Ok I was glorying just a bit When I was looking at my tank. Struting around the house says "thats right tank of the month" My husband said ok already. Then it happened . I was looking at my beautiful corals with a magnifiing glass, then I saw them "red bugs". All glory went right out the window... Why me? Oh know what do I do now?? OK so I read everything I could about them. So if anyone has had experience with the treatment please help.
For what it is worth I will try to document my treatment and the outcome FYI.
i know common treatment is to dig the corals in water treated with interceptor (a dogs flea and tick medication)
this should not be don in your tank as it will kill most all micro/macro crustaceans
i am not aware of any "in tank" treatments that are safe, but isolating and treating each coral should help
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Yes I read all treatment options. I am going to try the in tank treatment. I have read the pros and cons to doing it this way. I really don't think I have a choice. I will use my experence to help others who may encounter this problem. So lots of before and after pic, along with any changes that may occur.
OotM is run by a guy named Grant, he runs a fish store without the store and has an in house frag farm. Don't be fooled by his online store he has the BEST looking tanks and corals I have ever seen in my life bar none. He treats every coral he gets in for red bugs and acro eating flat worms and such just so his farm doesn't die. Long story short take the time and askhim what he would do. I've been pestering himto join TR but he is an uber busy guy building and maintaining custom tank set-ups, and doing various aquarium society talks around the area.
I really don't know how they got in there. I have not added any thing for months. I suppose the last frag I added. Anyway I will look at this as a positive and learn what I can, and pass the information along to my favorite web sight TR.
I don't think knowing where they came from is going to make a difference. But for what its worth the coral that they are on I bought from a vendor at the Western marine Conference back a few months ago. But it is possible that they have been in my tank for a while. I still have no real bad effects from them. I just don't want to take any chances. From what I have read they still are not good. Better get a magnifing glass and look over all your acropora corals.
Rob,
I going to remove as many crabs and shrimps as I can. I will also drain my fuge into a QT to try to save some start up pods. I know my system will take a hit but from what I have read, some say it will recover quickly. Any way I will document everything I do and post it here. I will not start the treatment for a few weeks. I need to get another tank up and running before I start. I am going to move forward very slowly in hopes I will not make a mistake. This is how we learn. The worst thing we can learn is what not to do
i know common treatment is to dig the corals in water treated with interceptor (a dogs flea and tick medication)
this should not be don in your tank as it will kill most all micro/macro crustaceans
i am not aware of any "in tank" treatments that are safe, but isolating and treating each coral should help
interceptor is a heart worm medication i think and not for fleas and ticks. they are available only by perscription, but i asked my vet and they gave it to me. through my experience you only have 2 options
1: treat individual peices in a quarentine tank
2: treat whole tank
treating your tank will kill all pods, you may loose shrimps, crabs and snails so take them out. when treating either way, it you must leave the medication in there for about 6hrs with no filtration. the treatment will kill the bugs but not the eggs. after the treatment waterchanges are suggested. it is suggested that you repeat the process 3 times at least.
what i did:
i left the medz in my tank for a whole day. i lost 1 shrimp, snails were ok, crabs ok. bugs were gone. i did another treatment to make sure. 2 months later bugs again. now its been 2 months and i just leave em. i wanna see what kind of damage they cause. so far its all good.
Just got my new tank today! I will set it up and get it stable before I move as many shrimps and crabs as I can catch into it. I will start treatment in two weeks or so. I will document all stages of treatment and changes that occur in my tank. With lots of before and after pictures. Right now I am working with my Vet to get some Interceptor. We do not have heart worms in our area, so the Vet's here do not carry it. I will include that information too.
When I was looking at my tank. Struting around the house says "thats right tank of the month" My husband said ok already. Then it happened 
. I was looking at my beautiful corals with a magnifiing glass, then I saw them 
"red bugs". All glory went right out the window... Why me? Oh know what do I do now??
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. The worst thing we can learn is what not to do
you Rock..