Interceptor Advice - Talk me up to or off the ledge

[Gone Reefin’]

Ok, here is where I am at. One of my tanks has been up for 2 years+. It’s my primary SPS tank. I have some beautiful montis, stylos, etc but I’ve struggled with acros. They don’t die, but they grow slow and get fatter instead of much longer. Also have battled tulip polyp syndrome. I can see moving white dots on at least two of my acros. I’ve done KCL dips but they come back. For the longest time, I’ve tried to convince myself that these are some type of harmless white bug crustacean since my acros don’t die and still grow slowly. They also show decent polyp extension and color. They never show the fast, white tipped growth that I have Experienced before.

The tank is established, huge pod population, steady nutrient levels right where I want them, good ICP results etc. I feel like I have to use interceptor but I don’t want to throw all of this stability away. However, I love acros, and they are one of my favorite parts of the hobby.

Do I proceed? Also, due to the ridiculousness that is procuring interceptor, I have to use spectrum chewables, which contain prazi and some fillers. This is all I am able to get.

I am ready to increase aeration, monitor tank closely for each 12 hour treatment with carbon and salt water at the ready. Tell me I am doing the right thing or tell me I should abort. Need the mob to weigh in.

 

[Subsea]

I googled “Interceptor in a reef tank” and this is what I got.

“Interceptor is a prescription dog dewormer (milbemycin oxime) used in reef tanks to kill Acropora red bugs, while wiping out beneficial copepods, crabs, and shrimp. It does not harm most fish, snails, or corals. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]“

https://humble.fish/community/threads/interceptor.14191/

Gone,
It’s your decision, you deal with the results; not the mob.

 

[Gone Reefin’]

Thanks subsea.

Bump for any other thoughts/experience?

 

[skey44]

I got a prescription from an exotics vet. She did not charge me a consultation fee. I used interceptor (single drug Milbemycin). I detail my experience/process pretty well in my build thread including idea of stacking doses. My symptoms were same as you. I painstakingly removed all possible crustaceans. Think I ended up only missing one hermit. My corals have all recovered from what I think was a “gray bug” infestation.

 

[skey44]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/scott’s-infinia-frag-125-4-build-shallow-reef.1064617/page-61

I’m talking about my issue here. Unfortunately it’s buried in a lot of other information in there. I did a high dose fwiw. Large dog milbemycin pill in 80 gallon aquarium (the tank is 78 and sump of unknown volume).

 

[fish_collector]

I did a high dose interceptor treatment on my SPS tank a year or so ago. I had all of the symptoms of bugs, no polyp extension, no growth, poor color but I never found anything conclusive. I didn’t have any long term issues from using it but I’m not so sure I’d do it again, I lost my healthy pod population.

I’d verify you’ve actually got a bug problem before you try to kill them as losing your pods is a big deal. Adding pods to my tank hasn’t been successful yet.

My club buddy and good friend tried to talk me out of it and said he didn’t even consider polyp extension as a gauge of coral health. But I didn’t listen and did it anyways lol. It is what it is.

I did post a video of the polyp extension on my corals just yesterday in my tank thread so I do understand that it’s something to desire. Good luck with your treatment if you decide to go through with it.

 

[Gone Reefin’]

Thanks to both of you. This is exactly what I was looking for. @fish_collector would you do it again? Did you get the desired results with improvement? I can literally see small white dots moving on a couple acros, so it is either harmless, or possibly the source of my problem. Even if you are unsure you’d do it again, are you satisfied that your acros improved?

It’s not just the PE I’m looking for, many of my acros seem to grow with deformed growth and slow growth also.

 

[Fish_wiz2]

As another stick head, I say do it, once you clear red, white, and black bugs, you will see a difference for your sticks. But be prepared to lose all crustaceans.

 

[skey44]

It’s the source. I had same problems as you. Treatments cured it. If there are bugs living on/in your acropora they are bad. I had no issues with pod repopulation from bottles. I did have a small bout of dinoflagellates after but was able to correct with turning my uv back on. I think the Dinos were more from a zero nitrate issue.

 

[Gone Reefin’]

Thanks Skey and Fish Wiz. Getting prepared today (making water/etc.) and am going to execute Saturday AM so I can closely monitor tank. Coco worm and any pithos I can get will go into spare tank for 24 hours. No shrimp or other crabs in this tank.

Carbon and water will be ready at 12 hour mark. Aeration will be significantly increased with skimmer head off and Nero moved to surface to entrain some air. Feel like I’m ready.