Red Bugs: Best way to remove?

[elephen]

As the subject says, whats the best way to get rid of these buggers?

I just found them on a frag I picked up from a local reefer. Should I throw out the frag, they are not on any other frags. It was sitting in a frag tray I have at the top of the tank with one other peice.

[shelburn61]

they can swim so you might still be in trouble. I wouldn't put it back in the tank without an interceptor treatment, and I would treat the nearby frag too. good luck

[elephen]

I have looked thorougly over the other frag it was about 3" from and have come up with nothing (even using a magnifying glass).

We'll see how it shakes out.

[cwegescheide]

tweezers!!! LOL just kiddin ya buddy.

YeahI'd say treat your whole system with Interceptor. Remove any crabs you don't want to kill though... I wiped out all my acro crabs and red legs... No red bugs anymore though..

FWIW its very difficult to spot those buggars on most corals. I just saw them on a contrasting colored coral. Only way I spotted them.

[nemofish2217]

i would say to NOT treat your whole system....do yourself a favor and QT all of your corals and treat them that way...i think you will have better results....it sounds like a pain but it really isn't that bad... it is how i treated my corals and everything looks great. Just plan on keeping the corals QT for about a week or so... here is the article that i referred to and guided me through...save your fauna!

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

[elephen]

Thanks for the input guys. Aparently the guy I got it from didn't know he had them, turns out he had a small group of them on one peice that happened to be sitting next to the frag he sold me.

[marine_freak]

Red bugs SUUUUUCCKKKK!!! Good luck with your treatment!!!

[elephen]

Thanks

[Unarce]

by elephen
the guy I got it from didn't know he had them

Which is usually the case when it's in the early stage. A lot of people assume they don't have them for awhile, as most of the numbers will be hiding within the corallites among the polyps. Over time, when the numbers increase, and real estate becomes scarce, will you see more of them crawling around.

I've had a couple of close calls, where I received infected frags from fellow aquarists that didn't know they had them either. Luckily, I put everything through Reef Dip.

Good luck!

[cwegescheide]

I still think tweezers is a viable option... ;)