[dougc]

Yes, I have the reef equivalent of syphillis. The nasties are crawling all over some of my acros. This explains why some corals have shown no growth in months.

I don't have a great camera, but you can see the critters in this picture.



I got Interceptor from my vet and had it ground up and weighed out and work (comes in handy to work in a laboratory sometimes). 50 gallons of water is brewing and I am planning on administering the first treatment on Friday.

I spent the last few days catching my shrimp. Peppermints fell victim to the old soda bottle trap, but my cleaner was not so gullible. I finally caught it by putting my hand in the tank for the shrimp to clean. Dangling from my hand was a plastic container. When the shrimp obligingly climbed onto my hand, I scooped him up with the container. Took a few tries, but I got him. There is a mantis and a couple of hairy-legged crabs in the tank. I will try the drinking glass trick to get the crabs, but the mantis is on its own. if I catch them, they won't go back in the tank. I just don't want them dying there.

Die, bugs, die!

[Reefland]

Man that really stinks Doug. As you probably know I just went through a 2 dose treatment on our reef and am glad we did. It was very simple to do and had no negative affects at all.

Good luck and be sure to keep us posted!

[dougc]

I did the first treatment Friday. The bugs appear to be gone, but I will do two more treatments to be sure. The Interceptor didn't kill my mantis shrimp because I can still hear it snapping at night. A couple of the corals have better polyp extension now, but nothing dramatic. It will take a few months to see any improvements in growth rates and coloration.

From now on, I will have to quarantine new corals, which rules out some impulse buys. I must allow for 6 hour Interceptor treatment before they can be put in the tank. I probably should hit them with Flatworm Exit, too. That should cover most of the bases.

[golfish]

I think Scott and most people who have had red bugs will agree that the treatment used is very safe.

[Reefland]

And very easy to administer. I found that coloration improved dramatically pretty quickly, especially on the A. nana.

[vtec si]

Dumb question I have! What is Interceptor? I have never heard of this may be I have been lucky! How is it used? I see the it is harmfull to shrimp and crabs?

Thanks,

Martin

[Reefland]

Interceptor is the dog heartworm medicine that has been tested and successfully used to kill red bugs that have been observed of various Acropora's. Here's a link for you:
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45859

[vtec si]

Thank you!

Martin

[Peterock]

Are these (red bugs) only found in Acro's or what what are they?

What harm do they do to a tank?

Can interceptors be used without taking out livestock in a reef tank?

Would it be smart to use this interceptor anyway on a tank if you don't see any red bugs?

[dougc]

Red bugs may be some sort of amphipod, but they have not been positively ID'd, even by experts in the field. They affect some acroporas, not all. In my tank, they affect corals with widely separated polyps the most. My milleporas seem to be unaffected. My tricolor lost all its color and stopped growing.

Interceptor is harmless to most tank inhabitants. The exceptions are crustaceans. Interceptor will almost certainly kill hermit crabs. Shrimp may or may not die. Some amphipods, copepods, and other small critters will die, although most report that the populations bounce back quickly. Mysids will be wiped out.

I removed my peppermint and cleaner shrimp before the first treatment. I have a mantis in the tank, but it appears to have survived the first dose. I have some hairy-legged crabs, but I am not sure of their fate, since I only rarely see them.

The tricolor looks better already. The polyps are out all the time now and the color is already perking up after less than a week.

[Poseidon]

I was hoping you would say the Interceptor killed the mantis for sure... I have 1 that I am fairly certain has killed off all my attempts at keeping cleaner and peppermint shrimp. I haven't heard the tapping lately, but I'll bet he is surviving on snails now....

[Peterock]

What about a coral disenfintant, Will doing a coral dip before placing them in the tank help with these red bugs.

[Reefland]

The only effective treatment for the red acro bugs that I know of is interceptor. Of course you don't have to do this with anything but SPS corals.

[Peterock]

Cool then because I am attending a frag swap next weekend and just want to be ready for anything that I may pick up

[naser]

now my old setup with all the sps's had them all over. corals grew fine and fast. wonder whats the difference between someone having them on there corals and them doing just fine or somones corals dieing? i allways thought it was speculation that they even harmed acros. since no one even knows what they are.

[Reefland]

Hey naser,

When I had the bugs (man that sounds bad) on the corals that housed them there was an obvious effect on coloration and growth, polyp extension too. The day I started dosing Inteceptor the coloration improved on those corals and the polyp extension also improved. 2 of the frags that had them also started STN'ing, perhaps related or not. The good news is this has now stopped and after some fragging, I think that we might salvage a couple of them. These are the things I noted...

[naser]

more saying what works for some doesnt work for others.. wanna send me some frags. my tank is just rock

[Reefland]

If I had anything worth fragging I would definitely send you some. Right now all of ours are still frags.

[marinelife]

here is some more information: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/...ead.php?t=5119

[dougc]

I am hoping that the mantis may succumb to the second or third treatments. Many people have reported that their peppermints and cleaners survived the first treatment only to die after subsequent treatments.

As to the need to treat for the bugs, I can certainly see a difference in some of my acros. Not all were equally affected, so it is possible that a tank could be full of acros that are resistant to the effects of the bugs. For example, my green slimer and my millis continued to prosper in the face of the red menace. I have an ORA Marshall Island frag, on the other hand, whose polyps I saw for the first time in months just today, a week after treating the tank.

Regardless of the effect on one's own tank, having an infested tank will be a barrier to frag trading. I intend to be much more careful about how and where I acquire new frags.