Red bugs - safe after one good dip?

[Logzor]

Just dipped one of my tiny acros - i know it had red bugs. Went straight into QT.

I treated with a mixture of interceptor and iodine. I heated up the mixture as I read that it makes the interceptor dissolve faster.

Is this coral safe to go into the DT after this one dip. From what I understand red bugs do not lay eggs but carry them so I do not need to worry about an egg sack that did not get killed.

[dmilne85]

i learned the hard way. do all three treatments... i know its a pain.

[Logzor]

Even with only red bugs?

What *exact* steps did you take?

Just interceptor or iodine too, did you heat up the water first to help it dissolve?

[ros_sco]

For new corals I inspect and dip just once, but I do not have a QT. So far so good.

[Logzor]

Well I picked up this coral over a week ago, I did an iodine dip that day and have not noticed any red bugs on the coral for the last 6 days or so.

Tonight I am doing the real dip (as we speak).

Are the red bugs usually easy to spot? They were pretty easy to see when I first got the coral.

[GSMguy]

a good 6 hour dip works but you have to use lots of interceptor. and turkey baste, and run a small powerhead in the dip container.

[crvz]

No, redbugs are very hard to spot if you've never done it before.

[Logzor]

Thanks for the info. My MH wont get shipped in until I get off work. On my QT tank - that is actually a soft coral holding tank from my old tank tear down - not meant for sps.

I only have a 27w CFL bulb on their 5500k so I am worried this piece will die.

I noticed some TINY pe the other day but I fear it will die or already be dead. It is pretty white but the lime in the sky is very light piece anyways. I did a 2.5H dip of iodine and interceptor - could this have stressed it out and killed it? I was actually able to sit the glass in the tank on top of an eggcrate frag rack at the top so it still got light and the temp stayed the same.

Do you folks get the interceptor water to near boil first - i heard it speeds up the absorbencyi into the water x3 or so.

[landlord]

Logan - If it doesn't make it LMK. I got a colony of Lime In the Sky that needs fragging and you got some frozen food I'm interested in......

BTW - I've never boiled my interceptor water. Just ground it fine and did a looong 4+ hour dip.

[Logzor]

Good deal - I have a nice fat pack of food waiting for you regardless.

I think the lil guy is toast :(

My MH should be ship in today, my bro in law sent out a viper to me so hopefully that will bring it back into shape, maybe there will be some PE when I get home from work.

[Santoki]

Are you treating incoming frags only?
If so, one treatment with Interceptor will be enough. But it must be a standard treatment, not a "dip". No need to heat up water.
Also, iodine will not do anything to get rid of redbugs.
And yes, they are very hard to spot even to the trained eye, as they can hide in coral polyps.

[Logzor]

Yes, I used a small glass and put the frag in. Just incoming ones.