SPS pests and treatment options - Page 7

Dave71 · 03/26/2011, 10:16 AM

Well, it is hard to give advice since you do not seem clear on if you had red bugs.

If you are fairly certain you do, then I would say continue with the additional two treatments.

You may also have had black bugs.

What SPS did you see the bugs on?

dzhuo · 03/26/2011, 04:40 PM

I understand it's hard to diagnose over the Internet. Can you tell what's black bugs? Do interceptor not kill black bugs?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave71

What SPS did you see the bugs on?

I don't have names but it's just a stag and another smooth skin acro colony I notice tiny "bugs" on them. I imagine my acros are just the usual day-to-day stuff we see normally; nothing too fancy. But to give you an idea, here are 2 colonies I suspect that have RB:

Can you tell me from your experience how long do you see better polyp extension (assuming RB is the cause)?

gon08 · 04/16/2011, 09:08 PM

I think red bugs and AEFW have been discussed extensively on here so I thought I'd mix things up a bit.
Recently I've had an explosion of what seems to be a shelless snail like animal. It's blob like in that it can change shape fairly quickly and moves around pretty fast. Today with the pumps turned off I noticed that a few were actually propelling themselves through the water column.
Here is a pic of several of them eating a P damicornis. On the top right and lower left of the colony you can see the white edge where the tissue has been eaten.

Any ideas? I've tried researching but can't come up with anything.

edandsandy · 05/23/2011, 10:45 AM

Has anyone here treated their tanks with Levamisol?

Dave71 · 05/23/2011, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edandsandy

Has anyone here treated their tanks with Levamisol?

Yes.

edandsandy · 05/23/2011, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave71

Yes.

What results did you have?

flamron · 05/23/2011, 01:54 PM

Levimasole is very hard on acropora.

I'd imagine his results were poor.

Dave71 · 05/23/2011, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edandsandy

What results did you have?

Well I guess the question is, what are you using it for?

Levamisole did not have the results I was looking for with red bugs, but my corals were not negatively impacted.

The tank showed similar reaction as interceptor.

Levamisole should be used with higher caution than with interceptor, since dosing is more of a concern.

When I used it in a QT for nudis which were on my monti caps, it was far more effective, and I would use again under this scenario.

edandsandy · 05/24/2011, 06:33 AM

Thank you for your reply

fishdoc11 · 05/24/2011, 07:16 PM

Asked 2 Novartis reps yesterday if they had heard of treating corals with Interceptor...they still had no clue it was being used to treat red bugs.

Dave71 · 05/24/2011, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishdoc11

Asked 2 Novartis reps yesterday if they had heard of treating corals with Interceptor...they still had no clue it was being used to treat red bugs.

It is not clinically indicated as a red bug treatment, and frankly there isn't significant money in selling this as a red bug treatment.

So this does not suprise me at all.

Hnguyen85 · 06/15/2011, 04:29 PM

Hey guys, I've been reading through this thread and the procedure on killing red bugs all day today now. I have a minor case of red bugs and I have tried taking them out and dipping them in interceptor but without a qt tank, they went back into the DT. After about 2 or 3 weeks I started to see them again the other day. I'm planning on nuking the whole tank with interceptor this weekend the day before I'm due for my weekly wc. Is there any advise that you guys have for me before I like the plunge? Removing my shrimp isn't going to be possible so I'll have to take the risk of leaving it in there along with all my hermit crabs and snails.

Also I want to cross check my dosage about with you guys. I have a 93g marineland cube with a 12g external fuge, 20g sump that holds maybe 12g of water when pumps are running and a duel brs media reactor. So I'm guessing I have about 100g of water volume at any given time. I understand that a single tablet of interceptor for large dogs can treat up to 380g of water. So I can on splitting the tablet in 1/4 and using the 1/4 tablet to treat my whole tank. Do you guys think that amount will be enough to treat my tank?

Another question is I plan on treating for more then 6 hours. I'm looking at about 10 of treatment time before I start to run carbon and skimmer. Then I'll do a 20% wc the following day. Any advise and help would be greatly appreciated. I plan to start treatment this Friday night at about midnight and turn everything back on in the morning at 10am Saturday. Oh one more thing, is it ok to leave my mp40's online during treatment or should I have them off? I didnt see any info on that.

