Bugs on sps

rlman41299

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
617
Location
san jose
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
THIS MIGHT BE THE BEGINNING OF THE END!!!

Let me back track on when this started. 2 weeks ago one of my bonsai colony started to bleach (as I thought it was) on one side of the colony. Did not change any of my lighting schedule but what the heck, I moved it by the sand bed so it can recover and I can observe it more. At that time I did not notice anything unusual except that it is losing color on one side. Sue to my busy schedule I was not able to check on it every single day until today.
This is what I saw
33ccaac7be7f4830e4e7f852e15cf1c0.jpg

The colony is covered in bugs and eggs!!!!!!!!!
I have read about the black bugs but these are blue colored ones. I guess they took on the color of the colony since they consumed it. The colony is still alive since I can still see the colors on it but just really bleached out. Just seeing this have me goose bumps and started thinking that this might be the start of me getting out of the hobby if it spreads all over. My tank is sps dominant and so far only this colony is affected. But like everyone else will say, if one sps is affected most likely the whole tank is affected.
So from what I have read before dipping in coral dips and even bayer has no effect on them. But I tried anyways with coral rx. 15 mins out everything still moving around but after 30 mins every single bug seems to be dead and most like is my colony also. I've never dipped an sps more than 15 mins and if these bugs survive more than that then there is no way that my sps will survive the dip.
One thing I noticed tho is these are not black bugs but blue and they turned white after they dies from the dip. I hope that it will not infect my other colonies or this will be the end of it :-(
 
Last edited:

TUSI

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 6, 2013
Messages
2,756
Reaction score
3,680
Location
GARDEN CITY NY
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
throw it away and don't risk infesting the tank. It's not worth dipping cause eggs will still hatch. I would look on other corals and check.
 

thirst

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
Messages
510
Reaction score
970
Location
Los Angeles
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Those look like the eggs that were these bugs

For me, dipping them did get them to come off. I use mecoral 4x dip, and I can dip my sps in there forever and they seem to be okay.



I would probably have each frag in first tub for 15 minutes? Then in second tub for 10. Third tub is just tank water for rinse off.

 
OP
OP
rlman41299

rlman41299

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
617
Location
san jose
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
throw it away and don't risk infesting the tank. It's not worth dipping cause eggs will still hatch. I would look on other corals and check.
yeah the colony is gone. I just tried dipping it to see if they will die or not
 
OP
OP
rlman41299

rlman41299

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
617
Location
san jose
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Those look like the eggs that were these bugs

For me, dipping them did get them to come off. I use mecoral 4x dip, and I can dip my sps in there forever and they seem to be okay.



I would probably have each frag in first tub for 15 minutes? Then in second tub for 10. Third tub is just tank water for rinse off.





hhmmmm they do move like them in my video. I have no idea how to post the video in here. they do come off easily when I blasted them with baster before dosing with coral rx
 
OP
OP
rlman41299

rlman41299

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
617
Location
san jose
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Were you able to eradicate them? Is you tank free of them? Give me some hope here lol. Did they spread like wildfire? Or stayed with a colony until that one firs then move to another?
 

thirst

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
Messages
510
Reaction score
970
Location
Los Angeles
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
They will spread. I dipped my entire tank multiple times. I've had it since July 2016 so it's been a frustrating fight.

I would just keep dipping repeatedly
 
OP
OP
rlman41299

rlman41299

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
617
Location
san jose
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Oh my. I will play it by ear and hope they have not spread yet. If I see my colonies get stressed out then I know I need to dip. I can't recall how they got in my tank. I have not added any sps for months except a chalice that was traded with me but was also dipped
 

thirst

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
Messages
510
Reaction score
970
Location
Los Angeles
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You need to dip. They are 10x more aggressive than AEFW, they devour the entire colony. I wish I dipped aggressively as soon as I saw them.
 
OP
OP
rlman41299

rlman41299

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
617
Location
san jose
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I may have dodged a bullet. I dipped another colony dosed with flatworm exit and they died within minutes. This has given mea glimmer of hope. Will be treating the whole tank today. I have treated my tank with flatworm exit before and everything turned out okay. Did it maybe 3x now. Whew :)
 
OP
OP
rlman41299

rlman41299

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
617
Location
san jose
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
yes!!!!!! Flatworm exit worked!!!! I guess I don't have the black bugs.
I will do once a week tx for the next 3 weeks for I don't know how many days before the eggs hatch
 

Graffiti Spot

Cat and coral maker
View Badges
Joined
Oct 8, 2012
Messages
4,320
Reaction score
3,676
Location
Florida’s west side
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have seen these slugs on zoanthids before. They eat the coral and take on the color of the colony they were eating. The ones I have seen took to the certain color of zoanthids and also stayed on colonies. They did not decimating corals though. Seems like they could if let multiply. Flatworm exit worked on them.
 

manuel123

New Member
View Badges
Joined
May 14, 2018
Messages
8
Reaction score
33
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
yes!!!!!! Flatworm exit worked!!!! I guess I don't have the black bugs.
I will do once a week tx for the next 3 weeks for I don't know how many days before the eggs hatch
Riman did you solve the problem?
 
OP
OP
rlman41299

rlman41299

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
1,164
Reaction score
617
Location
san jose
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yes I was able to eradicate them. I was lucky that the case was isolated to a red planet frag (where the bugs came from) and my bonsai colony which was the closest to the red planet. I just threw both sps away but did an experiment of flatworm exit before I threw them away and they fell off the frag with pure FW exit dip. but they survived eventually so I just tossed them out. Like I said I am glad that it was just isolated to those 2 sps and it did not spread out of my entire tank.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 37 53.6%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 37 53.6%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 15 21.7%
  • None.

    Votes: 16 23.2%
  • Other.

    Votes: 6 8.7%

New Posts

Back
Top