Red bugs on your sps? Share your exp.

[taekim78]

these bugs are F@#$ up my Pink Pocillopora damicornis and the green Pocillopora damicornis!!!!! i noticed the bug about three days ago (could have been there longer) these where given to me by my friend as a small frag less then a inch and have grown considerably in the past three months but now this!!! man what should i do? the Pink Pocillopora damicornis is not extending its ployp and it just looks stressed and shows bit of tissue resscession and the green Pocillopora damicornis is loosing its flesh.... what should i do? water parm are nitrate 0, ph 8.0~8.1, alk 13.1, calc 440, temp 80~81. thanks for the help

tae

[MrSandman]

Hmm..if these are truly on a pocillipora, then i'd have to admit that that is news to me. I have a pocillipora and i never saw the red pugs on these guys at all. I only saw them on certain species of acropora, and that's all.

[ScavDog]

taekim78,
Do you have any pics? I too would be suprised to see them on a pocillipora.

[DaveP]

I would have to assume there are different "kinds" of these red bugs. Try sending them to Dr Ron to get an ID.

[SawCJack00]

I also have Pocillopora, and when I had the bugs, the where never on it. I would guess that those are not what I had. Did you look at the pics posted earlier in this thread? Those are exactly what I had.

[nk57]

OMG... I have noticed that my SPS are looking un healthy so after careful inspection I see that I have the red cooties as well. I have turned up the flow , and am going to go the goby route and see what happens. After searching the forum, I see quite a few of us have cooties.


Nancy

[coralite]

When researching the genus that my bugs were keyed to, I only ran into 2 described species inhabiting scleractinia, Tegastes georgei, described from the Red Sea, inhabits pocillopora and stylophora and T. acrophoranus was found on acropora florida at enewetak atoll. I am certain these guys occur in all the oceans but I doubt acro bugs becam poci bugs. Pocillopora has polyps that obscure the colony most of the time and parasites would be harder to see on them.

Word of warning!!!
Stay away from the black clown gobies, mine are feeding pretty well on a variety of pocilloporas though they seemed to have set back the pod infestation on the acros as well.

[David Grigor]

Aqaufresh,

I finding that out the hard way.....

I bought two yellow clown gobies and one darker one. At first I was thinking that the darker one was eating the bugs because it was pecking at the coral. Every one of the corals I have seen it peck on have died. I was thinking it was more than a coincedence but you just helped confirm......

Luckily I am going to be moving into a new tank soon, so I should be able to catch it. Just hope no more casualties in the meantime....

[kevinpo]

I also bought 2 yellow clown gobies. I don't have any bugs but they were cheap and I thought maybe it would be a preventative measure. I have seen both of them nip at the extended polyps of my SPS. The whole colony retracts for a couple of seconds. It's been about 3 weeks and I haven't seen any damage to the corals yet. They divide their time amongst 2-3 SPS heads. One lives at one end of the tank and the other at the other end. I guess they don't get along? I hope I don't end up having to remove them.

Regards,
Kevin

[nk57]

I just purchased to cheap clown gobies as well. I hope they do the trick. This is all just too weird for me.. lets make sure we all keep each other posted to see which methods work and which don't.

nancy

[David Grigor]

Kevin, I haven't had any issues with the yellow ones. Just the darker one. IMO: The yellow ones have been a great additition and really like their behavior. Mine mostly stay apart but you will see them in the same coral together on occasions.....

[kevinpo]

1

[kevinpo]

David,
Do the yellow ones you have nip the SPS polyps and do they eat food you feed the other fish?

Kevin

[David Grigor]

Just seen them perch.

Readily eat frozen brine when it floats in close proximity.......

[G-money]

I got a yellow one about a month ago.

Since that time, I can't find any red bugs on the previously infected specimens.
My Acropora polyps also no longer expand during the day (I am assuming because they are being irritated by the goby). Mr. Goby has served his purpose and will be moving on. I can think of no other reason that the polyps would stop opening...

Mine also eats no prepared food - I think these guys are pretty hit or miss.

