Reefs.org Forums

[DustinDorton]

I am 6 doses into my intensive treatment and have 2 more to go. Everything is doing good, no red bugs to be found. There is a peppermint shrimp that refuses to die still. There some amphipods left, but no mysis.

I think people will start reporting results soon. It might take a while for everyone to get their medication and get it weighed.

[spencerx]

i see it is made by Novartis, my dad was the head of human resources for them until last year. I will ask him if he can find any "free samples" that i can distribute

[vitz]

i see it is made by Novartis, my dad was the head of human resources for them until last year. I will ask him if he can find any "free samples" that i can distribute

seeing as how it's a prescription drug, i'd think twice about doing that, and definitely wouldn't announce it publicly

[macc415583]

I performed the first treatment today.

I treated the tank at 9:30 this morning, after removing the carbon
and micron filter from my Ocean Clear canister.

I didn't remove any shrimp or crabs from my setup. I have approx.
24 scarlet hermits, one banded coral shrimp and a few commensural
crabs in the acro colonies.

I noticed no effects on the mites until the second or third hour of the
treatment. The mites stopped moving and, like others have reported,
many were "swaying" in the current from strands of coral mucous.
I haven't see the coral banded shrimp since the treatment was added,
but I really only see it at night or at feeding time. I also noted one of
the commensural acro crabs hanging upside down from a table acro
where he lives. It looked the like the crab was "dazed" as it would
lose it's grip and suddenly latch back onto the underside of the coral.
The scarlet hermits seemed "stunned" and motioneless except for their
antennae.

At 4:30pm (I know, it was 7 hours, not the prescribed 6th hour - but
I had to hang some shelves for the wife I performed the water change
and added a large bag of carbon and a new, clean mechanical cartridge
back on the Ocean Clear and fired the system back up.

I have yet to see one of those miserable orage/red terrors on any of
the previously affected corals. I'll report back after the next treatment,
7 days from now.

If this works, I am going to be one ecstatic reefer.

Thanks very much Dustin and also a large thanks to Jeremy R. at
Coral Reef Aquarium, who generously took the time during his busiest
days to prepare the doses for my tank.

Mike Accardi

[fishcraze2002]

Mike, good news. How did you mearsure your dose. Did you use a very accurate scale or an approximate amount? And what kind of corals do you have: all sps or mixed w/ softies and lps?
I have a mandarin in my tank.. wonder if the medication would kill all the little pods that this fish feeds on? Anyway, I'm waiting on my Interceptor order, and should be able to do the test next weekend.

[macc415583]

Fishcraze2002,

Jeremy at Coral Reef Aquariums is an hour away
from me. Once I received the Interceptor, I took a
ride down to see Jeremy and he was weighed the
doses for me.

[clyde]

curious, was your ocean clear filter complety empty of water ? or was it circulated during that time without filters ?

what about skimmers etc ? as I've read that ALL water in those items must be empited out

I performed the first treatment today.

I treated the tank at 9:30 this morning, after removing the carbon
and micron filter from my Ocean Clear canister.


At 4:30pm (I know, it was 7 hours, not the prescribed 6th hour - but
I had to hang some shelves for the wife I performed the water change
and added a large bag of carbon and a new, clean mechanical cartridge
back on the Ocean Clear and fired the system back up.

[macc415583]

clyde,

I removed the media (chemical/mechanical) from
the canister, but continued running system water
through both the canister and skimmer during the
treatment.

[DustinDorton]

Clyde, the water in them only has to be removed if they are going to be left offline during the treatment.

The ideal situation is to leave them running during treatment, that way you get medication inside of them. This goes for skimmers too. It should be running, but not producing any bubbles.

I never thought about mechanical filtration, it would probably be best to take it out as well. Just in case it has trapped bugs or eggs in it.

[Douglas S Lehman]

Hello
Has anyone used the smaller intercepter pills?
Large 23 mg Milbemycin Oxime = 380 gallons
Medium 11.5 mg " " = 180 gallons
small 5.75 mg " " = 90 gallons
X/small 2.3 mg " " = 38 gallons

I have already talked to our Vet (we have three dogs).
They stock all four sizes/doses and I tought it would be more
convenient than measuring out the large pills (23 mg M.O.)
She found it fascinating that we can keep/propagate corals,
let alone treat the sick ones.
Thanks for all your hard work Dustin

[ReefRelated]

I just recieved my Interceptor from http://www.canadapharmacy.com. If your having trouble finding it somewhere, this place sells it without prescription (for a decent price also) and I received it on time.

