High Tide Aquatics

I've got red bug as well, help needed!!!

sfboarders said:
Assuming a tablet can treat 380 gallons I cut up the tablet into 1/4's and plan on doing 3 treatments. So out of the 1/4 I cut it up 3 times and took a 1/3 and smashed it til it was a powder and mixed it with tank water. It's 6 hours right now and I still see the guys on acros. I've read that they can still hang on to the acros when they're dead but I still see a bunch of pods running around. My cleaner and peppermint are still alive too. Maybe I didn't dose enought? Should I leave it in the tank for awhile? Is it ok to do a WC and run carbon tomorrow?

Additional info: I removed, GFO, GAC, took off airline off protein skimmer and turned UV off.
Click to expand...


The medication may not be evenly distributed thought the tablet, so its best to crush up the whole thing and then measure out whats needed.
 
GreshamH said:
tuberider said:
IME if your shrimp are still alive there's a good chance the RBs will come back, ODing a little will not harm your tank.
Click to expand...

+1
Click to expand...
+2, there is no serious risk of overdose. I did 2 treatments 3 days apart, each with half pill, 75g tank, peppermint shrimps, cleaner shrimp, halmet crab were all gone. Fire shrimp and harley survived fine. Have not seen bugs since then, pe is good color is back. I just pull out carbon and put back new carbon after last treatment, pull out skimmer venturi in the 12 hour after i dump in the madicine . And a 30% wc after last treatment it is really easy
 
I didn't dose enough. I misread the directions from the reefs.org post. I didn't do a full dosage. After full dosage 2/3 shrimp died. I'm sure the other guy will die after the next dosage. Redbugs look to be deceased but still have a good amount of pods running around.
 
That's why I said these days pods are tough, I thought all pods would be wiped out, even I dosed very high, there are still some pods around, big & fat ones :bigsmile:
 
I found some red bugs a couple weeks ago. I was able to get enough of the magic cure for the first treatment. No more visible, but I want to do the next 2 treatments now. Does anyone have some of the magic killer? Please pm me.
Nick
 
I am on the hunt for this magic killer as well. :) There are few people over at RC PM me but if anyone has some, please let me know as a heads up. I will need it soon. My total water is roughly 170g so I need enough for 3 treatments. Also, can someone verify this is the basic guideline:

1. Wait until main light off.
2. Turn off skimmer and carbon reactor.
3. Put magic pill.
4. Next morning, turn skimmer and carbon reactor back on.
5. 3 days later, repeat step 1 to 4.
6. Another 3 days later after step 5, repeat step 1 to 4 one more time. RB gone.
7. Do 15% water change

Is this right?
 
You'll need to do a larger water change when it is all said and done, carbon helps too.

edit: keep your skimmer off between doses unless you want a flood, don't run the carbon reactor in between doses.
 
Btw, I just copy and paste the instructions from melev's site. :) It seems like he does in fact turn the skimmer and reactor on after each treatment. Has anyone notice flood if you turn the skimmer per instruction below? And I hope Marc just forget to mention water change?

===
After a few months, I observed red bugs in my 280g reef and decided I needed to do something about it. I talked with a few local hobbyists and felt that I had a safe plan of action.

One (large) tablet of Interceptor should treat 400g of water. I removed all the hermit crabs and shrimp I could find in my reef, putting them in a safe tank separate from my reef. They had circulation, a heater and were topped off daily to maintain salinity while in quarantine for their safety. I had live rock in their tank as well so they had something to pick food from as well as places to hide.

I crushed up one pill until it was dust, and mixed it in a cup of tank water. I stirred it for several minutes until it was fully dissolved. I've read that you can heat up the water in a microwave to speed this process up, but found that unnecessary. I removed the venturi tubing leading to the skimmer's pumps so that no air was being injected into the body of the Euro-Reef 12-2. The medicine should travel through all the water, including in any equipment such as skimmers and calcium reactors. I also turned off the two Phosban Reactors I had running (one with PO4 remover, the other with carbon). At midnight, when all the fish were asleep I poured the medication into an area of high flow, and let it kill the red bugs over the next 12 hours.

The next day at noon, I reinstalled the tubing to the skimmer pumps to resume skimming the water. I started up the Phosban Reactor, and that included running 3 cups of fresh carbon in the second reactor. I couldn't find any red bugs in my tank after this treatment. I repeated this 7 days later, and then again 7 days after that. Three treatments over 3 weeks is considered necessary to remove any possible future generations from emerging from the reef to reinfest the corals.

After the third and final treatment was accomplished and the water was safe for the shrimp and crabs, they were added back to the tank and were fine. The refugium was also treated since it is part of the system, and odds are some pods were lost due to the medication. However, over time and with some fresh macro algae added, their population resumed and I see them running around. My Mandarin is fat and happy, as is my Six Line Wrasse.

This is not a treatment you have to fear. And the more of us that do it, the less likely we will share such pests with one another when trading frags. Always treat new coral arrivals (from hobbyists or your LFS) with an Interceptor bath for at least 6 hours to keep your reef red bug free.
===
 
I pulled the cup and airline out when I did treatment. The skimmer water will just overflow back into the sump. If you have UV turn it off too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top