Thanks in advance,
Hoang

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ostrow · 06/15/2011, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hnguyen85

Hey guys, I've been reading through this thread and the procedure on killing red bugs all day today now. I have a minor case of red bugs and I have tried taking them out and dipping them in interceptor but without a qt tank, they went back into the DT. After about 2 or 3 weeks I started to see them again the other day. I'm planning on nuking the whole tank with interceptor this weekend the day before I'm due for my weekly wc. Is there any advise that you guys have for me before I like the plunge? Removing my shrimp isn't going to be possible so I'll have to take the risk of leaving it in there along with all my hermit crabs and snails.

Also I want to cross check my dosage about with you guys. I have a 93g marineland cube with a 12g external fuge, 20g sump that holds maybe 12g of water when pumps are running and a duel brs media reactor. So I'm guessing I have about 100g of water volume at any given time. I understand that a single tablet of interceptor for large dogs can treat up to 380g of water. So I can on splitting the tablet in 1/4 and using the 1/4 tablet to treat my whole tank. Do you guys think that amount will be enough to treat my tank?

Another question is I plan on treating for more then 6 hours. I'm looking at about 10 of treatment time before I start to run carbon and skimmer. Then I'll do a 20% wc the following day. Any advise and help would be greatly appreciated. I plan to start treatment this Friday night at about midnight and turn everything back on in the morning at 10am Saturday. Oh one more thing, is it ok to leave my mp40's online during treatment or should I have them off? I didnt see any info on that.

Thanks in advance,
Hoang

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The only thing I'd say is, expect AEFW to take over after you dose Interceptor. I wish I'd never done the latter.

Hnguyen85 · 06/15/2011, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ostrow

The only thing I'd say is, expect AEFW to take over after you dose Interceptor. I wish I'd never done the latter.

What do you mean by that? Do AEFW pop out of no where when you use interceptor? More details please (asking in a very nicely way)

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ostrow · 06/15/2011, 05:28 PM

I for some reason treated my tank with Interceptor. I then had a plague of AEFW. Reading, then AEFW threads, I was stunned at the high percentage of those battling AEFW who had just treated with Interceptor.

Obviously, the AEFW were there prior. They also were not harming anything. I was with many old-timers who never worried about redbugs. Why I decided to fix something that wasn't broken, I don't know.

I am in the extreme minority in the hobby on this, at least, in being vocal. There are a lot of folks who dont' worry about redbugs.

All I'm saying is, there is a point after which coincidence becomes correlation. Expect a high likelihood of an AEFW problem that did not before exist as a problem.

Hnguyen85 · 06/15/2011, 05:46 PM

Thanks for the info man. I'll read up on the AEFW to see what I can dig up. In the mean time, if there's anyone out there that has treated with interceptor before, please chime In as I'd like to hear from you and your experience from it.

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fishdoc11 · 06/15/2011, 06:14 PM

IMO treating for red bugs makes the reefkeeper much more aware of parasites, and the damage they do, in the aquarium and that plays a large role in how many people notice AEFW after treating for red bugs. IME red bugs do quite a bit of damage that is only noticeable once they are gotten rid of. AEFW of course are devastating as there is no good in tank treatment and the treatments that are effective are very stressful to the corals. The key of course is to have a good dip proceedure and a QT if possible in your particular situation.
I treated according to Dorton's original directions around 2004 and have dipped without fail and haven't seen a red bug in any of my tanks since

hth, Chris

Hnguyen85 · 06/15/2011, 06:41 PM

Thanks for the info Chris. I want to try and find a natural predator first before I proceed to nuking the whole tank. I talked to a friend of mines that got a frag from me last night to tell him what had happen and for him to be on the look out. He said he wasn't worried at all because he has a sand dragon pipefish in this tank that is a certified red bug eater. He told me he got a coral a couple of weeks ago and even after two dips he still had red bugs on it. He just throw it in the tank and saw that his pipefish cleaned it up after 2 days. I'm looking into it eight now and have found two webpages that has confirm that info. Now I'm on the look out for a pair of them and try that before I nuke my tank.

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fishdoc11 · 06/15/2011, 08:03 PM

Good luck, I haven't personally heard of that working for anyone but hope it helps you out

Chris

Hnguyen85 · 06/15/2011, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishdoc11

Good luck, I haven't personally heard of that working for anyone but hope it helps you out

Chris

I can only hope and pray. Last night I took all my acros out and dipped them using 1/4 tablet of the interceptor and now I think I just killed all my acros. I only dipped for about 20 mins and it killed everything. But then again I also used coral rx at the same time as well. So now I really have no acros left for the red bugs to eat except for one other colony. So I'll use that colony as a test. If the red bugs do some back to that colony and I put a dragonface pipefish in there and if I don't see anymore red bugs on that colony then I'll know it did it's job. It will be interesting to see. I'll post on here as well if I'm able to find the pipefish locally. I can't justify paying $60 for shipping for a $20 fish.

