Red Acro "Bugs" -- The Treatment

[Dustin]

The treatment

Theres the info. Be careful

[invincible569]

Darn, the medication is prescription only. How did you guys go around ordering this without prescription?

[Dustin]

It helps to have a dog.

Dustin

[Brad A.]

Just bought it online from canada!

goto yahoo and type in Interceptor no prescription

[boogs]

I called my vet and explained the situation to him. I sent him some threads to read and he was cool after he understood what exactly i was treating for.

Scott

[3_high_low]

Me too. I ordered it from www.canadapharmacy.com for $36 american.

Thanks for your efforts, Dustin.

[Will]

I think most vets will be willing to give a prescription if you're honest about what it's for. It's not like people are getting high from this stuff...
-Will

[Peabody]

How can those of us with smaller tanks (my total water volume is around 45-50 gallons) accurately measure the needed dose?

[headhawg7]

Yeah, I have the same problem. I am going to eyeball the pill. It will be a little easier for me since I have 130g of total water I will use a little less than half a pill.

[headhawg7]

I think it is actually 3/4 of half a pill for me.

[CalciumOverdose]

sounds intresting, im desperate in killing the red bugs, but im not willing to sacrifice my whole tank yet. so i will be trying it on a separate holding tank..
ill post my findings..

thanks for sharing

[mherrb]

Since I own a dog, I just happened to have these sitting around. I'm about 2 hours into my first treatment, notice several dead bugs already, and all corals showing polyp extension....even my pm frag that had yet to display its polyps is showing. Maybe it likes the 'beef flavoring' in the pills...lol. No detectable irritation to any other organisms yet.

[3_high_low]

Originally posted by CalciumOverdose
sounds intresting, im desperate in killing the red bugs, but im not willing to sacrifice my whole tank yet. so i will be trying it on a separate holding tank..
ill post my findings..

thanks for sharing

Some info on trials done:

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=43945

[ReefRaf]

Dustin, it looks nobody else has asked, so I guess it's up to me. ..how did you come up with the idea of adding heartworm medication to your tank for this???

[Dustin]

Heres the updated and enhanced information page.

red bug updated info


I stopped watching this thread for a day and this is what happens. I can't belive you guys are going off half cocked and eyeballing pills. What are you thinking? This stuff is a poison, be careful with it.

If you have questions, please refer to the threads on reefs.org I dont have the time to help out on both boards.

[mherrb]

Just for the record, I took the pill to my vet, and explained what I was going to use it for. He was willing to seperate it for me into 150mg doses for my tank. I agree 100% about not putting this in wihtout properly measuring the dose. A little over halfway into the first treatment, many dead bugs are visible. I only had a few acro crabs that I was able to remove, no hermits or big shrimp, but fish, rbta, and corals all look fine. Some dead pods are visible as well.

[3_high_low]

I don't have a scale that is acurate to a mg. Maybe I can have someone at a pharmacy weigh it out.

As it is, one 1000mg pill will treat my volume of water x4. I wish I had tried to find 250mg pills before ordering.

[Dustin]

Each pill is not a full gram, its a little under.

[mherrb]

I have completed the first treatment and associated water change, carbon addition. All the red bugs seem to be gone. The sps all have their polyps wide open, even some that I've never seen. No visible effect on rbta, maxima clam, corals or fish. Snails and starfish are also fine. I plan to follow the schedule of 1 every seven days for three treatments. I'll post any changes. I would also like to again stress the importance of following the dosage and water change instructions. I did not have anything in my tank besides pods and red bugs that the medication was supposed to be harmful too, but it did (at least by sight) kill everything it was supposed too. I don't doubt it would have been just as effective on crabs, shrimp, etc. If you are using this on a tank with anything that you care about, please take the time to get it measured out correctly and follow the instructions.

[headhawg7]

I am sorry gentlemen but I do not have or can not afford to purchase a scale that will weight down to a mg accurately. I do not see a problem with eyeballing it. I do not think a dose of a little more or a little less is gonna make that much of a difference. If that were the case then we would be screwed already since you have no way of accurately knowing exactly how much water you have in your tank unless you added it gallon by gallon and counted. Like I said, I think in my case since I can accurately divide the pill(380g) by my gallons added together that will give me a reasonably good guess as to how much to use.

[Dustin]

I am sure you can find a way to get it weighed properly. I am also sure that you dont see a problem with eyeballing it, but you have also never seen what it does in a fish tank. The 380gal/pill treatment is also only an approximation that was geared towards helping people buy the proper number of pills.

If you make an educated guess at figuring out your water volume (its not hard to do), you can get close. This is obviously not going to be 100% accurate. The saftey margin of the medication is already eaten up by this. When you add on top of that another guess at the dosage you are beginning to take unnecessary risks.

If you insist on guessing the amount you are adding to your tank, keep it to yourself and please try not to encourage others to risk their tanks with an experimental medication (poison).

[AgentSPS]

WOW this is an expensive treatment!! Assuming an 80gal tank you would spend over $150 for three treatments.

http://www.petcarerx.com/product.asp...d=11211&updp=0

I guess considering the potential destruction of these pests and how much we spend on our tanks its all relative.

[mherrb]

Hawg-
It's your tank, do what you want. There are many places that would be able to weigh it for you if you took the time to go out and ask. Hit the local vets, go to a university, a pharmacy, it's not like we're trying to cut cocaine or something. When you see what this stuff does to the bugs and other pods (and from what I've read crabs,shrimp) the thought of OD'ing the tank and losing your fish and corals just because you didn't take the time to dose properly....anyway it took me about 20 min. at the vet to get it weighed out properly, I understand not everyone has access to a vet that is willing to do this, but at least make an effort. Most people wouldn't guess at the salinity of their tank, or temp. or ph....why not take the time to not guess with a poison?

Update - The tank looks good this morning, corals are polyp-out, and everything else looks normal. I will be doing a second 25% water change this afternoon. No 'red bugs' are visible on any corals.

[mherrb]

Agent -
On an 80 gal. tank you wouldn't even use a full pill for three treatments - Each pill is just under 1000mg - 25mg per 10gal. would be 200 mg per treatment x 3 treatments would be 600mg.

[AgentSPS]

Originally posted by mherrb
Agent -
On an 80 gal. tank you wouldn't even use a full pill for three treatments - Each pill is just under 1000mg - 25mg per 10gal. would be 200 mg per treatment x 3 treatments would be 600mg.

Oh im sorry...I thought they were 25mg pills and it was 25mg/10 gals. Well thats not bad at all then. I wonder what the mg size of the smaller dog size pills are. If I can get 100mg pills it would be easier to dose without the who scale ordeal.