Parasitic Tegastidae copepods "Black Bugs"

[Frogger]

Originally Posted by DKoKoMan

That’s the thing with the tiny size, lots of people probably have them but don’t have the skill to detect.

Yes that is the reason for posting this, the last two reefers/vendors I purchased acro's from had this pest and they were not aware they had it because I told them after I found it. The black bug that is in my main display and on the last two purchases I have made appear to be the same guy, coincidence? I think not.

I was not aware of it before so I can not say who I got it from and if any corals are actually clean. I had spent most of my time doing careful inspections with my microscope for AEFW and I have seen those often as well. Coral RX works on flatworm, at least dislodges it from the coral, although every time I have found it I have returned the corals to the vendor/reefer but Coral RX has no affect on black bugs.

Most of the corals in my tank are not negatively affected as their growth is good, colours could be a bit better (nit picky). However those that have been affected are not doing great, growth has been reduced, colours are not good and polyps are not fully extended. I cannot say that any corals have died from this but I would not know as I wasn't checking for it over 2 months ago.

Yesterdays treatment: I checked last night before going to bed and there were still quite a few on the orange passion, the amphripods on the rocks did not appear to be affected. I just checked the orange passion and I can't see any black bugs on the coral (just looking through the glass with a 10x optivisor. But it is day time and they are not usually that active during the day. In the past I have always been able to see them during the day, so I am cautiously optimistic but it is way to early to say.

If it hasn't killed them all but reduced the numbers this is good because it means I am getting close to the correct dose.

[Razor Ramon]

What kind of dose pre week and what size water volume are you using now. Has the medicine killed all your crabs, shrimps , feather dusters and all your other worms, ampapods ,and copepods. Have you experienced a nitrate spike from thing die off .
I hope you find a way to kill them . Pipe fish are predators but you would have to quartine the coral with the fish and do weekly dips . Just a thought if the bugs are immune to the interceptor.These bugs are tough. Ugly to! Wicked pictures!

[Frogger]

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

What kind of dose pre week and what size water volume are you using now. Has the medicine killed all your crabs, shrimps , feather dusters and all your other worms, ampapods ,and copepods.

I don't have any crabs or shrimp in my main display. As of tonight I cannot see any black bugs but still too premature to start celebrating.

My amphripod population took a huge hit with that last dose I could only see a couple tonight. I have seen a bunch of dead bristle worms. Snails still active. I did a 20% water change tonight. My tank is a 75gallon redsea reefer total volume with sump 90 gallons. I am guessing 80 gallons water maybe a little less once rock is taken into consideration. I will give you a breakdown of exactly what my doses were, how often how much water change ect once I have successfully eradicated this menace.

My tank is a nitrogen sink. I have never had readable nitrates and I have to add nitrates (NaNO3) daily to keep my nitrates at .5ppm. I have not seen a change in the nitrate usage. I will check again tonight to see if that has changed after the pod population has been wiped out.

I have a melanarus wrasse but not sure if he has taken a liking to the black bug. Likely not because the wrasse is asleep in the sand when the black bugs are active.

[Frogger]

No change in nitrate

[Razor Ramon]

Thank you , for doing this thread it will be a great help with other reefers to come . You are very detailed in what you do and it’s great that you pass it on . Thanks I’ll keep following in on your war on these tough coral bugs.

[Bblinks]

Tagging along. Thanks for the detail write-up Glen.

[Frogger]

Tuesday night update. Last dosed interceptor Saturday am, did a 20% water change on Sunday pm, turned skimmer on Sunday pm and added carbon on Monday.
I am happy to say that I have not seen a single black bug since Saturday night. However I have 37+ acros (including cuttings) and I really can only see one side of about a half dozen of them. I have not taken any out of the tank and put under a microscope. Often these little buggers hide inside the corallites behind the polyps so they are not always visible. But considering on Saturday before I did the latest dose I could easily see about 30 of these guys on my orange passion. Under the microscope there were easily more than a hundred on the coral.

No changes to any of my water parameters (nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity and calcium usage).

Maybe its me but I can see extended polyps during the day on corals that normally do not readily extend their polyps and usually only at night if they do. I actually see "some" (I use that word loosely) polyps on my RR Pink Floyd. I have had the coral for almost 2 years, it has never grown a millimeter although it has maintained its colour all this time. It has been 1.5 years since I have seen a polyp on it.

Keeping fingers crossed, will do another treatment (hopefully last) at the same dosage about 2.75 times recommend on Saturday just to be sure. Copepods are either free spawners or broadcasters (females carry eggs until hatching) so I do not think that unhatched eggs are an issue, second dose should take care of any extras just in case.