Reefs.org Forums

[reefraf]

So far, what has been the fate of any acro crabs? While I certainly hate red bugs, I really love my acro crabs and wouldn't want to kill them. Any easy methods of extracting them before treatment?

[Blue Jester]

I was able to get my acro crabs out using two small plastic rods. I was able to work it near the base of the acro and then flick it off of the acro and into a small container of water. I put those in another tank (still in their container) with some rock for holding while performing the treatment.

They have been hanging out in the rock since, apparently ok thus far.

[ScavDog]

Tonight I came home and the tank looks great (24 hrs after the end of the first treatment). No bugs.

It's a damn good feeling.

Joe

[Paul A. Ifkovits]

At 48 hours after the treatment, everything is looking great! I examined all frags in my prop tank and I cannot find any traces of the bugs. It nay be my imagination, but I would swear my SPS look brighter...

[Greg Hiller]

So, better living through chemisty...should we pop the champangne corks yet? Seriously, great job Dustin on finding the cure and not turning it into a commercial venture.

[Blue Jester]

Going on around 72 hrs from start of treatment and everything looks good. Only possible affect on a pink milli colony is that it seems the polyps have browned a little..

Possibly they were always that color and maybe just had better extension? Not sure.. It was the only milli I had that was infested with red bugs. Everything else looks brighter and has better polyp extension.

[DustinDorton]

Too soon to pop the corks. We only have to miss a couple for them to pop back up in a couple of months. On the other hand, tanks seem to handle it so well, retreating whenever they pop back up might not be big deal.

There are two treatments left on the volunteer tanks, we wont know for months if it they pop back up.

[ReefRelated]

Will we know tonight what this treatment is? If not, when? I'm pretty excited after all this reading.

[ReefRelated]

How well do anemones handle this treatment? I recently got a Rose BTA and I would hate to loose it durring this treatment. It would be close to impossible to remove before treatment so I would have to leave it in the tank.

[mia1974]

I will be posting my final results in another 4 hours when the test is finished... also to the above post: I have 2 hadonni anemones and a RBTA, so far they look completely fine

[ReefRelated]

also to the above post: I have 2 hadonni anemones and a RBTA, so far they look completely fine

Great...thanks. I'm looking forward to trying this.

[smjtkj]

How does this effect blue and red leg crabs? Also, I saw that a cleaner shrimp was lost, how about coral banded shrimp?

[DustinDorton]

The medication name wont be released for at 2 - 3 more weeks.

Its safe to assume that any crustacean in the tank will probably die. Shrimp seem more sensitive to it than crabs do. Some people who are participating in the trials are removing them from their systems during the treatments. In my tests it was safe to replace them after some water changes were performed, and carbon added. After two more treatments by the volunteers, we will get a better handle on the long term effects of the medication on our good crustaceans.

[mia1974]

Tank specifics:

360 g mixed reef (mainly sps, many lps, 30 clams, 2 hadonni anenomes, 1 Rbta, ricordea, zoanthids, snails, various fish), I don't have any ornamental shrimp or hermits, I have 2 small acro crabs, but I cannot seem to locate which coral head they are residing in at present
3-4 " sandbed


I turned off the skimmer and I dosed the med as per Dustins instructions:

Hour 1: first indication med was working was the decreased amount of movement that the red bugs were showing (and we all know how fast these buggers can move), no change with any other inhabitants

Hour 2: most were alive, some bugs appeared to be hanging on, but were completely motionless. I could still see some on the humilis and secale I was eyeing specifically, but again the movements were somewhat sluggish

Hour 3: My 12+" efflorescens was exhibing some slime, but this coral does this regularily whenever I do a waterchange, or change the environment in anyway, polyp extension looked great. I had to really look the find any bugs that were moving at all...sometimes I couldn't tell no matter how hard I looked if they were alive or dead as they were still kinda hanging on but not moving

Hour 4: Acros seemed to have a lot less bugs on them (dead or alive) I guess they were blown off in the current once they died ..I couldn't find any that were moving, but some were still "stuck" to the acro.

Hour 5: Looked hard for the acro crabs, but they weren't in sight. I couldn't find them in the first place though. All corals/fish/anemones look fine-the same as before I added the med. Lobophyllia brain has its feeders extended.

Hour 6: No bugs to be found alive whatsoever. I must have stared for 15 min on those 2 specific acros that the bugs were attracted to, and still found none. No adverse reaction of any sort with any of the corals, efflo looking fine, no sliming.

I did proceed to do a 50g waterchange, and add carbon.

I will update in 24 hours to let you guys know if there there is any change or reaction, but it looks as if I did nothing right now, except that I am free of the Red Bugs

I will begin taking pics of one acro in particular that has never performed well, I am not sure if it was due to the bugs or just an unhealthy frag...it has been hanging on for about 1.5 years at this point...if it was the bugs, I should see a change within 2 weeks. The rest of my acros always looked fine despite the bugs.

Also: I forgot to add that I will search in the morning for any surviving pods...I have few as I have 4 wrasses which eat them all day long. I can still see some mysis in my sump though, not nearly as many as before, so they have taken a hit. If only a few remain then they will repopulate I suppose....

[DustinDorton]

Alright, one more successful test. Two more test weeks and maybe we can make some annoucements.

[ScavDog]

How well do anemones handle this treatment?

I had 2 rose bta's in the tank. Both look fine 4 days after the treatment.

[andrejka]

Fantastic!!! Thank you, Dustin!

I hope there will be no long-term effects on sandbeds (i suspect there might be one after treatment with Flatworm Exit, for example). Looking forward to hear the final outcome of the experiment.

[mia1974]

The only change I have seen today is increased acro polyp extension. No sign of any red bugs at all...

[andre]

I have two shrimp(cleaner,fire) both are still doing well.Polyp extension on the acro's is awesome.
Still no red bugs.

[Acro]

Dustin, A few questions for you. Why the additional 2 treatments? Do the bugs reappear with a single treatment or is it simply precationary? Also how long has the system/s you've treated been bug free? One more, have you noticed any cycling of the systems, do to die off of some of the bug life? Again great work by all involved.

Thanks,
Jamie