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fishdoc11 · 06/16/2011, 06:32 AM

Well that sucks. Dipping with interceptor shouldn't have harmed your acros in any way except that you dipped an extremely high dose (5x's dortons dose or a few little shavings is all that's needed for 2 or 3 gallons in a 5 gal bucket). Sounds like you used around 30 plus x's the dosage assuming you dipped in 5 gallons). Don't know about coral RX but you can dip with interceptor for hours (I have dipped for 24 hours with no ill effects) but most other dips(TMPCC for example) don't need to be done for more than 10 to 15 minutes max or they will harm the coral. The most likley culprit is temp and acclimation. If the corals weren't acclimated to the water used in the bucket (easiest way is just using tank water) and then again on placing back in the tank it can shock them. Or they could have been not healthy in the first place and changes of temp etc...will be even mor harmful then. At any rate I would leave the tank without Acros for at least 6 weeks now and then follow a strict dipping regimine that takes care of red bugs AND AEFW (including removing the bases).
hth, Chris

Hnguyen85 · 06/16/2011, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishdoc11

Well that sucks. Dipping with interceptor shouldn't have harmed your acros in any way except that you dipped an extremely high dose (5x's dortons dose or a few little shavings is all that's needed for 2 or 3 gallons in a 5 gal bucket). Sounds like you used around 30 plus x's the dosage assuming you dipped in 5 gallons). Don't know about coral RX but you can dip with interceptor for hours (I have dipped for 24 hours with no ill effects) but most other dips(TMPCC for example) don't need to be done for more than 10 to 15 minutes max or they will harm the coral. The most likley culprit is temp and acclimation. If the corals weren't acclimated to the water used in the bucket (easiest way is just using tank water) and then again on placing back in the tank it can shock them. Or they could have been not healthy in the first place and changes of temp etc...will be even mor harmful then. At any rate I would leave the tank without Acros for at least 6 weeks now and then follow a strict dipping regimine that takes care of red bugs AND AEFW (including removing the bases).
hth, Chris

Sad to say I didn't use 5g of water when dipping with interceptor. I used only about HALF a gallon of tank water and dipped for 20min or so. That was the biggest mistake I've made in this hobby thus far. I'll avoid acro's for the time being until I see no trace of red bugs in the system. Trying to get a group order going on with some friends to order those pipefish online right now. I'll see how that goes as well.

Dave71 · 06/16/2011, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hnguyen85

Sad to say I didn't use 5g of water when dipping with interceptor. I used only about HALF a gallon of tank water and dipped for 20min or so. That was the biggest mistake I've made in this hobby thus far. I'll avoid acro's for the time being until I see no trace of red bugs in the system. Trying to get a group order going on with some friends to order those pipefish online right now. I'll see how that goes as well.

Keep in mind the pipefish you are referring to are not suitable for every tank, and there is no guarantee they will eat the red bugs.

I am not discouraging the purchase, but simply saying the purchase is not suitable for everyone.

Needless to say, had the interceptor treatment been done correctly, I am confident you would have had a more positive result.

fishdoc11 · 06/16/2011, 02:27 PM

We all make mistakes, good luck

Hnguyen85 · 06/16/2011, 10:23 PM

Yea it sucks that I messed up with the dip but it wasn't the first time I've done it. Although the first time I used a lot more water then I did the second time. First treatment didn't work because they came back. So only thing I can think of is treating the whole tank. I'll try the pipefish for now and see how it turns out. If I don't notice any red bugs in a month then I guess I'm good? I already ordered two of the pipefish from an online vendor today. It should be here Saturday morning. I guess I'll know if they eat red bugs or not soon enough. From what I read, once they are used to their new home, they will start to seek out food and if I see them picking at an acro then it's safe to say I still have red bugs and that the pipefish is eating it. Lol

I'll post results here as time goes by. If it works then I'd like to be able to share this with everyone else.

