Red Bug Treatment (Pico style)

[Jim Z.]

I treated the infested blue tort Acropora last night. No red bugs are visible on the surface of the coral. Two more treatments will need to be done before final evaluation of the treatment. I did not treat the nano, but used a 5 gallon bucket with a powerhead for application of Interceptor. 1.5 gallons of tank water were used for the treatment.....Jim Z.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/112557acrotort4.jpg

Photo taken 24 hours post treatment

[Freed]

You will probably still have red bugs in your tank so I don't understand why you didn't dose your tank to begin with. Your coral will just get reinfested in short time.

[ClownNut]

i will do the whole tank, just take all invert out of there b/f u treat the tank.

[Jim Z.]

A small tank with 4 Acros and extremely high density of nemertine worms--it will work best for the live rock to only treat the Acro containing rock. Whole tank treatments, although in some cases doable, can have drastic consequences on the bioload of the system. Red bugs do not move readily from their preferred host and quite frankly only cause problems when LRB populations are quite high. Spot treatments for now will reduce populations of LRB significantly and provide a much more easily managed pest problem.....Jim Z

[impur]

I did the same thing to a few of my frags. I had treated the tank once previously, then had to fight the cyno it caused for 4 months. Never again will i treat the entire tank. I've found that after a good dip (I use a small tupperware container) the corals color up in a matter of days, show much better PE immediatly, and go at least 3 or 4 months before needing another dip.

I am planning to remove all SPS to a Q tank for a month to treat there.

[Jim Z.]

Yes, teh mortality to other inverts will disrupt the nitrogen cycle to a certain degree. For small tanks, treating individual pieces is preferable to treating the entire tank. Some folks who have large Acropora dominated tanks usually have no choice but to treat the whole tank. That's one reason that I chose to build a small reef--you can try an IPM approach for managing and eradicating pest populations. ....Jim Z.