Scarry Confusing Buggies

[Reefer4ever]

I have those red tigger copepods from the bottle inside of my tank, but can they get stuck to the slime of sps corals?:hypnotyized: I added half a bottle of them about half a year ago and their babies babies, babies, babies, etc have had babies. In other words, I have a butt load of them.:bigsmile: Anyways, back to the original subject, I'm either seeing dead copepods stuck to slimy sticks or there are immobile red bugs on them. What do you guys think? They look like little red dots and dont ask for pictures right now because i lost my sd card in my room somewhere. Just try your best to help me out without pictures, please.:confused:

[ErikH]

Red Bugs. The treatment is Interceptor. You would need to go to the vet's office and explain your situation to get a prescription for it. It is illegal to buy or sell it once you have received a prescription for it.

[Reefer4ever]

For now, can I treat them with coral RX?

[Mr Cob]

coral rx won't do anything for red bugs.

read up...

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/redbugs.html

[Reefer4ever]

I just did and it just so happens that one of my moms customers is a vet. I,ll talk to him today. I found my sd card.

http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g472/xXemohaiRXx/redbugs002.jpg

[Kristy]

Dylan, you might want to read texreefer's 60g build thread. He dealt with red bugs in the last couple of pages.

[Reefer4ever]

I just had a chat with the vet man and I will be able to get one double dose and two single doses of intercepter!

[CoryDude]

Redbugs are usually a precursor to AEFW. I would be very watchful if I were you. On the pic you posted, I see some discolored or missing tissue which would make me a little nervous.

[Reefer4ever]

That piece was that color when I got it, when I didn't have red bugs.(about half a year ago)

[CoryDude]

You could be right. But, when I had the same problem last year, I treated with interceptor and then had issues with aefw a few months later. Texreefer had the same problem too. Hopefully that's all you have. I used sentinel which has most of the same ingredients as interceptor and they were gone after 1 treatment. A few days after the treatment do a large water change (25% or larger), run some carbon, and restock your pods and you're back on track. Best of luck dude!

[Gseclipse02]

I have those red tigger copepods from the bottle inside of my tank, ase.:confused:


just so you know from what i understand they are colored dyed so u can see them ...

[Reefer4ever]

Thanks for the info. I know I'm going to have to restock my pod population once i treat my tank. That kind of blows.

[cbianco]

I just had a chat with the vet man and I will be able to get one double dose and two single doses of intercepter!

Do you have a treatment/recipe that you plan to follow?

Christopher :)

[Reefer4ever]

I'm either going to do a double dose and then 5 days later another double dose, or a double dose and then 4 days later a single dose and then another single dose 4 more days later.

[CoryDude]

I'm either going to do a double dose and then 5 days later another double dose, or a double dose and then 4 days later a single dose and then another single dose 4 more days later.

Ummm, you may want to rethink that. I followed the recommended dosage and got rid of them in one treatment. You'll see, that stuff is a little rough on sps. Polyp extension will disappear and the corals will look a little rough for a day or so. The fish didn't seem to mind and even a few pods survived. Try a single dose the first time to see how your tank reacts. You'll probably see some dead bugs still stuck to your corals a few hours after treatment, but you should be able to blow them off with a turkey baster.

Luckily these are one of the easier pests to get rid of. Just wish all the others were are as simple to eradicate

[Mr Cob]

What Cory said.

I did half recommended dosage on a 75g a couple of years ago..maybe 3 and it took care of all the red bugs....I also could not get all of my peps out of the tank and half of them died and the other half looked intoxicated...all pods died. My water change after was not huge though. No ill effects to other corals or fish.

[allan]

When I dosed I also lost a lot of hermits... Either that or someone placed a bucket full o shells into the tank.

I didn't realize there was a particular dosing method. I put in two tabs, then four or five days later I put in two more tabs. I was working with a little over 350 gallons between the two tanks.

[Reefer4ever]

I'm just going to do two double doses and let everyone know what happens.

[Mr Cob]

good luck Dylan. Let us know how it goes.

[cbianco]

I'm just going to do two double doses and let everyone know what happens.

This goes without saying but make sure you have have plenty of water made up and some carbon on hand.

I wish you the best of luck. Keep us updated, we're all interested in your progress.

Christopher :)

[Reefer4ever]

Thank you guys for everything!