Red Bugs - Symptoms

[Dive_Master]

Did anyone really confirmed that the red acro bugs are negatively affecting our corals.

I have them, but one coral looks fine to me. The other purple tip acrom does not fully expamd the polyps, but she never did. i cannot determine if the bugs are cuasing it or not.

Both corals are growing and showing excelent colors.

[dougc]

I believe that they are harmful. After only 3 weeks since completing the third treatment, I can see a difference even in corals that seemed to be doing ok before treatment. In some that were affected, the difference is dramatic. My tricolor, which looked almost bleached before treatment and never extended its polyps, is now regaining its color and is showing good polyp extension. My ORA Miami Orchid, on which I never saw any bugs (maybe because it is not near enough to the glass), has finally taken off after showing little growth for the previous few months. Many other acros show better polyp extension, but not signs of faster growth. It may just be too soon to expect that.

Since the bugs seem to affect some corals more than others, it may just be that your particular corals are less vulnerable to the effects or that they are less attractive. My millis, for example, never seemed to be affected in any way. If you don't plan on adding any new corals to the tank and don't have any desire to trade any frags from your tank, you could probably forgo treatment. My advice would be to treat the tank.

Now that my tank is clean, it is kind of a pain to add new corals because I don't want to reintroduce the pests. It eliminates impulse purchases or trades because I must allow six hours to treat the new arrivals before they go in the tank.