Steve973 Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Hey all, Since not too many people here have had experiences with the arthropods that feed on SPS corals (mainly acros), I thought I'd document my experiences, and hopefully they'll help someone else if they have this problem. I read Mattie's thread, and he seems to have had some success with this method. My signature shows my tank specs, and I figured I'd be able to achieve good coloration in SPS corals in my tank. I know that isn't all there is to it - a good maintenence schedule is also very important for nutrient removal. I change 25% weekly, and I take care not to overfeed. However, most of my SPS corals are not very colorful. They're basically tan. So I have been trying to figure out what's going on, and eventually I noticed tiny red "mite" sized things on my coral, and I remember reading about them. I did the research, and found that I can treat them with a dog's heartworm medication called Interceptor. So here's what I did: I ground the pill with a mortar and pestle. The recommendation is that you use 25 milligrams of the pill powder per 10 gallons of actual (after displacement from rock, sand, etc) tank water, and dissolve that in tank water or purified water. The powder isn't very soluble, but if you grind it very fine and shake it a lot, it will go into suspension for a short time, which is enough to pour some in. Well, I don't have a milligram scale, and knowing that the pill is approximately one gram, I dissolved the whole pill in 500 milliliters of water. That would mean that I'd need 12.5 milliliters of solution per 10 gallons of tank water, since 1 ml would contain 2 mg of the pill. I have an 18 gallon tank, and I have plenty of live rock and sand, but I overestimated my tank water at 20 gallons. Plenty of people overdosed their tank, so I feel that I'll be safe. I dosed the tank at 7:30 this morning, and I'll do a 25% water change and add a bag of carbon at 1:30 pm this afternoon. I'll post again afterward... Steve Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Thanks for the "DIY" medication regimen Steve! Any info in your research on "side effects" on corals? Can you post the active ingredient(s) of Interceptor? Link to comment
Kogut Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 I'm interested to see how this works for you since I keep SPS and am always worried about what I will do if I get the red bugs. Link to comment
Steve973 Posted January 22, 2005 Author Share Posted January 22, 2005 Hello again... You can view information about Interceptor and about the treatment and side effects in this thread on reefs.org: http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45859 The side effects don't affect corals. Instead, crustaceans are affected, unfortunately. But the article has much more thorough information that I have. Link to comment
Steve973 Posted January 22, 2005 Author Share Posted January 22, 2005 I just got back from changing 20% of the water in my tank. I also added a small bag of Kent's Reef Carbon to help pull the remainder of the medication out of the water. I have noticed that most (if not all) of my hermit crabs are dead. That sucks, since I didn't want to kill anything, and I've had them since I started my tank about a year ago. But I knew the risks, and I am sure this will help the overall health of the aquarium. I know some people here don't like crabs, but these have been very well-behaved. The impact on the corals looks very positive. I see polyps where I hadn't seen polyps in a very long time, and I cannot see any more red bugs. I'm encouraged that I'll see a general improvement in the health of the 2 different corals that had been affected by the red parasites. I'll do another 25% water change tomorrow, and replace the carbon. I'll detail my treatment next week, as well. Steve Link to comment
onthefly Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 I treated my tank 8 months ago......haven't seen a bug since!!! I removed all my hermits and didn't replace them until after the second w/c. The bugs only infest acroporids, not all SPS. Hydnophora, seriatorpora, Montipora, etc. are not hosts for the bugs. Any Acroporids going into my tank get an inteceptor dip. Link to comment
CT nano reefer Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 this is definately some GOOD information to know..thanx for the tips guyz! Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Thanks for the info Steve, it's helpful to have a volunteer guinea pig in the crowd! I'm glad to hear you're seeing such quick positive results on your corals. Since it affects crustaceans, have you seen any effect on your pods? Any other interesting effects others might want to know about? Link to comment
onthefly Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 My pod population got wacked........but within a week I started to see a few....after a month or 2 them were back to cockaroach levels Link to comment
Steve973 Posted January 22, 2005 Author Share Posted January 22, 2005 Originally posted by onthefly The bugs only infest acroporids, not all SPS. Hydnophora, seriatorpora, Montipora, etc. are not hosts for the bugs. Something that you might be interested to know - my orange montipora dititata was one of the worst-affected corals. There were "bugs" all over it! If you look at my full tank shot, it's the coral that's closest to the upper-left of my tank. I know they are not supposed to infest montiporids, but it appears that it's not impossible... Steve Link to comment
onthefly Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 That's really good to know!!!! Thanks! I'll start dipping Monti's too...... Link to comment
Seldon Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 For those of you interested, here is another thread that discusses interceptor being used as a treatment for redbugs. It aslo mentions some of the side effects. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=488984 Link to comment
Steve973 Posted January 24, 2005 Author Share Posted January 24, 2005 I did my sencond water treatment (day 2) and replaced the carbon and added some rowaphos in the carbon bag. I'm not sure about the dosage amount of rowaphos, so I used a teaspoon with kent reef carbon. Still no sign of red bugs. Steve Link to comment
onthefly Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 Good job Steve...are you going to retreat? I never did and the bugs are gone. I know the bigger tank require 3, but I think nano's can get away with one (maybe up the dosage like I did) or two (normal dosage) Link to comment
Steve973 Posted January 24, 2005 Author Share Posted January 24, 2005 I'm going to retreat at least once. Probably twice, just to make sure that they're gone, since I have the stuff mixed up in water already. And after 2 water changes and the use of reef carbon, my water looks absolutely crystal clear. So at least i'm getting a couple forms of nutrient export there. It's a bit off-topic but I'm planning on dosing some vodka too. Steve Link to comment
jmt Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 Most effective method for killing inverts in your tank: It only costs, well, a penny. *plop* Nice info Steve. Link to comment
6000 Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 I think your penny is too small. Sorry, I just had to show off Mr. Abe. Link to comment
onthefly Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 Steve are you dealing with excess nutrients? Algae probelms? Why the smirnoff? Link to comment
sadsak Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 i think its for his nerves Link to comment
Seldon Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 i know you joking, but you'll also kill your sps as well. Funny though. Link to comment
onthefly Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Actually, you can reduce your NO3 and PO4 levels with low dose vodak treatments. I think that is what Steve is talking about..... Link to comment
Steve973 Posted January 25, 2005 Author Share Posted January 25, 2005 My water quality is visually very good, and I don't have detectable nitrates. I'm not sure about phosphates, since I don't have a kit for that, and my organics kit was too old when it arrived. (salifert is sending me a new kit in the mail) I figure that something is amiss, since I have some semi-calcerous algae that i can't seem to get rid of. The species are: lobophora variegata, padina, and stylopodium zonale. Have a look at these on google. Strangely, I don't have hair algae issues. I'd like to try attacking it by eliminating nutrients and seeing what happens. Steve Link to comment
onthefly Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Rather than dosing Vodka.....try a phosphate remover first!! I've read that dosing vodka will only work if you have NO3 and PO4 around. Besides vodka will rev up your population of bacteria......and if you decide to stop dosing......you could have die off. Also, I've heard some people have had issues with a film like substance on their glass and LR.....I assume it is the bacterial bloom. Link to comment
Steve973 Posted January 25, 2005 Author Share Posted January 25, 2005 I got some rowaphos. I put a teaspoon of it in with my reef carbon. Steve Link to comment
onthefly Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Give that some time...it will drop the PO4! Link to comment
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