Red Bug Treatment Journal

[Myka]

Boy did I burn my own @$$.

Last Sunday I received some frags from a friend. As I'm dipping (TMCC), and inspecting with magnifying glass I see red bugs. I briefly consider throwing the frags in the garbage, but then consider that my friend has put time, effort, and money into growing, fragging, and shipping these frags to me. So I go hunting through my fish room knowing I have an Interceptor pill hiding somewhere...20 minutes later I find the stupid thing.

I grind up a 23 mg pill and add 1/2 of a level Salifert spoonful to 2 gallons of water from the display tank. I put the frags into the Interceptor treatment for 1 hour, drain it off, and put them in fresh tank water in a plastic food container floating in my sump so I can check on them the next day for red bugs.

Next day I look in sump and the water is murky in the container and smells like dead frags. Oh, and the container is lop sided with the water contaminating my tank!!

So I take the frags out, inspect...all dead. Ok, that's weird (I've done that same Interceptor dip like 50 times, but whatever I'm more concerned about the possibility of red bug contaminated water getting into my tank!

That was Monday morning. Today I'm looking into my tank, and notice some of my Acros are slimed up. Look closer...yup, red bugs got in there.



They are absolutely PLASTERED all over one of my favorite Acros...of course it is one that is super encrusted and no way for me to remove it for a dip. I see them on three other Acros as well.

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Having never treated an entire reef with Interceptor, I would greatly appreciate those who are experienced with this to help me with my plan of attack.

Alright so here's the plan of attack...

For inverts I have; 1 Black brittle starfish, 2 Emerald Crabs, 7 snails, 2 Conchs, 1 Seahare (experiment against red turf algae), 1 Tuxedo Urchin. I will be able to catch everyone except the starfish, and I may or may not be able to catch the crabs. I believe the only critters that would succumb to the Interceptor are the emerald crabs. I know the snails will be ok, but not totally sure about the others. I have a 20g tank I can move these guys into as well as some cured live rock I can put in with them.

My tank is 90 gallons, plus about 15 gallons of water in the sump for a total of 105 gallons. Minus the live rock and sand, there is about 80-85 gallons net water volume. Each Salifert measuring spoon of Interceptor (32 mg pill) will treat 32 gallons. I plan to use 3 level spoonfuls for each treatment, and I will put a filter sock on the overflow drain for the length of the treatment.

Day 1 - Remove inverts and carbon. Turn the air intake off on the skimmer. Add Interceptor. Wait 6 hours. Do 25% water change. Add fresh carbon, turn skimmer air back on.

Day 5 - Remove carbon, turn skimmer air off. Add 2nd dose. Wait 6 hours. Do 25% water change. Add fresh carbon, turn skimmer air back on.

[I will be out of province starting May 2nd, so I will not be able to do a 3rd dose on Day 21, and my 2nd dose will be early on Day 5 instead of recommended Day 7. I know many people have success doing just one dose, and others fail miserably by just dosing once.]

Day 6 - Remove carbon, do 25% water change, add fresh carbon. Wait 6 hours. Put inverts back into tank.

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Questions:

- How much carbon would be required to remove the Interceptor dose?
- Will the brittle starfish survive the Interceptor? (my reading says he will probably survive)
- Will the conchs, Seahare, and urchin be ok?
- Will my RBTAs, clams, and Gorgonians be ok with the Interceptor? (my reading says yes)
- Is this the same dosage everyone else has had success with?
- Am I missing anything?

[Chaloupa]

I have done the entire treatment a few times. The only ones I would be worried about would be the crabs and any hermits. They will not survive treatment but all others should. I just use 1/2 large dog tablet for my 150g. I then would add carbon 12 hours later and just put roughly 1.5 cups of carbon in a phosban reactor. Then 7 days later, I'd do it all over again, disconnecting the carbon before treatment. Leave all items on that circulate water as they "may" have redbugs in them.....

Honestly I have treated my entire reef 3 times (bad judgement on my part when buying frags or corals, I obviously don't learn by my mistakes LOL) and never had any issues.....

[Chaloupa]

And really, I found it no big deal. Easy to deal with and easy to get over. HOWEVER others haven't done as well.....I have had NO problems following treatment with ANY of my treatments

[Myka]

After doing some more reading, I think I may try to find a vet that will sell me some Interceptor. Since I found this info, and it would be easiest for me to use slightly less than one whole pill from the green package:

Dogs 2-10 lbs (brown package) 2.3 treats 38 gallons
Dogs 11-25 lbs (green package) 5.75 mg treats 95 gallons
Dogs 26-50 lbs (yellow package) 11.5 mg treats 190 gallons
Dogs 51-100 mg (blue package) 23 mg treats 380 gallons

It is also to be noted that one Salifert measuring spoon of the blue package pills will treat ~32 gallons. So I have read many times anyway...

