment from their vet, It is my believe that you need a prescription, but that is just hear-say. Good luck with the treatment. Do you have any other acros in the tank? You might want to inspect them and treat accordingly.

 

OK will do. I'm not 100% sure they are acro eating bugs. They are just tiny little red dots, I could only find 4-5 of them and they don't really move...Does anyone have a pic of red acro eating bugs? Thanks guys.

 

Most of the info on red bugs is seriously dated... Much of it was simple assumed and dates back to Dustin, the guy that figured intercepter would work...

Red bugs will not really kill your coral, not like nudi's or flatworms will. I had red bugs on my turquiose stag and my valida... What I noticed was zero polyp extension and the corals went from nicely colored to brownish, well in the case of the stag it was a dark greyish blue...

I did alot of research and read posts regarding intercepter and red bugs but they were all from like 2003.. Most said dose VERY carefully and do a 50% waterchange within 12 hrs...
I got more concerned but once I talked to a friend of mine, who also sells frags from his frag system at his house, he told me he treats his DT which is attached to his frag system like every 6 months as a precaution. I asked him if he is careful about the dosage or if he does W/Cs afterwards.. His answer was no to both.

Needless to say I used an entire tab(which is suppose to treat over 300gals) for my 180, 29 fuge and 30 sump.. I might have 20 gals in the fuge and maybe 15 in the sump so as you can see I have no where near 300gals.

I used an entire tab, and had no issue in any coral. I didn't even do a waterchange, not even 10%. Everything was great and the corals have never looked better. Only downside is I lost every single dwarf crab I had. But hey, I work at a LFS so crabs aren't all that hard to come by if I want more.

I will tell you to get the intercepter, and just dose it, absolutely nothing to worry about.

Only hard thing will be to find a vet to write you the Rx.

Good luck!

Oh, remember that redbugs only affect SMOOTH skinned acros, so montis, seriatoporas, acro millies or prostratas will not be affected.

**Edit* one last thing, the idea of treating a couple times days apart is dated also, once is enough. When the original regimen was proposed no one knew the life cycle of the bug nor did they know if the med would kill all or just adults.

One treatment is enough.

 

If they aren't moving I highly doubt they are red bugs, when I had them it was very obvious that they would move, quite often actually. Like was said before most crustaceans, shrimp, pods, crabs etc in the system may die depending on the type and the dosage used.

This is what I followed to treat my system.
Melevsreef.com - Interceptor | Red Bug treatment

 

I saw one moving around just a bit ago. I'm sure they are red bugs now. Should I just be honest with my vet about the whole deal will he prescribe me the pills for my reef tank?

 

Certain vets will write a scrip for reef purposes. I have seen a few guys pull an article or two off the web, sit down with the vet and tell them what you plan to do. I know there is a vet in my area that has written out the Rx for reefers to fight red bugs...

I guess you just need to find a vet that isn't a total stickler for the rules, be honest and bring some proof(such as articles or whathave you).

I also looked at the melevs site and I believe, IIRC that he still said you needed to do the huge W/C and to be diligent in guestimating water volume. I can tell you like before I used an entire pill and the only casulties were my crabs and a good amount of benthic inverts in the fuge.

If I ever have to do it again(hopefully not) I will do the same thing.

Good luck jhawkor

 

Well I'm sure I'm outdated and I will referrer to the smarter guys for any updated experiences but for what its worth having treated my own system and several others I have never lost a single crab or any shrimp or any problems with in my fuge. Do the water change also I have used this stuff several times and like I said have had many guys I know and those who followed the outdated information never lost anything that they or myself where ever aware of.. A would also use lots of carbon and change it out several timed for a week .

 

When I got red bugs, I wasn't even remotely careful when I dosed - I have a 65 gallon and I used 1/4 of the large dog and I didn't really do a water change - I just kept to my semi weekly changes while dosing 3 times in a row (make sure you get the bugs that hatch since interceptor won't kill the eggs).

I know people say it won't kill them, I don't know how true that is - I let my system go untreated for a long time since many had said it won't kill them - well they will multiply to huge numbers and you get to the point the SPS won't grow nor will the polyps really come out. None of mine did die, but they looked like they were on the verge. It was a difference of night and day after treating...but then I got new frags and didn't QT them and immediately got AEFW...what a pain they are.