Thanks for all the help guys

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03/26/2011, 10:16 AM	#151
Dave71 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NJ Posts: 273	Well, it is hard to give advice since you do not seem clear on if you had red bugs. If you are fairly certain you do, then I would say continue with the additional two treatments. You may also have had black bugs. What SPS did you see the bugs on? __________________ Dave Current Tank Info: 60 Gallon Mixed Reef

04/16/2011, 09:08 PM	#153
gon08 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Pembroke Pines, Fl Posts: 538	Possibly a new pest I think red bugs and AEFW have been discussed extensively on here so I thought I'd mix things up a bit. Recently I've had an explosion of what seems to be a shelless snail like animal. It's blob like in that it can change shape fairly quickly and moves around pretty fast. Today with the pumps turned off I noticed that a few were actually propelling themselves through the water column. Here is a pic of several of them eating a P damicornis. On the top right and lower left of the colony you can see the white edge where the tissue has been eaten. Any ideas? I've tried researching but can't come up with anything.

05/23/2011, 10:45 AM	#154
edandsandy Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: NE Florida Posts: 2,380 Blog Entries: 2	Has anyone here treated their tanks with Levamisol? __________________ Sandy ><((((º>`•.¸¸.•><((((º>´¯`•><((((º> .¸¸.><((((º>•.¸. , . .•><((((º>.¸¸. Current Tank Info: 375 Reef, 4) Radion LED lights X30 pro, Apex Fusion, Octo Regal 300 E Skimmer, GEO 618 Calcium Reactor 2) Reeflo Snapper pumps, 2)50g refugium, 2) MP 40's

05/23/2011, 01:54 PM	#157
flamron Professional Stick Gluer Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: NW Arkansas Posts: 2,216	Levimasole is very hard on acropora. I'd imagine his results were poor. __________________ Ronnie 60g cube - Ghost Overflow - ATI 8 bulb dimmable sunpower - Apex - MP10s - Synergy sump

05/24/2011, 06:33 AM	#159
edandsandy Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: NE Florida Posts: 2,380 Blog Entries: 2	Thank you for your reply __________________ Sandy ><((((º>`•.¸¸.•><((((º>´¯`•><((((º> .¸¸.><((((º>•.¸. , . .•><((((º>.¸¸. Current Tank Info: 375 Reef, 4) Radion LED lights X30 pro, Apex Fusion, Octo Regal 300 E Skimmer, GEO 618 Calcium Reactor 2) Reeflo Snapper pumps, 2)50g refugium, 2) MP 40's

05/24/2011, 07:16 PM	#160
fishdoc11 catch and release Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Old Hickory,TN Posts: 13,237	Asked 2 Novartis reps yesterday if they had heard of treating corals with Interceptor...they still had no clue it was being used to treat red bugs. __________________ "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something" -- Thomas H. Huxley Current Tank Info: 70 gallon mixed reef

06/15/2011, 04:29 PM	#162
Hnguyen85 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 108	Hey guys, I've been reading through this thread and the procedure on killing red bugs all day today now. I have a minor case of red bugs and I have tried taking them out and dipping them in interceptor but without a qt tank, they went back into the DT. After about 2 or 3 weeks I started to see them again the other day. I'm planning on nuking the whole tank with interceptor this weekend the day before I'm due for my weekly wc. Is there any advise that you guys have for me before I like the plunge? Removing my shrimp isn't going to be possible so I'll have to take the risk of leaving it in there along with all my hermit crabs and snails. Also I want to cross check my dosage about with you guys. I have a 93g marineland cube with a 12g external fuge, 20g sump that holds maybe 12g of water when pumps are running and a duel brs media reactor. So I'm guessing I have about 100g of water volume at any given time. I understand that a single tablet of interceptor for large dogs can treat up to 380g of water. So I can on splitting the tablet in 1/4 and using the 1/4 tablet to treat my whole tank. Do you guys think that amount will be enough to treat my tank? Another question is I plan on treating for more then 6 hours. I'm looking at about 10 of treatment time before I start to run carbon and skimmer. Then I'll do a 20% wc the following day. Any advise and help would be greatly appreciated. I plan to start treatment this Friday night at about midnight and turn everything back on in the morning at 10am Saturday. Oh one more thing, is it ok to leave my mp40's online during treatment or should I have them off? I didnt see any info on that. Thanks in advance, Hoang Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

06/15/2011, 05:28 PM	#165
ostrow It's Dr. Goodluck Himself Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Oak Park, IL Posts: 11,654	I for some reason treated my tank with Interceptor. I then had a plague of AEFW. Reading, then AEFW threads, I was stunned at the high percentage of those battling AEFW who had just treated with Interceptor. Obviously, the AEFW were there prior. They also were not harming anything. I was with many old-timers who never worried about redbugs. Why I decided to fix something that wasn't broken, I don't know. I am in the extreme minority in the hobby on this, at least, in being vocal. There are a lot of folks who dont' worry about redbugs. All I'm saying is, there is a point after which coincidence becomes correlation. Expect a high likelihood of an AEFW problem that did not before exist as a problem. __________________ It's the return of Dr. Goodluck Himself. fml! Current Tank Info: 156G "brick", 150 sump and 75 fuge replaces Fire, Destruction, Sad :(

