- Location
- Hudson Yards
Hey guys,
I just did a red bug treatment with Interceptor last night and thought I might share some info, since what I did differs a bit from the traditional treatment protocol. It might even be a little easier.
The first thing I did was remove all my acros to a separate treatment tank. Most of my acros are still small and only 3 had their bases encrusted on the rock (I knew there was a reason I never cut the stems of the aragonite plugs). I used a battery powered Dremmel Stylus with a diamond cutting blade to make some initial cuts in the LR. I then put a thin screwdtiver into the cuts and chiseled off a small chunk of rock with the coral attached. Worked like a charm.
I moved all the frags to a 5 gallon treatment tank that had a light and a MaxiJet 600 power head. The MJ 600 was the only spare power head I had and it turned out to be too big for the 5 gallon tank. In the first few hours the intense flow killed a few frags by peeling the flesh off them. :banghead:
When I saw what was happening I put a Hydor rotating deflector on the MaxiJet's outlet and that did the trick.
I got Interceptor pills from my vet. I just explained what I was doing and she sold them to me with no problem. Since I was doing the treatment in a small 5 gallon tank I opted to get the Interceptor pills for small dogs (2-10 pounds in the red box).
After doing a little math I calculated that 1/4 tablet would treat 10 gallons of water at the dosage recommended by Dorton. But after reading all the data on Eric Borneman's site I decided to follow his lead and double the dose and use 1/4 for 5 gallons of water and change the treatment time to 18 hours.
I crushed the 1/4 tablet into a powder and mixed it up in about 1/2 cup of RO/DI water and it dissolved readily. I added it to the treatment tank and watched. Not much happened for the 1st hour except for some corals exhibiting excess mucus. By the 2nd hour the red bugs were still moving, but much slower. By the 3rd hour none of them were moving, but still clinging to the corals. By the 6th hour all but a few were detached from the corals and drifting in the water column. By the 8th hour there were no more red bugs attached to any of the corals.
I left the medication in the tank overnight and finally did a 90% water change at hour 18, being careful to match the salinity exactly. 22 hours since the inception of treatment there are no signs of any red bugs left and the corals appear to be no worse for the experience.
I'll watch for the reappearance of any red bugs over the next week while all the acros remain in the treatment tank. If needed I'll repeat the treatment, but it think it will be unlikely. I think Borneman is correct in his hypothesis that it's the duration of treatment, rather than the number of treatments and the actual dosage, that is the key.
I'm going to keep all acros in the treatment with clean water for 7 day so as to deny any red bugs in the display tank a host and let them die off. Next Sunday I'll return all acros to the main tank and see what happens.
To be continued.......
I just did a red bug treatment with Interceptor last night and thought I might share some info, since what I did differs a bit from the traditional treatment protocol. It might even be a little easier.
The first thing I did was remove all my acros to a separate treatment tank. Most of my acros are still small and only 3 had their bases encrusted on the rock (I knew there was a reason I never cut the stems of the aragonite plugs). I used a battery powered Dremmel Stylus with a diamond cutting blade to make some initial cuts in the LR. I then put a thin screwdtiver into the cuts and chiseled off a small chunk of rock with the coral attached. Worked like a charm.
I moved all the frags to a 5 gallon treatment tank that had a light and a MaxiJet 600 power head. The MJ 600 was the only spare power head I had and it turned out to be too big for the 5 gallon tank. In the first few hours the intense flow killed a few frags by peeling the flesh off them. :banghead:
When I saw what was happening I put a Hydor rotating deflector on the MaxiJet's outlet and that did the trick.
I got Interceptor pills from my vet. I just explained what I was doing and she sold them to me with no problem. Since I was doing the treatment in a small 5 gallon tank I opted to get the Interceptor pills for small dogs (2-10 pounds in the red box).
After doing a little math I calculated that 1/4 tablet would treat 10 gallons of water at the dosage recommended by Dorton. But after reading all the data on Eric Borneman's site I decided to follow his lead and double the dose and use 1/4 for 5 gallons of water and change the treatment time to 18 hours.
I crushed the 1/4 tablet into a powder and mixed it up in about 1/2 cup of RO/DI water and it dissolved readily. I added it to the treatment tank and watched. Not much happened for the 1st hour except for some corals exhibiting excess mucus. By the 2nd hour the red bugs were still moving, but much slower. By the 3rd hour none of them were moving, but still clinging to the corals. By the 6th hour all but a few were detached from the corals and drifting in the water column. By the 8th hour there were no more red bugs attached to any of the corals.
I left the medication in the tank overnight and finally did a 90% water change at hour 18, being careful to match the salinity exactly. 22 hours since the inception of treatment there are no signs of any red bugs left and the corals appear to be no worse for the experience.
I'll watch for the reappearance of any red bugs over the next week while all the acros remain in the treatment tank. If needed I'll repeat the treatment, but it think it will be unlikely. I think Borneman is correct in his hypothesis that it's the duration of treatment, rather than the number of treatments and the actual dosage, that is the key.
I'm going to keep all acros in the treatment with clean water for 7 day so as to deny any red bugs in the display tank a host and let them die off. Next Sunday I'll return all acros to the main tank and see what happens.
To be continued.......
but thats cause i'm a lazy arse
