I can't FREAKING believe it.

[TexasTodd]

CD, I think they are hard to see if you pull the coral out of the water...they hide. Could be wrong. I think people pull the colonies and dip and then see dead/coming off ones.

Tim, thanks man. Yes I remember you were 6hrs in to the second treatment when I stopped by.

Have you ever had an acro die from the fresh water dip?

Todd

[Tim Marvin]

Yes, but not very often. The osmotic shack can kill them off, but depending on the coral it may be worth it. Of course I would never dunk the OBT in fresh water. I did examine it for about an hour before buying it.

[TexasTodd]

Ya, I think my arse would pucker up fresh water dipping a coral like that!

T

[TexasTodd]

You have that right!

I've narrowed it down and am about 98% sure they came in on a sorry looking A. Granulosa I picked up about 2+ weeks before I noticed them. I also made a frag trade just days before this coral entered my system and there are no bugs in the tank I traded to.

The treatment doesn't really scare me, it's just a huge pain in the arse. And much more so now that I'm in a 300 gallon total water system!

I'm going to do 2 treatments at stronger than listed and only 2 50% water changes post each treatment. Plus the LOTS of carbon. Fun, Fun.

Todd

[CD]

CD, I think they are hard to see if you pull the coral out of the water...they hide. Could be wrong. I think people pull the colonies and dip and then see dead/coming off ones.

Thank you Todd - OK, well I dipped the colony in question (high concentration of Lugol's) in a container with a white bottom (so I would be able to spot the dying bugs more easily) and didn't see a darn thing...nada, zip :blink

I totally trust the person that spotted them in the first place, but I would *really* like to see these critters for myself before we go through all the hassle of the Interceptor treatments, massive water changes, etc., etc.

So Todd - you've had success with the two treatments (in lieu of three) in the past...is there a possibility that one treatment would work if the tank wasn't "highly" infested? Reason I ask this, is that you mentioned that Borneman stated that they do not have an egg stage - so would there actually be a need for multiple treatments? If yes, why? When you treated before, did you still see bugs after the first treatment?

Also, did you pull as many of your snails/crabs/etc. out of the tank in an effort to save at least *some* of your clean up crew, or were you afraid that they might somehow carry some of the bugs back in and reinfest?

Sorry for all the questions, but this is freaking me out somewhat...I just want to do what's best for our tank, and since Dr. Shimek is the *only* qualified person that says they don't harm corals (not knowing how extensive his research was) I am of the opinion that it would be better to get rid of them rather than take the chance.

As a side note - is there anyone in Austin (that has had experience with these things) that would be willing to stop by and confirm that we have an infestation? :unsure

W.

[TexasTodd]

No Wendy I did not see any bugs after the first treatment. But some on RC did. But I also bumped the dosage up some.

Snails will not be hurt by the Interceptor. I did take about a week catching every crab I could. Not only does this save the crabs, but it also lightens the bio-load on the tank by having less things die and rot during the treatment.

Boreman said the bugs could not live longer than like 7-10 days what they couldn't feed on an sps coral. So I kept all removed stuff out for 3 weeks.

Todd