It is now 3:30 and I have begun my treatment. I will report back later with my results.

BTW, has anyone treated a tank with cleaner shrimp or snails in it and did they survive?

[-JB]

Good to hear you recieved it. Hopefully mine will be waiting for me when I get home!

[Paul A. Ifkovits]

BTW, has anyone treated a tank with cleaner shrimp or snails in it and did they survive?

My cleaner shrimp did not survive. But I believe I was in the minority with the group of testers in this regard. However when I saw him struggling to stand, I decided to take him out and place him in a quarentine system which may have added to his demise.
_________________
economic recession in us

[ReefRelated]

HeyJoe,
The Interceptor actually comes from Australia even thought Canada Pharmacy/Pet Options are located in Canada. I guess Australia doesn't require a prescription to buy it. Works for me.

Paul,
I was going to remove the cleaners but I really wanted to treat the whole system and not add anything back into it in fear of reinfestation. I'm pretty confident it would have been OK but I didn't want to take any chances. There could be larve or bugs in that water or even on the shrimp who knows. I guess I am just paranoid .

[DustinDorton]

I dont see any reason that the smaller pills wouldnt work. The only problem is, you need to get a weight on the large pills so you can figure out the ratio of medication to filler.
Strangely, not all the pills were the same exact weight.

The other question is, what exactly is the rest of the pill made out of? Hopefully its not some sort of algae nutrient. I am sure we could find this out.

Lastly, the 380 gallons was an approximation, dont treat your tank based on that.

[-JB]

HeyJoe,
The Interceptor actually comes from Australia even thought Canada Pharmacy/Pet Options are located in Canada. I guess Australia doesn't require a prescription to buy it. Works for me.

Mine came today as well.

[ReefRelated]

Well my test is done. I am a very happy camper. I started my treatment at 3:30pm today. By 6:30, it appeared all the bugs were dead. One particular coral that had the most bugs was completely clear of ALL bugs within three hours. I could still find a couple on other corals but they appeared dead and just haven't blown off yet. The best part of this whole process was watching this very tiny tri-color frag with green polyps. It was pure white and covered with bugs. It had been this way for at least 8 months. It would not grow and never even stuck out a single polyp. Within the 5th hour of treatment, the polyps were starting the come out about half way. Truely amazing. I thought this coral would have forgoten how to show it's polyps by now, it's been so long . These corals feel the effects of being bug free almost immediately. One strange thing that I noticed durring the treatment was, many of my bristle worms were out and about. I rarely see them durring the day but there seemd to be one in ever hole sticking his head out. I would dare to say I lost almost nothing including pods. I saw one dead pod floating in the tank that my leopard wrasse quickly ate up. I just looked in the sand bed of my fuge and there are tons of pods running around like normal. I haven't seen any mysis shrimp accept one swimming around durring the treatment. I will look closer later and see if I find some alive. I do see many very tiny bugs or pods running around that are much smaller then mysis. I watched both of my cleaner shrimp the whole time and they seemed fine just not moving around much. I lost site of them in the last hour of treatment. My guess is that they will be ok. My acro crabs seem like they are fine also. They didn't move much but I think they all survived. It doesn't seem to have any effect on snails. I noticed one snail continued to clean the rock nearly the whole time. Every coral looked great durring this proccess if not better. It seems to be a very friendly treatment on our systems. It is almost to good to be true. I feel very good. Dustin, your the man!

[fishcraze2002]

does anyone have a close-up pic on these bugs?? I notice the red/ orange bugs in the CYCLO-PEZE look very similar to the red bugs on the acro. The Cyclo peze bugs have 2 antenas on the head.. Can they be the same bugs

[DustinDorton]

fishcraze, i saw your post on the other board. Do some searches for the bugs on either board. There was an article written about them in Advanced Aquarist that had plenty of pictures.

Reefrelated, its good to hear your treatment went well, just two more to go. I start my last set tomorrow!

[ReefRelated]

I could see one of my cleaner shrimp this morning and he looks just fine. I looked for minute or so this morning and I didn't see any mysis in the fuge. I should have looked last night in the main tank after the lights went out but I forgot. I seem to have just as many pods running around in the fuge as before the treatment. I deffinately am going to do the next 2 treatments. Like Dustin said, once you do one treatment, you will feel more comfortable doing more. I did a 23% water change last night and this morning I am changing another 17%. I am running a Magnum filter full of carbon plus 2 more bags of carbon in each filter sock.

Fishcraze,
I believe that cyclop-eeze are much larger than a red bug though they do appear simular to the naked eye.