06/15/2011, 05:46 PM	#166
Hnguyen85 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 108	Thanks for the info man. I'll read up on the AEFW to see what I can dig up. In the mean time, if there's anyone out there that has treated with interceptor before, please chime In as I'd like to hear from you and your experience from it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

06/15/2011, 06:14 PM	#167
fishdoc11 catch and release Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Old Hickory,TN Posts: 13,237	IMO treating for red bugs makes the reefkeeper much more aware of parasites, and the damage they do, in the aquarium and that plays a large role in how many people notice AEFW after treating for red bugs. IME red bugs do quite a bit of damage that is only noticeable once they are gotten rid of. AEFW of course are devastating as there is no good in tank treatment and the treatments that are effective are very stressful to the corals. The key of course is to have a good dip proceedure and a QT if possible in your particular situation. I treated according to Dorton's original directions around 2004 and have dipped without fail and haven't seen a red bug in any of my tanks since hth, Chris __________________ "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something" -- Thomas H. Huxley Current Tank Info: 70 gallon mixed reef

06/15/2011, 06:41 PM	#168
Hnguyen85 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 108	Thanks for the info Chris. I want to try and find a natural predator first before I proceed to nuking the whole tank. I talked to a friend of mines that got a frag from me last night to tell him what had happen and for him to be on the look out. He said he wasn't worried at all because he has a sand dragon pipefish in this tank that is a certified red bug eater. He told me he got a coral a couple of weeks ago and even after two dips he still had red bugs on it. He just throw it in the tank and saw that his pipefish cleaned it up after 2 days. I'm looking into it eight now and have found two webpages that has confirm that info. Now I'm on the look out for a pair of them and try that before I nuke my tank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

06/15/2011, 08:03 PM	#169
fishdoc11 catch and release Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Old Hickory,TN Posts: 13,237	Good luck, I haven't personally heard of that working for anyone but hope it helps you out Chris __________________ "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something" -- Thomas H. Huxley Current Tank Info: 70 gallon mixed reef

06/16/2011, 06:32 AM	#171
fishdoc11 catch and release Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Old Hickory,TN Posts: 13,237	Well that sucks. Dipping with interceptor shouldn't have harmed your acros in any way except that you dipped an extremely high dose (5x's dortons dose or a few little shavings is all that's needed for 2 or 3 gallons in a 5 gal bucket). Sounds like you used around 30 plus x's the dosage assuming you dipped in 5 gallons). Don't know about coral RX but you can dip with interceptor for hours (I have dipped for 24 hours with no ill effects) but most other dips(TMPCC for example) don't need to be done for more than 10 to 15 minutes max or they will harm the coral. The most likley culprit is temp and acclimation. If the corals weren't acclimated to the water used in the bucket (easiest way is just using tank water) and then again on placing back in the tank it can shock them. Or they could have been not healthy in the first place and changes of temp etc...will be even mor harmful then. At any rate I would leave the tank without Acros for at least 6 weeks now and then follow a strict dipping regimine that takes care of red bugs AND AEFW (including removing the bases). hth, Chris __________________ "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something" -- Thomas H. Huxley Current Tank Info: 70 gallon mixed reef

06/16/2011, 02:27 PM	#174
fishdoc11 catch and release Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Old Hickory,TN Posts: 13,237	We all make mistakes, good luck __________________ "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something" -- Thomas H. Huxley Current Tank Info: 70 gallon mixed reef

06/16/2011, 10:23 PM	#175
Hnguyen85 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 108	Yea it sucks that I messed up with the dip but it wasn't the first time I've done it. Although the first time I used a lot more water then I did the second time. First treatment didn't work because they came back. So only thing I can think of is treating the whole tank. I'll try the pipefish for now and see how it turns out. If I don't notice any red bugs in a month then I guess I'm good? I already ordered two of the pipefish from an online vendor today. It should be here Saturday morning. I guess I'll know if they eat red bugs or not soon enough. From what I read, once they are used to their new home, they will start to seek out food and if I see them picking at an acro then it's safe to say I still have red bugs and that the pipefish is eating it. Lol I'll post results here as time goes by. If it works then I'd like to be able to share this with everyone else. Thanks for all the help guys Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk