Red Bugs?!
 

hi guys, i noticed some of my SPS are bleaching out so i checked my params and the only thing i noticed was my Ca was little low (!340) but everything else is great.

so i started looking for the next thing in line which is the all famous red bugs. i am seeing red little bugs on the bottom of the glass, close to the sand bed. very tiny and they are all red. i always thought they are yellow with a red dot but i might be wrong or this is someting else.

i also took a closer look at the SPSs but was unable to see any of them on their surfaces, do i need to take them out to see them or should be able to see it from the outside.

please let me know what i should do next, im already seeing my red monty bleaching and some other blue stags also loosing color. i read there is a pill used for dogs i should dose but i want to be sure that this is what i am dealing with before i do.

any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[url]http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=903839[/url]

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

Sorry for your situation. Many have delt with it...good luck!

thanks for links Craig, but do you think these are red bugs according to my description?

I have no experience with them so I couldn't tell you. I suggest looking at the pictures and seeing if they match. Have you actually seen them on your corals? If so, then I would think they are red bugs. You will find more people who have experienced the same problem by posting this in the sps forum. I think this bug is specific to sps, but am not absolutely sure.

They are yellow with a red dot. If you don't see them on acros, and the colors don't match, they're probably not red bugs.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11423215#post11423215 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tennsquire [/i]
[B]They are yellow with a red dot. If you don't see them on acros, and the colors don't match, they're probably not red bugs. [/B][/QUOTE]

interesting, they are all red, no yellow color on them suckers... can anyone else confirm this please?

They can be red, yellow or brown.

hth, Chris

They are very hard to see with the naked eye, unless there are a real lot of them. Best advice would be to find a friend or someone with a good camera to take some real closeup shots of some of your acros and then you would know for sure. You usually never see them in the sandbed, at least not to my knowledge, and only on certain acros.

It's also easier to spot them with a flashlight when the tank lights are out FWIW. Like has been stated they will be spotted on the Acros....not the sandbed.