a new way to kill red bugs

[jhale]

okay I'm not killing them any different, but I am changing the location.
all but one of my acroporas are mounted on smaller rocks I can take out of the tank and stick in my 15 gallon QT. the one mounted on a large rock will be chiseled off and left on the rock itself.

as I understand it red bugs will live no more than five days without a host acropora, this is from research done by Eric Borneman a few years ago.

if this works the benefits are obvious, none of my pods or hermits will die, keeping the deadly poison under control will be much easier, I can don't have to worry about overdosing. I can do a large water change to remove the interceptor without having to make 100 gallons of water. I will be able to observe the coral up close to make sure the damn bugs are gone.

this only works because my tank is six months old and the colonies are not that big yet. if this happened a year from now it could be a bit harder.

if anyone has a reason for me not to try this let me know.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Sounds like a plan. Are you positive they die after 5 days without acros. It would be really good if you didnt have to kill your pod population and the snails. It would also make you life 100000000000000 times easiar just cause you wont have to change tons of H2O.

 

[jhale]

there won't be any acro in the tank for three weeks, they should die out in that time.
I'm not sure about the five days, but three weeks should do it.

 

[House of Laughter]

JH,

Interceptor in the mail this am at 8:30 - you should receive it tomorrow if not Wednesday

House

 

[ctxmonitor]

So you gonna take every single acropora in your tank and place them in a QT tank? That seem like alot of work.. Unless you have all of them on rock that is easily removable. Thats alot of acro in a 15Gal..

 

[jhale]

tom, all my acro are on small rocks I can pull out of the water much easier than all my emeralds, pods, and hermits. it will be tight but they will fit, they are not that big. if this happened a year from now I might not be able to do this.

 

[jhale]

thanks Jim!!

 

[ShaunW]

There are many reports on RC of people doing just what you are planning. It didn't work for them. By far the best way to deal with the bugs is to follow Dustin's killing procedure.

If it was my tank I would remove the hermits and crabs, before removing the acros.

 

[jhale]

well, I just put back the hermits and emeralds I had caught.

I don't mind trying the QT method first.

I think the reason it may not work for some is that they may have more coral in the tank than I do. If you have a piece of acro that has fallen off and is laying in the back of the tank you don't know about that's enough to keep the bugs going.
I know exactly what's in my tank I don't have to worry about it. If my three week treatment does not work, then we will know this method is not the way to go.
I'm trusting in Bornemans experiments and I'm confident the bugs will die out in that three week period. If not then aside from some salt I've not wasted anything but time.
we will see what happens.

 

[ShaunW]

What I would be most concerned about is your acros being in your QT tank! for all that time.

 

[jhale]

the acros will be fine, I'll have pc's to start with, then move a MH over after a few days. filtration is not a big deal as there will be no fish or anything pooping in the water. top off is easy, I'll be here to deal with that. alk and CA I can test for each morning, it will be like a coral spa. flow will be a bunch of power heads pointed at the glass for indirect flow, maybe some of the power heads from spykes if he can get them made soon. the temp will be controlled by the room a/c which keeps the bedroom chilly in the summer months, it never is turned off. I may even need a heater.

 

[ctxmonitor]

jon, hope it work out for you.. When will you be starting to treat your sps this way?

 

[jhale]

maybe tonight, I have to check the timing.
and the amount of water I have to do the change.

 

[Tim]

Dont be afraid to dose your whole tank.I made a major mistake in dosing my 110 with double the amount and had no ill affects to the blood shrimp I couldn`t get out.All of my sps and lps are doing well now.Good luck......The only good red bug is a dead red bug!

 

[House of Laughter]

Amen to that Tim

House