Montipora Black Bugs

[Wunderboiy]

Hey all - has anyone ever ran into little black bugs on plating montipora? A couple months back I noticed that the center of my monti was fading, but couldn’t figure out why. I recently turned off blue lights and saw these tiny black bugs. From what I’ve initially read, it sounds like they are hard to get rid of and interceptor seems to be treatment of choice.


Appreciate any insight anyone has here!

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Wow! Not good. Dip it ASAP.
Not sure if black bugs eat montipora or not but its possible. I had black bugs years ago but it was my acropora they went after.

 

[Wunderboiy]

Wow! Not good. Dip it ASAP.
Not sure if black bugs eat montipora or not but its possible. I had black bugs years ago but it was my acropora they went after.

What did / method did you use to rid of them? I'm doing a bayer dip on it right now.

 

[29bonsaireef]

Black bugs can be taken care of with the same interceptor treatment used for red bugs.

 

[Wunderboiy]

Started with a targeted treatment w/ Bayer on the montipora itself and it seems to have worked. I'll monitor / dip a few more times over the coming weeks to see if that gets rid of it before having to go the interceptor route

 

[Cthulukelele]

I imagine a leopard wrasse or pipefish would also completely cripple their numbers too if you want a natural solution