Treating BLACK bugs with Dr. G's

[JustinZ]

I have what I think are the dreaded black bugs. I'm going to treat the entire tank with Dr. G's. Below are a couple vidoes of what I'm dealing with. The "bugs' seem to prefer montiporas but will still infest acroporas too.

This is a video of Mdntipora stellata in a Revive dip (enlarge and turn on highest quality). You can clearly see the bugs coming out of the polyps at 15 seconds in. Since they burry into the coral polyps they are almost impossible to get rid of using dips only.



Here is a video of the aftermath. Hundreds of them on a 1.5 inch frag.



Has anyone tried dosing their tank with Dr. G's and could recommend dosage?

Thanks,

Justin

 

[TankCandy]

Definitely keeping dipping your corals with Revive dip so the corals are not as irritated. Unfortunately I do not have any experience with Dr G. but when you kill off any pests there is usually a ammonia spike. Do you own any type of wrasse?
If you go the Dr G route make sure you are ready to do a large water change after.

 

[JustinZ]

Thanks, I’ll dip the ones that are removable. Too may encrusted Acros to get everything dipped. I’ve got a six line and two draggonettes. There are a few people who have had luck using the DR Gs product in tank. Hoping to hear from someone who can confirm that it worked and dosage.

 

[kai hen]

Just drop 50ml in 50G DT

 

[JustinZ]

Thanks KH... So you have tried, or are recommending 1ml/gallon? That it what I'm considering on the high end. Seems people are able to knock out the red bugs with lower concentrations around 1ml/4 gallons. Supposedly black bugs are more resilient. A few people have seemed to have luck with other pests at the higher concentrations too. I'm going to pull out a colony and try 1ml/2 gallons over a few days and see what lives.

 

[JustinZ]

Well, I added the 1ml Dr. G'sl per gallon yesterday. Today no black bugs to be found. No white bugs either (not sure if these were the same or not) Pulled the shrimp and as many crabs as I could find before adding. No fish, coral or even remaining crabs seem to have been hurt. Color looks good and PE is maybe slightly increased. I turned off the skimmer and pulled the carbon offline before treating. I don't plan on doing a water change or turning back on the skimmer for a while. I want the drug to stay in the tank as long as possible. I have enough Dr. G's for one more treatment that I'll probably add in 7-10 days. Wish I would have treated earlier.

 

[Marc2952]

Well, I added the 1ml Dr. G'sl per gallon yesterday. Today no black bugs to be found. No white bugs either (not sure if these were the same or not) Pulled the shrimp and as many crabs as I could find before adding. No fish, coral or even remaining crabs seem to have been hurt. Color looks good and PE is maybe slightly increased. I turned off the skimmer and pulled the carbon offline before treating. I don't plan on doing a water change or turning back on the skimmer for a while. I want the drug to stay in the tank as long as possible. I have enough Dr. G's for one more treatment that I'll probably add in 7-10 days. Wish I would have treated earlier.

I treated for white bugs and added 7ml per 30 gallons, sadly i couldnt remove my crabs since the only QT i have available is under copper now to treat my fish. After 6 hours i see less white bugs but they are still there, most of my crabs are paralized/dead and my two turbo snails have slowed down aswell. Strange since you added a higher dose then me and didnt have any die off. I even saw soke bristle worms floating around the tank lol i just hope i dont get dinos again due to that.

 

[JustinZ]

Update: Still no bugs to be found. I just did my first big water change of 40 gallons a few days ago and have another one setup for tomorrow. I did get a bit of cyano but still no mortalities. I did have at least one mithrax crab that I couldn't get out who survived. All my hermits were returned and seem to be ok. My rock was all Marco rock and didn't have much life ... so I had that working for me.

 

[Marc2952]

Update: Still no bugs to be found. I just did my first big water change of 40 gallons a few days ago and have another one setup for tomorrow. I did get a bit of cyano but still no mortalities. I did have at least one mithrax crab that I couldn't get out who survived. All my hermits were returned and seem to be ok. My rock was all Marco rock and didn't have much life ... so I had that working for me.

How many ml per gallon did you use? I added 7ml per 30 and didnt kill it i doubled it to 60ml for the 75 gallon to see how it goes, my hermit crabs stopped moving though.

 

[JustinZ]

I used 1ml per gallon in the display tank. An entire bottle of Dr. G's in my 220+sump. Do you have the same black bugs in the videos/pictures? There are others that look more like worms to me. I'm not sure if it's as effective on those.

 

[Marc2952]

I used 1ml per gallon in the display tank. An entire bottle of Dr. G's in my 220+sump. Do you have the same black bugs in the videos/pictures? There are others that look more like worms to me. I'm not sure if it's as effective on those.

I had white bugs which from what ive read are a little easier then black bugs, i am taking out a bunch of dead bristle worms and crabs as we speak before they decompose and nuke my tank. Havent seen a single white bug in any of my acros thouh so thats a good thing.

 

[Dmb092182]

I had white bugs which from what ive read are a little easier then black bugs, i am taking out a bunch of dead bristle worms and crabs as we speak before they decompose and nuke my tank. Havent seen a single white bug in any of my acros thouh so thats a good thing.

How many doses did you do?

 

[Marc2952]

How many doses did you do?

Only one dose

 

[Dmb092182]

What length of time? Thank you

 

[tokigami]

Only one dose

what was your dosage amount for white bugs was it 1 ml per gallon of dr g?

 

[Marc2952]

What length of time? Thank you

I left it in the tank for 48 hours, didnt pull out any shrimp or hermit crabs and had no casualties, the crabs did seem to be paralyzed during the duration of the treatment.

 

[Marc2952]

what was your dosage amount for white bugs was it 1 ml per gallon of dr g?

Correct i did 1ml per gallon since at 7ml per gallon i still saw them. After the 1ml per gallon i havent seen a single one since. Be aware that if you recently had a dino problem this might cause a slight bloom to happen after the treatment. Also the pod population took a big hit but overall it was worth it. All my acros have more PE and have had an increase in alk from 10ml per day to 16ml.

 

[Huskymaniac]

Thats a cool video. I have/had these bugs before. I thought they were gone but they may be back. I dosed 3ml per gallon of Dr. G'S OR or essentially 2.5 bottles in my reefer 750.

 

[Ocelaris]

I wanted to add my experience. I added 80mL to my 250g about 6-9 months ago, and it helped. I have gone back to an incredible number of pods (good bugs) since then. I introduced a new mari colony, and got them again. I did another 80mL in my 250g and will wait 24 hours, do a water change and run carbon. I couldn't see anything, but after STNing two wild tenius that had been thriving for a year and a frog skin that had the telltale signs of skin being chewed on (not spots, but an entire branch was lighter in color, no polyp extension) I knew something was up. This is about 2 weeks after my introduction of the mari colony. I dipped the colony in Bayer, but for lack of a quarantine setup, put it in. It was fine for a week or so, then started STNing like the Tenius colonies. Everything else is growing like gang-busters, so I knew something was up besides water parameters. Or at least I hope. We shall see in a few weeks after the treatment.

 

[JustinZ]

Thats a cool video. I have/had these bugs before. I thought they were gone but they may be back. I dosed 3ml per gallon of Dr. G'S OR or essentially 2.5 bottles in my reefer 750.

How long after the treatment until you think they came back? I still don’t see any but am checking daily. Did you do any follow up treatments?