Red Bugs. Found Interceptor but I have questions

[zemuss]

The pill I bought are for Large Dogs and they are the chewables. My question is for a 34 gallon tank how much interceptor do I need?

The pill is about an inch and 1/4 inch thick.

 

[jgraz]

That pill will treat 300+ gal once. What I did when I treated my 20gal long ago was to 1/4 the pill then take roughly 1/2 of the piece and treat the tank. Then repeat 2 more times 1 week apart. From what I understand though is you can't overdose this stuff. So don't be concerned with exact measurements. Just make sure you pull the crabs and shrimp. They may/will be toast after the treatment.

 

[zemuss]

Yes so how do I capture a pistol shrimp without taking all the rock out?

 

[dknuckles]

I have used the interceptor on my QT (50g shallow tank w/50long sump) dosed whole tab/day for several consecutive days and left in tank for a week. Pistol shrimp survived but was extremely high for several days staggering and shooting across the sump rock work. Just my experience...he is 4yrs in my care and has survived many disasters so he is a rather hearty fellow 3"+ nose to tail


That aside all schools of thought say it will kill the bugger :(

 

[zemuss]

Yes I was going to separate the sump and the Display while doing the treatment. Thought I would do this because red bugs are usually only on acros.

 

[zemuss]

Actually just read up on some of this and it appears I need to take the shrimp out and put it into another tank. The medicine needs to run through the entire tank because it isn't known if the pests will be on other parts of the tank, such as the pumps or skimmer walls. GREAT! now I need to get a QT tank, heater and catch the bugger!

 

[kes]

there are some traps specifically designed for catching shrimp, hopefully you can get it out quickly.

 

[zemuss]

I am going to attemp to trap the shrimp tonight. Wish me luck..

 

[jgraz]

Good luck. Do make sure you treat everything. When I had them a while back I pulled all inverts. Snails and stars will be fine. Shrimp, hermits and crabs should be pulled. As I said eariler dissolve the piece you use in tank water and pour in. Keep the skimmer running and let it overflow back into the tank if its an in sump type. Pull carbon as well but again let the reactor run with water only.

I dosed at night after lights out and 12 hrs later did a 20% WC and added carbon to pull out the medicine. I repeated this 2 more times 1 week apart. Though I did not see any living bugs after the first treatment. It's still unknown whether or not the are live bearers or egg layers, that's the reason for the 3 treatments. I have not seen a redbug since then.

For what it's worth, the first time I had them Was in my 20 gal I did only 2 treatments. When I upgraded to my 90 I once again found them. Not sure if they survived the nanos treatment or came in on something new. In the 90 I did three doses and haven't seen them since.

 

[82engineer]

What I've done to capture shrimp before is a low Tupperware(2") with a hole cut in the lid and a piece of ruble to hold it down. Throw some pellet food or krill in it and that should attract them. They crawl in but can't get out. I've done this mostly with mantis shrimp and reef lobsters but should work for a pistol.

 

[Catra2030]

Don't mean to hijack, but the op stated chew-ables. Will these work the just the same as the old pill form that is no longer available? If so, I'm assuming strain the mixed up water over something to remove all the junk and then treat the tank. Will the chew-ables work?

 

[jgraz]

I did miss the chewable statement. Yes they are still good. They dissolve pretty easily in warmer water. really what your looking for is the active ingrediant. The rest is just tasty beff flavoring. YUM

 

[zemuss]

What I did was..Put some tank water in a coffee mug, place 1/4 of the pill in the water and zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds. This warms the water and the pill is all mushy which is a good thing to dissolve it. Then let the medicated water set and come back to room temp. Feed the fish because my opportunist will eat anything. Poured the medicated water into I flow and done. Wait 12 hours then run some carbon to suck it out. WC will be tomorrow.

BTW I haven't seen a pest yet, but its only day 3 since treatment. Next Saturday will be treatment two..

 

[jgraz]

Keep us informed. The first treatment will likely be the only one you "need" the other will be more of a "just in case"

 

[zemuss]

First Update: No red bugs on the corals that were infected. I didn't manage to get the pistol out but he made it through the treatment which I know was a risk but he is alive.

Second treatment will be saturday and I will try to get him out of the tank friday. The Yellow Watchman that was his roommate died not too long ago and I am looking for a replacement for him.

 

[jgraz]

Good to hear the first treatment went well. Keep an eye on the pistol, the interceptor kind of drugs them so it might just be easier to pull while its high so to speak.