[Myka]

Thanks for your advice Chaloupa! I think I will take the Seahare out just in case since the Seahare alone can be lethal to the tank if he does die.

Originally Posted by Chaloupa

I then would add carbon 12 hours later and just put roughly 1.5 cups of carbon in a phosban reactor. Then 7 days later, I'd do it all over again, disconnecting the carbon before treatment.

Are you saying this is what you did, or are you suggesting this is what I do?

[Chaloupa]

Originally Posted by Myka

Thanks for your advice Chaloupa! I think I will take the Seahare out just in case since the Seahare alone can be lethal to the tank if he does die.



Are you saying this is what you did, or are you suggesting this is what I do?

This is what was recommended by "melev" on his site and it's the dose and way I've always done it. He has some fantastic info on his site, and I've emailed it with my redbug problems when I first got them. So.....that being said I've always done it that way, other than when I forgot one treatment on second dose to plug in the carbon until 24 hours later!!! And all was good! It's great when you can see them leaving the coral! Such a feeling of accomplishment! And you are very welcome. It's an easy thing to treat...now Acro Eating Flatworms...THAT is a very different problem all together!

[Aquattro]

The dosage is based on the medication present in the largest tablets, so get one of those and cut about 40% off and use that. Turn air off on skimmer, but leave it running. Also, turn off your lights during treatment, it's photosensitive.
I just dosed my tank, half a tab, ran for 12 hours, then a bunch of carbon and turn the skimmer back on. Check for bugs.

[PoonTang]

I too suspect that i have the dreaded little buggers but have yet to have a visual confirmation. I got some interceptor and have been doing a bunch of reading. Here is the info that I am going to go with. You can go with a dose as high as 23mg per 100g but far less is actually needed. I was going to personally going to go with 1/2 a pill. Shut off carbon and submerge skimmer air intake but keep it running. 24 hours later start up skimmer and carbon. Dont worry about a WC but it wont hurt. You must repeat the entire thing around 6-7 days later but 95% of the people report success after the first dose but there is always that chance. Some people do a third dose. Their Life cycle is as of yet unknown although it is thought to be 4 days and that they dont lay eggs.

[Stones]

It isn't necessary to dose with interceptor more than once, so long as you use the correct dosage.

When most of the literature on red bugs was originally posted, very little was known about their life cycle. Since then, it has been found that red bugs are live bearers and do not have an egg or larval stage that could have been resistant to milbemycin oxime, the active ingredient in Interceptor. It was only suggested to do a 2nd and 3rd treatment with interceptor in order to kill off the 2nd generation of red bugs that could have possibly hatched after the initial treatment. Since we now know that red bugs do not go through such a stage in life, one good treatment with interceptor is enough to wipe them out of your reef.

Expect to loose 99% of your pod population along with all of your acro crabs, sally light foots, and emerald crabs. Hermit crabs are not true crabs and as such are not effected by the interceptor. Other inverts such as cleaner shrimps, peppermints, snails, and urchins should all be fine as well as the sea hare. If you'd feel better removing the sea hare due to their known toxicity upon death, it probably wouldn't hurt.

Hope the info helps.

[christyf5]

How much carbon would be required to remove the Interceptor dose?

between the 25% waterchange and running carbon, most of the interceptor that will be effective will be removed and subsequent waterchanges will finish it off.

- Will the brittle starfish survive the Interceptor? (my reading says he will probably survive)

I'd give him a 50/50 chance. I've lost fromia starfish from the treatment, not sure about the brittle stars. Personally, I'd remove him.

- Will the conchs, Seahare, and urchin be ok?

Conchs and urchin yes, not sure about the seahare, I'd remove him if he's easy enough to catch.

- Will my RBTAs, clams, and Gorgonians be ok with the Interceptor? (my reading says yes)

Yes

- Is this the same dosage everyone else has had success with?

the 23mg tablet are the best bang for your buck. Don't worry about exact dosage, I used about 3/4 of a pill for 220 gal and a half pill for 100 gal. Basically whatever I have left after using little bits of the pill to treat 1-2 gallons for frags. Eric Borneman treated with up to 10x more than DustinDortons dosage with full success.

- Am I missing anything?

Not missing but suggestions. You likely won't have to do a second treatment if you treat longer. I run my treatments between 8 and 12 hours then carbon and waterchange. I try to do the largest waterchange that I can possibly do. The PE you'll see afterwards is pretty incredible and you'll wonder why you didn't notice how bad it was previously

Don't forget to keep your skimmer running and submerge the air intake.

Great info Stones!! I had printed out most of Eric Bornemans website but lost it and his website is done now, sadly.