Red Bugs

[smatney]

I picked up an awesome blue bottle brush frag on Wednesday from a local reefer. Later he called me and told me that he had red bugs. So...the frag looks fine. Polyps are out. It's in my main tank. Do I treat with interceptor or not?

[davejnz]

If you can get the frag out ASAP,and assuming the redbugs havn't jumped ship to other Acropora in your reef then you can q-tine the frag with about a 1/4 of a Salifert spoonful of ground Interceptor blended with a quart of tank water.After 6 hrs,its safe to go back in your tank.I've bought Acro frags that i could of swore didn't have red bugs only to fiind them with a magnifying glass when i got home.They are so small and can bury in the polyp making them very hard to ses sometimes.

[BUGZME]

I got some frags from the same reefer 1 week before and I haven't seen any bugs! should I reat my tank with interceptor? will it really hurt anything if i decide to do it?

[davejnz]

I'd only recommend treating a tank if you have alot of redbugs attacking your Acros.They are attracted to certain species and colors of various Acropora.Some Acro's like milleporas never get them.IME,stressed frags and anything purple and green usually are the first to have the bugs show up on them.Some Acro's tolerate them alot better than others.

[dakar]

Would green slimers be a prime canidate for these bugs too? It's the only real acro type coral we have in the reef right now. The tip on the largest branch receded with no polyp entensiosns, but appears to be making a slow come back.

[davejnz]

The LFS here has GS frags with the bugs on them.Did the tip lose tissue or just lighten?When Acro's start growing rapidly,they develop an axial corallite(branch tip)that is usually much lighter than the colony and often has little to no polyp expansion except at the very tip.

[dakar]

Doesn't appear to have lost any tissue, but just no polyp extenstions on only that portion, I'll have to dig through my pics and see if I can determine if it is just new growth or if it's receeding.

[davejnz]

Axials are a great way to judge the health of an Acro IMO,when conditions start to decline,often the axials will darken back and growht will cease.If the frag is multibranched and the rest of the colony is expanding well,it could very well be an axial developing.

[dakar]

Posting a pic from 3/22 of the GS, tommorrow after the daylights come back on I'll grab a new one to compare the two. (maybe this will remind me to get the pic )

[Reptoreef]

I just found a massive colony of red bugs in 1 colony of A valida(tri color), but the coral looks awesome and has extreme polyp extention(I've had this colony from a frag- over a year). IMO, I will not add any chemical to my tank that kills... there will most likely be undesired side effect that I will not chance. Just my 2 cents, though.

Repto