[OrionN]

I got yellow clown goby pair. I do not see them eat any of the red bugs, but they nested in one of my Acropora and spawned. Their nesting and spawn activity kill a small part of the Acropora colony. So far, the dead area have not spreaded. They laid a patch of eggs there evry 5-6 days.
If you are going to keep these goby, you should consider keeping them singly, not in pair. They are very easy to spawn, when they do, you can be sure that a patch of your Acropora will get pick clean. Other reefer have reported Acropora goes RTN wiht these goby.

[shawnz28]

Well I just thought I would throw in my two cents. I bought two of the yellow gobies a few weeks ago and for what I can tell they have not made much of a dent in the bug population. FWIW I also have a citron and a neon goby too.

Shawn

[David Grigor]

I am at a crossroads and looking for advice.

I am moving from 190g to 322g tank during the July 4th holidays.
Next to the 322g tank will be 2 40g breeders stacked with bottom the refugium and the top propagation/quarantine bare bottom tank.

I would like to plumb the 40gs to the 322g ( with ball valves on the plumbing so 40g system can be a seperated entity in a quarantine situration ).

The initial plan is to quarantine all of my bug infested SPS and not move them into the new tank.

Do you think if they were plumbed together with filter floss between the two would prevent the bugs from getting into the sump and into the show tank ? Or should I keep the system totally closed until the corals either perish or eventually get better ? I have about 15 corals that either for sure have the bugs or are highly suspect.

I would like to plumb together for obvious maintenace issues like share the skimmer and CA reactor but my gut says the bugs may just reappear in the show and all for not.

Any Ideas/suggestions ?

[shawnz28]

Are you moving other items and rock from the 190 to the new system also?

Shawn

[David Grigor]

Yes.

The 322g goes in the same place as the 190 ( in-wall / fish room behind it ) so I must tear it down to upgrade.

[shawnz28]

Just my thoughts were if you were moving "noninfected' rock, corals and water from the old to the new there may still be a chance of them egtting in there. I would still think that there will be some in other areas than the few more heavily infected corals. And if any of them make it in there and the corals are a little stressed from the move that may give them a chance to infect those as well.

It is one of my concerns as well because there is a small chance I may move so the tank will go too. But I really don't want to do it because seemingly "fingers crossed" my bug population has seemed to have decreased other than one acro lopries? that is very heavily infected.

Shawn

[David Grigor]

I realize there is no guarantee but feel like I have to try something to minimize. Especially since tearing it down anyway.

[shawnz28]

Very understandible, hope it works. Maybe if I move mine I can get that friggin mantis out!

Shawn

[coralite]

I am confident you can get away w/ all the rock and inverts and corals in the main tank and as long as there are no acroporas in the main system, the bugs will have no host to survive on. For true quarantine, I wouldn't even have a Qtank close to the main tank and even use different maintenance equipment for it, this is to avoid contamination of any kind, not just bugs. How do you plan to "rid" your acros of the copepods?

[JasonD]

Ultra Life Red Slime Remover removed Red bugs


I don't know if this is a coincidence or not. But I was having a problem with Red Slime in my SPS 120 gallon tank. So I took the plunge and purchased Ultra Life's red slime remover. Well it kind of created a red tide in my tank with the massive die off of red slime. Stressed my corals for a couple of days. When it was all over I happened to notice that there were no more red bugs on my Acropora Microthalma. I had several frags that were totally infested with the little buggers.

I'm not sure if this is just a natural cycle for the little buggers and they'll be back. Or if somehow the Red Slime remover enabled the corals to over power the tiny mites.

It didn't seem to hurt my micro fauna, in fact it increased it in my algae scrubber.

So I don't know, for some reason the dreaded red bugs are gone, coincidentally or not it seemed to happen after I treated my tank with the red slime/bug remover

Maybe the chemistry in the tank during the red slime remover was not hospitable to the bugs. I've looked really close with a magnifying glass and do not see and bug action.

I don't know if this treatment would work if you didn't have red slime. I can say that the product definately removes red slime pronto. But you have to be prepared to handle the die off as it can quickly overload your system.

I'll keep you posted as to whether the bugs return or not.


Jason