Red bugs help!

[Murr7]

So I unknowingly picked up red bugs in a recent acro purchase. I did the coral rx dip before introducing it to my tank, I visually inspected and couldn't see anything to raise suspicion. The frags had nice PE and all was well. I was out of town for work and return home after a week to find tiny orange dots on almost all of my acros. I read up on all of the "interceptor" dosing. I started calling around to vets giving my story without much luck. I'm holding out hope for one vet who said he'd call me back.

What are my options if I can't find any? I have some colonies that are encrusted on the rock I don't want to destroy the corals if I don't have too. Tank is 36g bow front, 40g breeder sump, total water is about 51-54g.

 

[Alanc425]

Interceptor dog medicine..

http://www.melevsreef.com/node/655

 

[hybridazn]

Interceptor dog medicine..

http://www.melevsreef.com/node/655

It's requires a prescription to get it.

Interceptor is your best bet in ridding of these things. If not you could look into purchasing a wrasse to keep them in check. Or if possible removing all acros and dipping them in bayer would do the trick as well, but that is def the hardest and most time consuming

 

[cmcoker]

So I unknowingly picked up red bugs in a recent acro purchase. I did the coral rx dip before introducing it to my tank, I visually inspected and couldn't see anything to raise suspicion. The frags had nice PE and all was well. I was out of town for work and return home after a week to find tiny orange dots on almost all of my acros. I read up on all of the "interceptor" dosing. I started calling around to vets giving my story without much luck. I'm holding out hope for one vet who said he'd call me back.

What are my options if I can't find any? I have some colonies that are encrusted on the rock I don't want to destroy the corals if I don't have too. Tank is 36g bow front, 40g breeder sump, total water is about 51-54g.

Try posting on a local forum to see if a vet is a member, or if someone can refer you to a reef friendly vet.

Also, try to contact vets who are not in a corporate owned vet hospital, I doubt you would have luck at Banfield or a VCA type hospital.

Ask if you could email the vet a link about it and maybe a picture of the bugs in your tank if possible. Include this link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25831592

They will generally appreciate a study over anecdotal info from the Web.

Good luck!

 

[Murr7]

It's requires a prescription to get it.

Interceptor is your best bet in ridding of these things. If not you could look into purchasing a wrasse to keep them in check. Or if possible removing all acros and dipping them in bayer would do the trick as well, but that is def the hardest and most time consuming

I tried a 10 min Bayer dip with 10ml/4oz of water on a few frags. While it seemed to knock the majority off there was quite a few still hanging on, we shall see if it took care of them. I also have a six line wrasse but he doesn't seem interested.

 

[Murr7]

Try posting on a local forum to see if a vet is a member, or if someone can refer you to a reef friendly vet.

Also, try to contact vets who are not in a corporate owned vet hospital, I doubt you would have luck at Banfield or a VCA type hospital.

Ask if you could email the vet a link about it and maybe a picture of the bugs in your tank if possible. Include this link http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25831592

They will generally appreciate a study over anecdotal info from the Web.

Good luck!

Thank you for the link, that should hopefully give the info a vet needs!

 

[cmcoker]

Thank you for the link, that should hopefully give the info a vet needs!

Yeah, it helps them to have a study that shows the off label use being effective against the red bugs. Luckily I work at a vet so don't have an issue getting it but I understand the reasons they won't give it out too..

 

[RedneckReefer68]

If they won't get it for you, do a search for Dr G's sps &lps coral dip. It uses the same ingredient as interceptor and kills redbugs dead.

I ordered mine from Premium Aquatics

 

[TUSI]

I had them at one point and got rid of them with wrasses. I would not treat a full tank of I were you. They are not to harm full to corals. Dragon pipe fish will also do the trick of eating them if you can get them to live in your tank

 

[Murr7]

If they won't get it for you, do a search for Dr G's sps &lps coral dip. It uses the same ingredient as interceptor and kills redbugs dead.

I ordered mine from Premium Aquatics

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Reefjunkie3]

I have a heavy sps reef, this might sound crazy. I've had red bugs in the past and I have used Lanthanum Chloride for phosphate reduction and I noticed that it eradicated my red bugs. So I was talking to another sps buddy and he believes it works to as he tried it on is sps tank and they were gone. Maybe this might help.
My reef

 

[Murr7]

Well it wasn't as hard as I thought to remove the corals and so I replugged them and quarantined them after a strong and extensive Bayer dip. I have yet to see one red bug on them, will wait until Sunday to reintroduce them in the tank.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Why did you replug them? I would be weary the Bayer missed a couple from personal experience and since you said it wasn't working well on the first try. Since you have them in qt maybe it would be a good idea to buy the dr g dip since it has the ingredients of Interceptor in it and you can be sure they are gone before you put them back in the display.
I like using the interceptor when needed, never had any bad reactions in the tank and Pods bloom after a couple weeks. I don't think wrasses are something that will be a solution for most people. Kind of a hit and miss situation using fish and when they do eat them they usually won't eradicate the red bugs compleetly.

 

[Murr7]

Well it has been one week since the reintroduction of quarantined coral and I haven't found one red bug. My theory to why the first bayer dip didn't kill them off was their eggs were unaffected and/or I didn't make it strong enough or leave them in the Bayer long enough. The corals are beginning to show much more polyp extension but they faded from the stress of the extended dip and the quarentine.