What is the correct length of time for an interceptor treatment?

[AndyB4784]

I've got my tank all torn down for some serious red bug killing. just wondering what would be the right length of time for an interceptor bath? I've heard 12 hrs is the max.

[deftonead]

try this page... http://www.melevsreef.com/redbugs.html

[DrBDC]

http://www.ericborneman.com/Tegastes-content/Treatment.html

[AndyB4784]

thanks

[t0mmy108]

i treated at 4X for 72 hours. had great results and no problems.

[Frankysreef]

you really need to treat 3 times.

[Frankysreef]

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

[AndyB4784]

Ya I got enough interceptor for 3 treatments. I kept reading so many conflicting reports about the length of treatment. I've decided on the following course of action: Removed all Acropora from the display tank to a 10g quarantine tank with a sponge filter (properly colonized with bacteria), for circulation I will be using one seio 620, I moved one of my MH from the display to a frame that i built over the 10g with the light suspended about 15in up to avoid overheating the tank. I plan on doing 12 hr treatments every other day. this will allow for the tank to be void of acropora for aprox 7 days. this seef about right?

on a separate note it's painful Joe's Juicing the remaining acro that has encrusted on the rock.

this seem like an appropriate treatment? LMK.

Thanks to all that replied.

[jmick]

I treated my tank about a month ago and decided to nuke the display 3 times over a week. I had considered setting up a qt and only treating my sps but was worried that some redbugs might linger in the display and reinfect. Tank has been RB free the last month.

[Frankysreef]

according to the directions, you need to treat 3 times over a period of 3 weeks.

This allows the eggs to hatch, and kill the larvae.

The last treatment is a sure all kill.

eggs are hard to kill....

[t0mmy108]

I don't think there has ever been evidence that they "lay eggs"
...from...

http://www.ericborneman.com/Tegastes-content/Research.html

Reproduction and Development of Tegastes acroporanus

There has been some speculation that repeated treatments of tanks of colonies is required to ensure that eggs or larval stages are killed after adults are killed. The anatomy of the copepods shows a prominent brood pouch. Brood pouches usually mean that the species brood their young. Also, many obligate marine parasites are direct developers, giving them a higher fitness since complex larval cycles would limit their likelihood of finding a host and direct development allows for immediate host access. I took a small fragment of Acropora and examined it under an Olympus dissecting scope and found five copepods present. I put the fragment in a 2.5 gallon tank on a piece of eggcrate suspended above the bottom by PVC and placed the tank on a stir plate with a magnetic stirrer. I needed to provide adequate water flow to keep the coral alive (hence no airstone) and no powerheads lest the putative larval stages or free-swimming juveniles or adults were killed. The tank was placed so as to receive indirect light for the coral, but not so much that the tank became too hot. I used freshly made and autoclaved sterile seawater. No other substrates were present. Fifteen days after placing the fragment in the tank, there were 18 copepods present. I filtered the 2.5 gallons of water under vacuum onto #2 Whatman filter papers and resuspended the filtrate in about 5ml of fresh seawater and examined it under the dissecting scope. Large numbers of diatoms were present, and I counted three or four larval polychaetes and one nematode. No copepods, eggs, or other larvae were present. Therefore, I make the assumption that these are direct developing copepods and there is no need to worry about larval stages.

[Frankysreef]

Since it is a real pia to do this treatment consider it cheap insurance.

[dots]

It only takes a couple of them to survive to repopulate.

From what I have read, there seems to be no conclusive edvidence yet that this treatment affects all the life stages, be it live bearing or egg laying.

From a statistical point of view, I think the odds would be in ones favor to use the recommened dosage or double for a longer period of time to increase ones odds.

As I am picking up some today to kill the little buggers......I will be putting my money where my mouth is on this one, and plan to spread the dosage over a time of three weeks to ensure I hit them all.

Its, kinda like taking all your antibiotics at the same time........is it better to take the whole bottle the first day, or slowly/ consistently over the course of days or weeks?

What I am still debating is the water changes......and when exactly does the interceptor become inert in the water. I would hate to change it out and waste it before its used up and not working anymore.

[Frankysreef]

When I did it I accidentally dosed 6x the recommended dosage the first time.

Fish were fine, but pods bit the dust, and a couple of bigger hermits survived.

My pistol shrimp and my old old cbs bit the dust, probly all the mysids in there too...

If I had any acro crabs left they bit the dust.

[dots]

With all the LE corals I have, as long as they surrivive thats really all I care about.......pods can be reseeded and hermits are a dime a dozen.....

How about clams? Any adverse affect to those?

[Rays]

Once a year ago, and once two mos. ago. Single dose slightly above recommended dose both times. I removed as many scarlet hermits and one skunk cleaner for 24 hours. I am RB free, and also found a couple of hermits in my sump that were overlooked the 2nd time. Pods were all on rebound within two weeks. Absolutely no problems with my two croceas. I'm not saying this is absolute, but it worked for me.
With all the LE corals I have
Me too!

[AndyB4784]

something in the sponge reacted weird with the interceptor. when i got from work today ALL millis were just skeletons and the other acros were dead save a chips. I lost over 800 in acros. sux.

[mc-cro]

dude that does suck!!!!

why do you think it was something in the sponge? is it possible you way overdosed?

I too am wondering, how long it stays in the water before becommingn inert. how soon can you do doses without waterchanges without the medication building up to toxic levels, possibly resulting in acro skeletons as Andy jsut had.

[AndyB4784]

I work at a LFS and we do have to treat for RB on occation. I did it the exact same way that we do it at work. It must have been something in the sponge that caused the reaction. I guess next time I have to do a RB treatment I'll go BB. I did a 100% WC after the first treatment. I didn't however wring out the sponge so what ever was reacting wasn't changed out completely. Hindsite... The crappy thing is I had some amazing tri-colors that I had never seen anywhere but in my tank. Oh well time to start rebuilding.

[t0mmy108]

i treated over the recommended dose for three days straight. Each day adding a new tab with out a water change. I finally did a 25% water change and replaced the carbon and kicked on the skimmer bubbles after day three. I thought all the crabs and shrimp should be dead but today being the fifth day, I found that the shrimp and hermit crabs left in the tank are still alive after four full tabs in three days. I suspect that some redbugs may have made it through as well. I just dropped another tab into my 180 today. I'll probably drop another tab two more days from now. I probably can't be sure they are all dead unless theres not a single pod, crab, shrimp or hermit left.

Andy, last time i tried treating in a quarantine system , I lost some acros as well. I contributed it to placing them in an immature and unstable environment. I always had better luck treating the whole display when doing long term treatments. Quarantine only worked for me on six hours or less tratments. But then again, those treatments never rid me of the red pests in the long run.