red bugs happen to other people not me.

[NealNano]

That is what we always tell ourselves. Then one day while feeding it happens you see them! That new acro you just had to get has red bugs. Well thats my story any ways. The question is how much Interceptor should I dose to my tank? I have a 40 breeder with a 20 long sump/fuge, about 50 gallons of water total. Will Interceptor kill anything else in the tank (snails, shrimp, crabs, pods, macro)? Please feel free to share any knowledge and experiences.

[broke1]

I thought the same thing before I had them. 1 large pill treats 380 gallons. I over dosed mine severely and all the corals made it through. "shrimp, crabs, pods" can all be killed by it. It's not to say the will all die, but they could.

[NealNano]

Thats not good to hear. My fuge is full of mysis and pods and It will be a pain to find my pistal shrimp.

[joker577]

It killed a few of my craps, my prized fromia starfish :-(, and a peppermint shrimp

[broke1]

My fromia, linkia, and all the brittles made it through just fine. It should not effect starfish.

[kingsland]

You can get the dosage information here:

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=439155#439155

[dc_909]

I used 1 1/2 of the medium pills to treat my 120. Killed all 3 of my hermits, but did not affect my snails.

[s1214215]

I just read in another forum that pipefish and mandarins will eat red bugs. Anyone know about this?

Brett

[JR's Reef]

Ive heard the there is a pipe fish that will but i dont think the mandarin will

[NealNano]

I heard the same thing about mandarines, I got one yesturday. Thanks for all the info.

[mattT5]

The only proven way to totaly remove red bugs from your system is interceptor. Its scary to treat the first time but its no big deal, youll see, just remove all you inverts first.

[Mr James]

1/2 pill treated my 220g system. I did three treatments and I only lost my snails. Both shrimp and all crabs made it.

[snorvich]

Mandarins have no interest in redbugs. The only know treatment is interceptor. Some pipefish eat them but not enough to control them.

[matt the fiddler]

can you isolate your fuge for a month during treatment of the main tank?


that way.. if no acro polyps in it.. they die off. then you keep everything else in there.

[NealNano]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12780491#post12780491 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matt the fiddler
can you isolate your fuge for a month during treatment of the main tank?


that way.. if no acro polyps in it.. they die off. then you keep everything else in there.
That is a good idea, I may do that. Will I need to move my clams as well? I lost a baseball sized acro yesturday after a heavy dip. It was the infested colony. I also last the frag I made of the same colony to the same dipping. On the good side I have been watching for red bugs and have not seen any on my other colonies:) .

[NanoReefWanabe]

i have used a 1/3 of pill each time to dose my 20 gallon tank no problems or losses to brittle star, or any snails, lost 95% or more of all pods though, and what seems to be all red bugs..


not enough is known about the life cycle and reproductive cycle of these little buggers though, so taking you fuge off line is a bad idea IMHO...treat your entire water volume and be done with it...

no sense putting a bandaid over the problem just irradiate it....a dragon face pipe fish will only control the bugs..If you can get him to eat them...

just treat it an be done with it...or you will be doing it right the next time around....