help!redbugs,to treat or not to treat?

[reeferman]

i have discovered redbugs on a few acros.one of which i thought had stn so i fragged it and the tissue seems to be somewhat stable.redbugs all over said acro and a few others.i have a lot of crabs[sally lightfoot,pom pom,emeralds,hermits,acro crabs]shrimp[pistol,cleaner,fireshrimp]and starfish.i searched forums and read all posts on redbugs and im getting different opinions on how bad they actually are.should i do the interceptor treatment and possibly lose my inverts or leave them be?if left alone will they multiply and spread everywhere?i have a lot of sps and would not like to lose them.if they can be left,is it just a matter of them being there or will they do real harm?like i said,ive read all the posts this morning and cant get a definitive answer on how truly bad they are.any help is greatly appreciated.
Reggie

 

[coolsurf]

I've never had them but they should be treated. I am not sure of proper dosages, etc. I wouldn't do anything without advise from the ones who have experience in this area. I am sure someone on this forum can give you some good advise. You may wish to research some archives.

 

[johnr2604]

I would treat them. Although redbugs won't really kill a healthy coral, they do irritate it and its hard for the coral to thrive.

 

[acroholic]

Redbugs are like fleas on a dog. Treat it. Easy to do. One time gets them.

Plus, no one likes getting frags from anyone with RBs.

One large breed dog sized Interceptor pill is just under 1 gram (I weighed it on a digital scale) and treats 400 gallons. Determine your net gallons of water in your system and treat accordingly, 1/2 pill 200 net gallons, 1/4 pill per 100 net gallons. Discontinue any GAC filtration, cut off the air on your skimmer, but keep it running. You dont want to skim out the medicine. Leave everything else as is. You want the Interceptor to circulate everywhere water goes. 6-8 hours ought to do it.

After 6-8 hours some folks recommend a large water change. I think you can just use fresh GAC to get the interceptor out, but what ever you feel safe with. I place fresh GAC in the sytem after treatment, then replace it the next day after 24 hours. This worked for me. I did not do a large WC, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

The important thing to keep in mind is that more interceptor doesn't mean better. The above dosage will kill redbugs, but should leave your larger crustaceans unharmed. It did in my system when I treated last year.

Larger crustaceans have 75+ times the body mass of a RB, so the concentration needed to kill RBs is much smaller, so the Interceptor will kill the RBs, but only irritate larger crustaceans. People have issues with shrimps and hermits, etc, dying when they dose too much Interceptor, or do repeated treatments one week apart, which IME is unnecessary.

 

[reeferman]

thanks guys,thats what i needed to hear.ive read so many posts stating different things,its good to hear it straight from you!i will follow your instructions and just treat once and hopefully wont lose any crabs/shrimp.once i get some from the vet tomorrow,ill post results.thanks,Reggie

 

[acroholic]

ares;485025 wrote: to amend acroholic, you shoudl cutoff the air on your skimmer, keep it running, you want to treat it as he said, but you dont want to skim out the medicine, not sure if it can be skimmed out... but to be safe.

Yep, definitely cut off air to the skimmer. You want only water thru it. Thanks for that catch.

 

[lilrobb]

Avoid any stagnant water in your system - let me medicin flow thru everything, incl CA reactors and such...

 

[schwaggs]

I treated years ago, several months after the Intercepter treatment became mainstream. I used the dosage recommended in the day and lost all my shrimp and crabs but that was a small price to pay to get rid of them once and for all. I went back and forth trying to decide if I should do it or not, just like you. I had several Acros that were infected but they were doing fine, or so I thought. After treatment, polyp extension was much better and I think growth improved but I have no proof of that. I would not hesitate to do the treatment again.

Keep the extra pills to perfrom an intercepter dip on all incoming corals to make sure you don't get them again!

 

[reeferman]

ive quarantined the worst affected corals,luckily they were frags.i still see a few on colonies that cant be removed.as soon as i get some treatment,i will treat the tank and quarantine.color and polyp extension is still really nice on all corals even the frags with a lot of bugs on them.i gave the frags a lugols dip and it killed a few but i still see them.if i use the recommended dosage,will it wipe out my pod population?just wondering if i should buy some tigger pods for my mandarin.thanks again for all your help.
Reggie

 

[reeferman]

just to update on the redbugs,tank treated 2 weeks ago,no redbugs in sight,no loss of crabs or shrimp,polyp extension on acros excellent!thanks everyone for your help!

 

[smoothie]

Great to hear!

 

[ralph atl]

Great thread! I like the "less is best" route.

 

[acroholic]

Assault;524217 wrote: can you do this treatment as part of QT?

Sure can. Just don't have any crustaceans in the tank. And you can OD corals with Interceptor, although not necessary, as it does not hurt corals even in high concentrations.

 

[tromblydavid]

John,

Just a note and advice, redbugs will kill some acros and not others. Healthy or not. If you have the space then treat the acros in a separate tank and leave the display alone for 10 days and they will starve. Make sure you take all acros out even of they look clean.