Red Bug Treatment Questions

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Calling all Interceptor users!

Please post your experiences, observations, recommendations, etc., good or bad. I have recently discovered those ugly red bugs in my tank and will not trade or sell any corals until I get rid of them. I am a little hesitant to use the Interceptor, but from all I have been reading on RC, the medication seems to work and is minimally damaging. I thought I would ask for any experiences and advice with Interceptor from local reefers b4 I take the plunge and treat my tank.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Chuck

 

[~Flighty~]

http://216.235.242.50/forums/showthread.php?t=1405&highlight=interceptor
my info here. it was for isopods, not red bugs, but same treatment

 

[Mike A]

I'll be treating this weekend Chuck. 1st treatment, followed by two others approximately 10 days apart.

I'll be sure to record my observations. This is the second time I've had to treat my tank, aside from the loss of a couple of acro crabs, there were no casualties from the first treatments I made a few months ago. I had a minor cyano bloom after the third and final treatment the last time. Water changes took care of the cyano.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Thanks Flighty...I will take a look at that link when I get home.
Mike, did you remove your crustaceans, or did you leave them in the tank ?

 

[Kim]

I treated my tank once. I removed some hermits, but left my acro crab and I left my emerald crab in the tank. Acro crab died, the emerald survived.

I only treated once and didn't follow through with the follow-up treatment and the bugs did come back in about a month I'd say.(I did not take any notes so dont know for sure).

I treated the tank again. Emerald survived the second dose of Interceptor as well. All corals were fine. Other than my acro crab nothing bad happened.

I've been bug free for months now as I treated in the summer. I could check but probably about 6 months now.

 

[Mike A]

Chuck, it would be nearly impossible to remove the acro crabs from the colonies that have encrusted at the base, so as I did the last time, I'll leave them in.

Funny observation, but some of the acro crabs were so "stunned" by the last treatment, they were actually hanging upside down from their acro homes. They recovered over a matter of hours after the treatment and were none the worse to this day. I also have a mated pair of CBS, and though I wasn't able to see them during the treatment, to observe any strange behavior, they survived and are fine today.

 

[Kim]

Mike thats right! My acro crab that died, he actually survived initially but as you said hung upside down like he was dead. He then made it through the night but was dead in the morning!

 

[Mike A]

Kim, I wish I could remove them, as I think they do get severely stressed by the Interceptor, but it's just too difficult.

I do think I am going to try and remove all my scarlet hermits prior to treating. I seem to recall that they didn't survive the last time.

 

[jango]

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45859

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Thanks for all of the replies and great info/advice !

Anybody else ??????

 

[Lam]

IMHO, if your treatment dose doesn't kill an acro crab, the dose used wasn't strong enough. It's only a matter of time before the red bugs to return.

 

[Ray]

Lam when I treated I did lose hermits and a couple of acro crabs and 1 of 3 shrimp but not all of the hermits and crabs
I also had 1 scarlet and it survived