Red Bug Question

H

Hoss

Well, I've got red bugs in my 60 gallon. I dip my corals...but have never used Interceptor in my dipping. Never had pest issues until these red bugs.

I am in the process of stocking my new 120 gallon. All I have in it is rock, fish and some inverts....all from a different tank. Nothing from my 60 gallon (red bug tank), has been transferred over to the new 120 gallon. My question is, can I transfer anything over to the 120, or do I need to completely treat the 60 gallon for Red Bugs first?

For example, I want to seed my new tank with sand from the 60 gallon, but could red bugs be xfered that way? What about soft coral or LPS? Can I move any of the coral over before treating? I really want to xfer some of the life (macro and pods) in the sump of my 60 gallon because it is just swarming with critters, but will there will be red bugs in the macro?

The problem is I can not get my hands on any interceptor. Anyone have some or know a salt friendly vet in the North Dallas area that would sell it to me? I've gone into two places and neither place would sell it to me...I even had an article about the treatment and a picture of my tank to try and help prove. No dice.

Thanks all........I am dying to get corals into the 120, but am hesitant right now.
 
I have treated for them several times over the years. I have done the specified treatment more than once and even doubled the strength of the Interceptor, without ever adding any other sps corals. Each time about 6-12 months down the road I would see them back again. I wish I could tell you that you could treat the entire tank and it would kill them off so that you could transfer things to the new tank without transferring the red bugs, but I can't. Best you can hope for is to try it and see if it works. If you treat all sps corals with a heavy dose during the transfer and then not transfer any live rock or any sand from the other tank you might get rid of them. But I think the reason it was so hard to get rid of them is you can never catch them when some them are not still in the so-called egg stage and the Interceptor does not kill them in that stage.
I have decided not to treat for them anymore by dosing the whole tank. I killed off all my crabs several times and the little acro crabs that live in acros are the first to die. I think killing off the acro crabs did more to damage some of my colonys over the years then the red bugs did.
 
Thanks Rick. I think I'll treat the entire tank first (as soon as I find some interceptor) and then treat each individual coral prior to putting in the 120 gallon.

I plan on catching as many crabs, snails and shrimp as I can prior to dosing so that I can save them. Now that the 120 is ready, I'll just put them in there.

Will Interceptor kill off the life in my sump? I've got a mandarin in the 60 gallon that is incredibly fat and has a ton of food, but if the interceptor kills off the pods...he may not make it.
 
Yes it will kill off the pods off all types. The so-called red bugs are just another type of isopod or copedpod, the Interceptor kills them all no matter what type or species.
 
That being said, pods will reappear later in the tank. Additionally, you can seed the tank with some new pods purchased at your LFS. Buy a bottle or two and add them to the reef at night when the fish are asleep so they can duck and take cover in the rockwork.
 
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