Euphyllia White Bugs Help

[CheifReeferNB]

One of my torches has had its flesh band receding over the past few weeks and reduced extension as well. Tonight I identified small fluorescent green bugs crawling on the flesh band. They resemble copepods in size but glow under blue light.

What is the best way to treat these pests? Is there an optimal dip option? I tried a 10 minute coral RX dip but that did nothing and I still see them crawling around.

I read interceptor was the only effective option but I was hoping there may be a treatment that I can isolate to the one frag.

Thanks for the help!

 

[tbrown]

@Rocks reef you're usually my euphyllia go to.

 

[Tahoe61]

Interceptor if you can get it is a fairly benign treatment with awesome results. Just research the side effects and remove your shrimp and crabs.
Consider posting an image of the affected coral.

 

[CheifReeferNB]

Interceptor if you can get it is a fairly benign treatment with awesome results. Just research the side effects and remove your shrimp and crabs.
Consider posting an image of the affected coral.

Should I treat the entire tank with interceptor or start with periodic dips on the affected coral? I have 2 cleaner shrimp and 10 pitho crabs I’d have to find and remove though. Also how does one rebuild the micro crustacean population in their tank after this process?

 

[Tahoe61]

I have used interceptor twice. Both times I removed shrimp and crabs.
Both times the whole tank was dosed. People do dip individual pieces instead but that seems less effective to me. The mites are on all the corals and rock work to some extent.
Post treatment the pods and other inverts such as micro brittle stars rebounded within a couple weeks. Corals showed increased PE, water was crystal clear and film algae did not return for approximately 2 weeks.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/interceptor-treatment-and-dosage.965987/page-2

 

[CheifReeferNB]

I have used interceptor twice. Both times I removed shrimp and crabs.
Both times the whole tank was dosed. People do dip individual pieces instead but that seems less effective to me. The mites are on all the corals and rock work to some extent.
Post treatment the pods and other inverts such as micro brittle stars rebounded within a couple weeks. Corals showed increased PE, water was crystal clear and film algae did not return for approximately 2 weeks.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/interceptor-treatment-and-dosage.965987/page-2

Here’s a picture of the torch now. You can’t really see the mites but you can see the black “bite marks” on the tentacles.

 

[Tahoe61]

@VintageReefer


^ Excellent resource for all things Euphyllia. Hopefully he will stop by.

 

[slingfox]

Here’s a picture of the torch now. You can’t really see the mites but you can see the black “bite marks” on the tentacles.

I don’t find CoralRx to be very effective. I have changed to using KCl (potassium chloride) which seems to be both more effective and gentler. If you don’t want to buy the pure chemical from Amazon then you can buy PolypLab Reef Primer which is a potassium salt-based dip. You can try one dip and see if it helps. If it does then you should plan to dip once a week for at least 4 weeks.

I’d no dips work then yes, Interceptor works really really well for coral pests.

 

[CheifReeferNB]

Here’s a picture of the torch now. You can’t really see the mites but you can see the black “bite marks” on the tentacles.

I don’t find CoralRx to be very effective. I have changed to using KCl (potassium chloride) which seems to be both more effective and gentler. If you don’t want to buy the pure chemical from Amazon then you can buy the potassium salt coral dip from PolypLab. You can try one dip and see if it helps. If it does then you should plan to dip once a week for at least 4 weeks.

I’d no dips work then yes, Interceptor works really well for coral pests.

I was surprised to see how little the RX did. I think some fell off while I was blowing water on the frag but other than that they were unphased. I was probably going to do a Bayer or peroxide dip next but I also have KCl on hand so I could switch to that.

I am also still surprised about how little literature there is about these guys given how problematic they are. They must be rare.

 

[CheifReeferNB]

I was able to knock a few of them off with a 10 minute revive dip. This is what they look like out of water. Very small copepod sized. You can see the greenish tint to them. Thought it would help with a potential ID.

 

[CheifReeferNB]

I was able to knock a few of them off with a 10 minute revive dip. This is what they look like out of water. Very small copepod sized. You can see the greenish tint to them. Thought it would help with a potential ID.

 

[CheifReeferNB]

These may be the best shots I can get. The thing is still alive and moving albeit significantly stunned.