Ahhh the Black Bugs

[loglan]

Ok I am confused. The black bugs I have seen on here on r2r were posted as similar to pin head like the red bugs?
Also in thread was no dipps are working on black bugs?

So are the black bugs non-uniform in body structure?

I am going to try to find that other thread

Chris it has legs. To me it is similar to black bugs that people are used to. Interceptor used to kill them and red bugs but has no effect on this strain. To be honest there is so little known about these. Personally dealing with them they act like a red bug but appear to look like a worm. I did 4x the recommended dose of interceptor twice on my system and it had NO effect on the bugs. Another little tidbit of info people may find out is I had the bugs actually embedded into a digitata skeleton. This is how I think they may be beating dipping. Think about it for a minute. When we dip acros they put off a slime coat to protect themselves. Hence when they do its got to be protecting the bug itself from the dip. That's just my theory tho.

 

[loglan]

They do like like pods when looking at them in person from the naked eye. MUCH DARKER!






Iv'e already started tossing out infected frags. I'm not playing around with this. I'll do what it takes to end them. Even if that means trashing coral. From what I have read online they are no joke I had a freind get infected a while back and he lost the battle and ended up tearing his whole tank down and starting over completely fresh.

That's exactly what I did myself. I completely emptied the tank , dried everything out, cleaned it in vinegar bath, cycled new DRY rock and started from scratch. It's the only way I felt 100% sure that I got rid of them.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

If they dip and slime, can you do a double dip to remove some of that protection before dipping again for the bugs?

 

[Chris Adams]

So the black bugs lay egg clusters? Because 1 off those pics look like eggs

 

[Amps Reef Life]

Chris it has legs. To me it is similar to black bugs that people are used to. Interceptor used to kill them and red bugs but has no effect on this strain. To be honest there is so little known about these. Personally dealing with them they act like a red bug but appear to look like a worm. I did 4x the recommended dose of interceptor twice on my system and it had NO effect on the bugs. Another little tidbit of info people may find out is I had the bugs actually embedded into a digitata skeleton. This is how I think they may be beating dipping. Think about it for a minute. When we dip acros they put off a slime coat to protect themselves. Hence when they do its got to be protecting the bug itself from the dip. That's just my theory tho.

Dang it I was hoping they did not care for Digitata.

Any chance they care for scoly or acans. Sounds like I literally need to dip my entire tank.
Thanks for the information I really appreciate it.

I hope in the end This thread can help out others.

 

[loglan]

Dang it I was hoping they did not care for Digitata.

Any chance they care for scoly or acans. Sounds like I literally need to dip my entire tank.
Thanks for the information I really appreciate it.

I hope in the end This thread can help out others.

What I found out is that I believe they are opertunistic feeders. When tried to beat them I thought I did everything I could to beat them. I also had acans and zoas in my quarintine at the time. I dipped every coral in quarintine each and everytime. Swapped out frag racks during each dip. Fragged the frags off the used plugs and put them all on new plugs after every dip. I dipped twice a week for the first 2 weeks and then once a week for 8 more weeks. After throwing away over 150 high end sticks I was just about sick. The last straw was coming home and seeing them crawling on 4 of the last 12 frags I had left. So not sure if they eat other coral but I do believe they attach and hide on them. Maybe even lay eggs on non sps pieces. These bugs are resilient. They have made several people shut there systems down and either get out of the hobby or start completely over.

 

[Chris Adams]

anyway scrapping some onto piece of glass and trying to get a better picture.
There are plenty threads about black bugs and some about a black flatworm but pictures are limited.

Maybe you guys could get a nice macro shot. Or are they all gone?

 

[Chris Adams]

What I found out is that I believe they are opertunistic feeders. When tried to beat them I thought I did everything I could to beat them. I also had acans and zoas in my quarintine at the time. I dipped every coral in quarintine each and everytime. Swapped out frag racks during each dip. Fragged the frags off the used plugs and put them all on new plugs after every dip. I dipped twice a week for the first 2 weeks and then once a week for 8 more weeks. After throwing away over 150 high end sticks I was just about sick. The last straw was coming home and seeing them crawling on 4 of the last 12 frags I had left. So not sure if they eat other coral but I do believe they attach and hide on them. Maybe even lay eggs on non sps pieces. These bugs are resilient. They have made several people shut there systems down and either get out of the hobby or start completely over.

That stinks. We all fight hard to keep things out of out tanks. Hobby can be brutal.

 

[loglan]

Mine are all gone but I will try to find a few from another reefer.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

In that first post, the eggs do look similar to that of the AEFW....

 

[loglan]

That stinks. We all fight hard to keep things out of out tanks. Hobby can be brutal.

They beat me Chris but I didn't give up on this extrordinary hobby we all have come to love. I'm very particular now who I buy from. I've only bought sticks from 1 vendor. Happy to say all look awesome and pest free! Just recently purchased some high end zoas and rainbow acans from another vendor and all so far doing great in quarintine.

 

[loglan]

Here is a pic my buddy took from one of his frags

 

[loglan]

Eggs are more scattered on the coral. Not really in clusters.

 

[loglan]

Here is one of my frags. Bug is in the center of dead skeleton at the base.

 

[Chris Adams]

took liberty to zoom in on Original posters pic. Apologize if I was out of line.
@loglan yours looks a little different but not saying you are wrong.

 

[pga7602]

This is terrible. Sorry to hear you have this issue.

 

[fragit]

I would agree, they look like black flatworms to me. This could explain the similarity in egg shape and color as well. Hope you beat these things!

 

[loglan]

took liberty to zoom in on Original posters pic. Apologize if I was out of line.
@loglan yours looks a little different but not saying you are wrong.
It's all good. I truly hate these things. I hope the OP does not have what I had but it sounds and looks to similar. Just trying to help others that have been fighting g these or not knowing what they have. I do believe if we don't get a GRIP on fighting these and beating them that it could get epidemic levels.

 

[Chris Adams]

I agree with you loglan.
It is strange. The eggs themselves do look similar but as mentioned where is the clustering?
Also mentioned was the color by TWilliard
@Kman237 keep us posted. Anymore pics would be good.
Let us know if you see them on other corals LPS etc.

 

[Amps Reef Life]

took liberty to zoom in on Original posters pic. Apologize if I was out of line.
@loglan yours looks a little different but not saying you are wrong.

Not at all use anything Iv'e posted. I want others to get as much information as possible about these as I had trouble finding info online.

I agree with you loglan.
It is strange. The eggs themselves do look similar but as mentioned where is the clustering?
Also mentioned was the color by TWilliard
@Kman237 keep us posted. Anymore pics would be good.
Let us know if you see them on other corals LPS etc.

I will for sure keep yall posted. I have a lot of LPS in the tank. I will be inspecting and dipping for a while. Thanks for all the help and good vibes everyone!