White Bugs in New Tank....

[Addicted2Acro]

I launched a new 150gal tank geared towards high end SPS and Euphyllia about 6 months ago. I am usually super careful about acro frag sources, but I made an exception and added a couple acro frags from a buddy and ended up with white bugs. One of the 3 frags I bought from the guy was a little closed up and he told me it was because the frag had fallen into a torch and gotten stung but was recovering. Turns out it was closed up because it had bugs. What a dick. Anyway, a couple other acros in the tank started to not look very good, which is what prompted me to look into this in the first place. So at this point, the original sick frag has been removed along with the 2 additional frags/mini colonies that were looking bad. One of those 2 was also confirmed to have white bugs via LFS bringing a camera with a very big lens to my house and telling me that he saw them.

*I never actually saw the bugs through the camera. That may matter later.

This all went down about a week ago. At this time, I have about 25 acro frags/mini colonies in the tank along with 8 torches, 6 gonis, 4 scolys, and some acans and rando stuff. Everything looks great. Excellent polyp extension on acros. Good color. Torches, gonis, everything else is all in really good shape. So here is my dilemma.

Do I bite the bullet and do Interceptor treatment right now and get it over with or do I wait and see how things go with the acros and see if anything else gets sick. Hang on to a glimmer of hope that the white bugs were limited to those 3 frags and somehow didnt spread to others. This is my first time dealing with bugs so I dont really know how likely that is, but I would assume it is quite unlikely they have not spread to neighbors by now.

The cost of the interceptor does not bother me, it's just the fact that I will be disrupting a tank that is currently looking really good. I have read that Dinos will likely follow interceptor along with cyano and obviously kills all pods, shrimp, and crabs.

So that is where I am at. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Rshahnyc]

I heard you can drain your tank enough to expose sps and spray bottle them with kcl in tank…might wanna try that first

 

[OnPointCorals]

Any signs of bugs we never hesitate to do a nice 5-7x treatment of interceptor. It has never caused any issues in our systems. Pods bounce back quickly, shrimp and crabs will die.

 

[Addicted2Acro]

Any signs of bugs we never hesitate to do a nice 5-7x treatment of interceptor. It has never caused any issues in our systems. Pods bounce back quickly, shrimp and crabs will die.

Appreciate the feedback. Any trouble with torches or gonis? My LFS recommended I take them out of the tank first because they may die. I have not been able to find any other mention of this anywhere. Did you have any bad experiences with them?

 

[OnPointCorals]

Torches and gonis will have no issues. They will look extra happy after treatment.

The only thing I’m not sure about is softies as we don’t keep them in our systems.

 

[Tahoe61]

Just do the interceptor, it's easy and very effective at the right dose. Remove hermits, shrimps and crabs prior to treatment.

 

[Addicted2Acro]

Just do the interceptor, it's easy and very effective at the right dose. Remove hermits, shrimps and crabs prior to treatment.

Thanks! Have you experienced dino or cyano outbreaks afterward?

 

[Tahoe61]

Thanks! Have you experienced dino or cyano outbreaks afterward?

Nope.

Your water is never going to be clearer, no film algae on the glass for several days. Every coral will display greater PE.
There are thousands of different arthropods on corals that we don’t see, interceptor kills those.
Granted the pros of using Interceptor are temporary, but it's fairly benign unless
you are an arthropod.

 

[Hugster78]

Nope.

Your water is never going to be clearer, no film algae on the glass for several days. Every coral will display greater PE.
There are thousands of different arthropods on corals that we don’t see, interceptor kills those.
Granted the pros of using Interceptor are temporary, but it's fairly benign unless
you are an arthropod.

What about interceptor plus? I was able to score 3.

 

[OnPointCorals]

What about interceptor plus? I was able to score 3.

We have always used interceptor plus with no issue.

 

[Hugster78]

We have always used interceptor plus with no issue.

Thanks. Do you just drop the tablet in the tank?

 

[dendroman]

Torches and gonis will have no issues. They will look extra happy after treatment.

The only thing I’m not sure about is softies as we don’t keep them in our systems.

Where can I get interceptor from?

 

[IPT]

Any signs of bugs we never hesitate to do a nice 5-7x treatment of interceptor. It has never caused any issues in our systems. Pods bounce back quickly, shrimp and crabs will die.

5-7x treatment? Assuming a dose/pill of the usual 23mg per pill what exactly do you dose and on what schedule?

I've read one pill treats 400 gallons and others say 100 gallons. Common application I have seen includes dosing the dose 1x per week over 3 weeks (so 3 doses).

 

[hatfielj]

5-7x treatment? Assuming a dose/pill of the usual 23mg per pill what exactly do you dose and on what schedule?

I've read one pill treats 400 gallons and others say 100 gallons. Common application I have seen includes dosing the dose 1x per week over 3 weeks (so 3 doses).

I used one large dog pill of regular interceptor in my ~90 gallon system once a week for 6 weeks with no ill effects. Completely eradicated the little f'ers. My corals improved way beyond my expectations. Colors came roaring back within about 4-6 weeks after treatment. And it does not affect lps or softies. Just kills crabs, shrimp, and pods. I replaced those after treating.
Now I treat all incoming frags with interceptor in a temporary QT tank for 4 hours. If I actually see a white bug on a new frag, I keep it in my remote refugium and do 3 weeks of treatments on it in the QT tank each week for 3-4 hours.

 

[hatfielj]

Where can I get interceptor from?

I have a large dog and took him to the vet to get heart worm medicine. They let me order what I wanted online after the appointment. My dog didn't get the interceptor, lol. But, he did get heartworm treatment elsewhere.
If you have a dog, that's the easiest way to do it. But, if not, you have to find a vet who's willing to listen to you and prescribe it for your tank.

 

[hatfielj]

Thanks. Do you just drop the tablet in the tank?

No, you need to crush it up into a fine powder and dissolve it in water (I use RO). Get a dedicated mortar and pestle for this purpose.

 

[IPT]

We have always used interceptor plus with no issue.

I've read the Plus wipes out bristle worms. Is that true?

I was thinking about getting some out of my tank now and holding them with just some food for them and no coral (so any bad guys die out). Then I can re-introduce them after the 3'rd treatment.

 

[Hugster78]

I've read the Plus wipes out bristle worms. Is that true?

I was thinking about getting some out of my tank now and holding them with just some food for them and no coral (so any bad guys die out). Then I can re-introduce them after the 3'rd treatment.

It sure did take out the bristle worms!!!