Oh No!!!

[princer7]

Well good thing I made it to the meeting at Dale's house. The powerpoint presentation on Reef Parasites was very eye opening..... I have been cursed - Red Bugs!!!!!

The majority of my corals are still frags and not permanently attached to anything yet. With having lots of hermits as well as the eel, I would prefer not to treat the whole tank. My system is pretty new and after doing searches with the camera for a looonnng time last night, I think the infestation is pretty small. My corals are from everywhere across the country. Who knows where it came from. Lesson learned the hard way to dip first.

This is completly new to me. Can these be dipped? Help!

http://maast.org/gallery/data/500/medium/RedBug.jpg

http://maast.org/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG_8954_Small.jpg

[MissT]

i know that the interceptor heartworm medicine will kill them, but I think usually people use it to treat the tank, rather than as a dip... I haven't used it myself, maybe someone who has will chime in... Good luck

[hobogato]

if your hermits are scarlets, they will be fine. if they are blue legs, the treatment will kill them as well as your pods. the pod population will recover in a month or so. you could try to remove as many blue legs as possible and set them up in a qt tank for a couple of weeks that way you treat the tank and keep the acros in the tank where it is more stable. or, you could take the acros out, dip em for 6.5 hours and then put them in qt for a couple of weeks to make sure any bugs left in the tank have time to starve before you put em back in. if it were me, i would treat the tank. hate to say it but the hermits will be easier/cheaper to replace than the corals.

[princer7]

I have the electric blue hermits as well as the dwarf blue leg, and cleaner shrimp.

Would it kill off the snails, too if they were left in the tank? Can the eel handle the interceptor? Also, can anemones & sponges handle it?

[hobogato]

it might kill the cleaner and would definitely kill the blue hermits (both types). the eel and, anemones, snails, and sponges should be ok.

[princer7]

I use Sentinal for our dog Max. It has Milbemycin Oxime as the active ingredient (same as Interceptor) but also has Lutenuron for flea control. Not sure how the Lutenuron would effect the aquarium.

Where can I purchase interceptor without getting cross looks from a Vet?

[MissT]

a lot of vets know that reefers use it, but Balcones Animal Hospital shouldn't give you a hard time. Or just ask where you take your dog, and tell them what it's for
hth

[apedroza]

I have used the interceptor in the past and I to date haven't seen a recurrence of the RB's. I removed as many shrimp as I could. My first treatment (tank is 70gal +~20gal sump)was 1/2 the pill (50+lb) crushed and totally dissolved in water. I added it to the tank and let it sit for ~10 hours. Then ran carbon for 1 day after a 10% water change. 1 week later I repeated the treatment with 1/4 of the pill and One week later treated a third time with the other 1/4 pill. For a toatl tank treatment of 1 pill. If this is unclear PM me and I can go over it more detailed.