Red Bug Treatment Journal

[Myka]

Thanks Dez. All the corals and inhabitants look good right now. I didn't do a water change, I just put 250 mL carbon in. I will do a water change tomorrow morning. I saw the black brittle starfish, and he looks ok. The one Emerald crab that I can see still looks ok. The Seahare is oblivious (thank god). I do still see some red bugs, but they don't appear to be moving. I guess I will have to wait patiently for the lights to come on tomorrow morning to assess.

Ok, thanks Brad. I was wondering if that was the case. I will blast them tomorrow. My eyes are tired from staring at the tank with a flashlight all day.

[saltynuts]

how goes the battle

[Myka]

Thanks for asking. There isn't a red bug in sight this morning. The one Emerald Crab I can see is upside down and dead. I feel bad about that. I will check into the pod population. Corals, fish, and the rest of the inverts seem completely oblivious.

[saltynuts]

Originally Posted by Myka

Thanks for asking. There isn't a red bug in sight this morning. The one Emerald Crab I can see is upside down and dead. I feel bad about that. I will check into the pod population. Corals, fish, and the rest of the inverts seem completely oblivious.

good to here.

[Myka]

Just an update

The red bugs were nowhere to be seen for 8 weeks. Last Thursday I noticed my Alien Freckles Acro (the one most affected in the first infestation) was lightly covered in red bugs again.

Of course this is a week after I added 8 Emerald crabs to my tank. I managed to catch 6 of the Emeralds and move them to a QT. I treated the tank with the same dose (4 Salifert scoops) of Interceptor. 12 hours later I did a 25% water change, and added 1/4 liter of fresh carbon to the reactor. The next day I put the Emeralds back. The next day I lost 2 Emeralds, and one got stuck moulting his shell and also died.

Last night one more Emerald died - a week later. Weird. So now I'm down to 4. Interestingly enough the 4 I lost were the small ones, and the 4 big monsters that are banned to my sump seem fine. Last night I noticed a few red bugs on that dang Alien Freckles Acro again.

So I'm going to break off as much of the AF Acro I can (it is short growing and very encrusted), give it a 2 hour strong Interceptor bath, and put it in my Zoa tank. I will use a pipette with boiling water to kill the remaining part of that coral. I'm hoping I can get away without treating the tank again.

[Skimmerking]

Wow that sucks a s s Mindy where did ya get the Frags from that sucks

[Myka]

Ya no kidding. So far these red bugs have cost me 2 Interceptor pills $30, and 6 Emerald crabs (two from first dosing) $60. Plus about 48 hours of worrying, and 4 hours of dosing, water changes, etc. Stupid bugs. Not to mention the loss of the frags to begin with - they were nice pieces. I got the frags from a fellow hobbyist.

[turkleton]

So what is the verdict on how the interceptor affects hermit crabs?

[Myka]

Hermit crabs are not allowed in my tank, so I don't have first-hand experience with them. Most people claim no effect on hermits, but some people have had issues.