What are Red Bug's?

[john]

Hello Forum,
I'm an "Old Salt" with saltwater reef and fish keeping with no pun intended. I have dealt with bristle worms, nudibranch's, flat worms, freakazoid parisites on fish (that still give me nightmares), false cleaner wrasses, algea, bacterial plauges, and antipista. And many other unknowns and have come away scathed, cut, and briused but intact. Heck, my old elegance almost killed me with blood poisoning. But what the heck are red bugs?. You guys are scaring me... Are they a recent threat like the Emerald Ash boarer that plauges ash trees?. Thanks in advance. John

[pham411]

red bugs are little red bugs that eat sps corals. a few can easily become thousands and can destroy a sps colony. treatments for these bugs include interceptor flea and tick medication. prevention? always check your corals before putting them into your tank. you can see them on the coral. they look like little red pods.
hope that helps.
latez

[Reefbaby]

Welcome john to TR! thanks for joining us! Hopefully we can learn from each other.

Red bugs - aka FLATWORMS - are not fun to have in your tank. If your an experienced reefer and have never encountered them, then consider yourself very very lucky!

There's a very long thread at RC talking about them, if you're interested in reading it.

I got them in my tank once by not quarantining a porite/Xmas tree worm rock that I bought. I didn't notice them on there, but once in my tank they began multiplying. I was able to fight it off by removing the rock and scrubbing it in a bucket of saltwater several days in a row. In addition, my 6-line wrasse took care of the rest of them.

The proper medication for ridding these is called FLATWORM EXIT, NOT a flea or tick medication!!! If you were to use a flea or tick medication, you would see every single invertebrate (shrimps, crabs, copepods, amphipods, etc) quickly be exterminated in your tank!

If it's possible, it's better to use a natural form for getting rid of them (cleaning the rocks or appropriate fish that like to feed off of them), but if these don't work, then flatworm exit seems to be pretty successful.

[Rob]

there is a difference..
there are your flatworms (planaria sp.) that christi is referring to.
and there are "red bugs"

Flatworms are treated in your tank with flatworm exit
and redbugs are (must be) treated in a QT with interceptor (which yes, is a flea tick medication) and it must be done carefully. the smallest amount of this in your tank will kill every snail and crab (and many other things) in your tank

i believe we discussed both of these is podcast episode 33
which can be found here

[pham411]

yah robs right. flat worms are different

[fat walrus]

many reefkeepers have red bugs and do not know it because they are so tiny it is
almost impossible to see. there has been more people realizing the infestation
because of tongan sps has contaminated almost every wholesaler. many hobbyist
and lfs complain of lack of polyp extension and still cannot spot those nasty
buggers. i have used intercepter and have not lost any shrimp, crabs, snails, or
starfish. don't know about pods though. don't forget to calculate the displacement
of water by sand, rocks, equipment, and animals before medication.

[Rob]

yes, they are VERY TINY..
however, i would NOT recommend trying to treat your main tank with interceptor. im not sure how you got lucky, but i know some people, one of which i know quite well personally, who accidentally got a bit of interceptor treated water into a tank, and lost loads of blue legged hermits.

as with most treatments, treating in a QT is the best recommendation

Fat Walrus, welcome to Talkingreef..

[CarmieJo]

I wonder if they make the corals itch like the pest called red bugs in NC makes people itch?

[Reefbaby]

there is a difference..
there are your flatworms (planaria sp.) that christi is referring to.
and there are "red bugs"

woops! My bad - I misunderstood and thought he was talking about flatworms! Sorry!

At any rate - I second Rob's opinion of treating outside of the main display tank. You don't want to end up losing most of your invertebrates! :-)

[V]

what exactly is the active ingredient in intercepter flea treatment.?
im assuming this is a cheaper source than an OTC drug

[Reefbaby]

From what I could find, Interceptor is a heartworm medication.

Here's what Novartis, the makers of Interceptor have to say:

Milbemycin oxime, the active ingredient, is a mixture of the macrolides milbemycin A3 oxime and milbemycin A4 oxime. It interacts with the GABA receptors of the nervous system like other macrolides leading to paralysis. Milbemycin oxime is active against nematodes and arthropods.

And here's another link to the treatment of these critters:

The last method, developed by Dustin Dorton at ORA, involves treating the aquarium or quarantine aquarium with Milbemycin oxime. This chemical is the active ingredient in Interceptor, a heartworm preventive and de-worming medication for dogs only available by prescription from a veterinarian. This medication has been found to directly attack crustaceans, and is the most invasive and risky treatment mentioned thus far because it does not discriminate between pests and other inhabitants like shrimp, amphipods, copepods, and crabs. Since this treatment may cause all crustaceans in your system to perish, it is important to either remove and treat the infected colonies in a separate aquarium, or to remove the crustaceans that you wish to save to a different holding aquarium. Exact guidelines for the dosages and treatment regime are still in the testing phase, yielding positive results, but the long-term ramifications of this new treatment are still not known.

[V]

good trace work RB, information superhighway is the only way to fly. i couldn't bare to open the MIMS and do it the old fashion way

[JustDavidP]

One of MY personal collection of red bugs. This was taken under a hobbyists microscope. They are real tiny and although some can see them on coral with the naked eye...I could not. I noted just polyp recession and discoloration of my corals. At that time, I took out a small frag and treated it. That's when I saw them streaming off of the coral in threads of slime. Hundreds...from that one frag.

I treated my entire 75G reef with Interceptor. I had to.. I had no choice. I had corals that had literally grown a crown 1 foot across and encrusted two or three rocks in the process.

I set up two offline refiugiums and caught as many crabs and shrimp as I could. the only losses I had were my 3 year old coral banded shrimp that I could not get out..and a few small hermits that I didn't notice. Otherwise, I had a porcelain crab that made it through the treatments as did my pistol shrimp that I was NOT about to excavate to save.

I treated three times. I didn't see a bug thereafter. It took me a couple/few weeks for the color and polyp extension to come back on my corals, but it did. It took a month or more before I saw another pod or mysid in my system, but they came back too.

Finally, the only OTHER ingredient in that medication is a beef bullion flavor...added so FIDO will eat the stuff.

Dave