Little Red Bugs!!!!

[Schwaggs]

Treatment update!

Well one cleaner didn't make it but the other one survived the entire treatment. My acro crabs are toast. The hermits I found in the first couple hours of treatment made it but I did find a coupe I missed.

I ran the Interceptor overnight (12 hours) then put a large bag of carbon in the sump and powered up the skimmer. I will perform the 20% water change tomorrow (36 hours after treatment) as I thought this would be peak time for decaying matter to foul the water. No other losses, the following made it without effect:

Feather dusters
Cocoa worm
Bristle worms
All hard and soft corals look 100% uneffected
Cabbage leather
Devils hand
Xenia
2 clams
clove polyps
Star Polyps (green and pink)
Pipe organ (2 types)
2 Rose BTA
snails
Zoos
Gorgonian (purple and corky finger)


The only losses I can see:
A few blue leg hermits
1 Cleaner shrimp (the other made it)
Acro crabs

Unknown:
Emerald crabs
Pepermint shrimp

No signs of LRB after treatment.

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by Viv

What are symptoms of LRB and AEFW? Can you see redbugs? Do they overrun the tank?

The symptoms of LRB's is poor polyps extension and in some circumstances stn, although it is arguable whether or not the LRB's are in fact the root cause of the stn in those circumstances.

NOTE-i said "arguable". I didnt say i wanted to talk about it

The symptoms of aefw's is whitish fading spots, then bare skeleton typically at the bases of your acros, if you do nothing but watch it happen and dont at a minimum blow the worms off your coral will eventually die at a rate depending on the degree of your infestation.

[Schwaggs]

Originally Posted by Fly Guy

The symptoms of LRB's is poor polyps extension and in some circumstances stn, although it is arguable whether or not the LRB's are in fact the root cause of the stn in those circumstances.

NOTE-i said "arguable". I didnt say i wanted to talk about it

I don't believe they are the root CAUSE of RTN but an attributing factor. I think LRBs weaken the coral (as many parasites do to their hosts) to the point where it is susceptable to RTN. If you run a perfect system or have robust species of acros, you may never see a problem. If your system is less than optimal, or something stresses your system (temp spike, alk or Ca drops, etc), or your coral sufferes physical damage, the LRB weakened colony can RTN or bleach and fade away.

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by Schwaggs

I don't believe they are the root CAUSE of RTN but an attributing factor. I think LRBs weaken the coral (as many parasites do to their hosts) to the point where it is susceptable to RTN. If you run a perfect system or have robust species of acros, you may never see a problem. If your system is less than optimal, or something stresses your system (temp spike, alk or Ca drops, etc), or your coral sufferes physical damage, the LRB weakened colony can RTN or bleach and fade away.

clockworks tank is a PRIME example of that

[King-Kong]

Schwaggs: remember to conduct your second treatment after 5-7 days.

I skipped my second treatment, and RBs returned after a couple of weeks. I did the entire procedure again, this time w/ the followup treatments, and I am RB free now.

It's nice to see certain corals polyps coming out, and those colonies regaining color and growth. Darn red bugs!

[Schwaggs]

Originally Posted by King-Kong

Schwaggs: remember to conduct your second treatment after 5-7 days.

Oh, yea, I am all over that! I plan on getting this solved forever.

[Schwaggs]

Update: 48 hours after treatment

Surviving Cleaner shrimp still doing fine and I saw an Emerald crab alive and well last night. All corals looking good except one small frag that is looking bleached. I don't think the Interceptor had anything to do with that, rather a small temp spike when I was re-plumbing my system plus the light may have changed a little for this frag...

MIRACLE OR CURSE: A rather large Blue leg hermit that I missed was laying motionless on it's back, apparently dead (observed at the 24 hour mark). I was looking at him last night (still on his back) and the dang thing is moving! It appears he may have been stunned by the Interceptor but made it through. This is great news for the hermit but makes me wonder "if he can survive, what about the LRBs"?

[King-Kong]

Exactly Schwagg, some could still survive, hence our extra treatments. GL!

[Schwaggs]

Performed the second treatment on Saturday. I lost my 2nd cleaner shrimp and a huge peppermint shrimp that both survived the first treatment. I was surprised to see 10s of copepods and sand burrowing shrimp running around the sand bed Sunday morning... Aparently not all crustations are susceptable to this treatment.

I did loose the small frag that bleached after the first treatment. Ironically, I think is got burned due to the extra clear water caused by running carbon. Then again, it could have been caused by the small temp spike when I reconfigured the plumbing...

[Geoff]

i have found that when doing the treatments that if a crustacean is able to immediately molt it will survive. the problem is that it is not able to molt again by the time you do the follow up treatments. the smaller pods are able to, but the larger shrimps/crabs are not.

G~

[Fly Guy]

oops

[Schwaggs]

Still red bug free after treating the tank 5 months ago. The treatment really works if performed to the letter.