Red Bugs- Treatment with Interceptor Spectrum - Progress Thread

Hey All,

So yeah on Tuesday night I came home and as always look at my tank. Well I recently moved my SPS frag rack to the front pane of my tank for a bit more light and flow as the frags... although alive with polyp extension... weren't encrusting as fast as they should. So I noticed a small frag with some STN at the base that didn't have it the day prior. So I put my face to the glass and what do I see? Yep I see some Red Bugs. I've been really good about dipping the frags I've purchased... but honestly can't say if I dipped 100% depending on who they were from. Before anyone asks no I don't know where I picked up the aids, nor would I blame anyone as these things are SOOOO SMALL and don't always kill the coral so they can be difficult to spot.

Over the course of the last few months, I've lost a handful of small frags... nothing crazy but have been racking my brain as to the cause. My parameters have been stable, tank was looking good, and those acros not affected have great color. The couple frags I lost to slow STN were nice but nothing I can't get back... I just don't like losing corals... I mean who does?

This will be my RED BUG progress thread. From my reefer buddies that have dealt with this before, it sounds like a piece of cake and with 3 treatments in 3 weeks, I should be bug free.

Interceptor is what most use to kill the red bugs. Its a medication for dogs that helps prevent heartworm and other similar parasites. The new formula, which unfortunately is no longer sold in the U.S., is Interceptor Spectrum. The large chewables contain 23 mg milbemycin oxime/228 mg praziquantel . The original formula did not contain the prazi, so initially people were skeptical about using such a high dose of prazi in their reef tank and nervous their fish and livestock. Over the last few years, many have used the new formula with good results, effectively killing the Red Bugs while not harming their fish or corals. The treament will, however, most likely kill your shrimp, crabs, and beneficial pods. I've read some instances where some will survive, but the majority will not.

A friend gave me enough for my treatment, which from my research 1 Large Chew pill is enough to treat approximately 400 gallons. My tank has about 150 gallons, so I will divide the tablet in thirds and treat every Saturday for 3 weeks.

As a prophylactic, I also purchased Interceptor Spectrum from a website in Canada. I intend to dip future SPS in an interceptor bath to prevent future outbreaks, or to have some on hand in case the bugs find there way back in my system. You can find it here- http://www.megapetsupplies.com/interceptor-chewable-large-p-407.html

So after quite a bit of reading and speaking with friends, the following is my plan for treating my display tank. I don't have any hermits, and no shrimp with the exception of a Pistol Shrimp in my nano which I intend to capture.

1/3 (treating 150 gallons approx. )of a large chew will be dissolved in a small amount of warm / hot RODI , say half a cup. I will add another cup of fresh saltwater as well.

You are supposed to remove Carbon and GFO, which I don't have. Remove the airline from your skimmer so while the pump is still working, it won't be skimming. I wasn't sure about bio pellets, which I do have, but after some reading it seems the treatment won't affect bacterial populations so I will leave that running.

I will begin the treatment at 7am Saturday, pouring the mixture into a powerhead so its dispursed quickly into the tank.

After approx. 6 hours in the tank, I will do a 25% water change, add a fresh sock of carbon, and reconnect the air line on my skimmer.

The process will be repeating every 7 days for 3 weeks, so 3 treatments.

I'll post a FTS prior to dosing my system, and report back with the results.

Here is an informative thread from Melev's Reef-

http://www.melevsreef.com/node/655

Good Luck!

I would remove the Bio-pellets if you are disabling the skimmer.

why?
Gas exchange.
The increased bacterial biomass and growth decreases your dissolved O2 levels in the water column. By not using your skimmer, a drastic decrease of O2 and can cause stress to your reef inhabitants, if not death.

For only 6 hours though? And even with all the pumps running? Not sure I want the biopellets to go stagnant either. Maybe run the pellet reactor in a bucket with some tank water during the treatment?

oh yea thats true, 6 hours shouldn't hurt. I was thinking too fast.

But good luck with the treatment. I have yet to see someones tank go wrong with intercepter. I have used the spectrum as well and for someone reason, my sps love the treatment and not just because they are free of redbugs. There must be something in those chemicals that they love.

No sweat I would rather discuss various scenarios as I've never done this before. I have read on threads that its to do with the beef flavoring in the chew hahaha so not only am I killing Red Bug pests and treating my fish for flukes with the prazi... I'm also broadcast feeding the SPS haha

Treatment is pretty painless. Be prepared to treat more than once though.

I treated my tank a while back when I noticed a smooth, green acro with little red/orange specks. Smaller crabs all died, but larger hermits and emeralds lived(bummer). I also ran the skimmer with no air input and fuge. UV was off but, running water through it. The last treatment(3rd) was the heaviest dosage I used and, rather than doing a WC after the 6-8 hrs, I just added carbon and kept everything running.

Be aware the pills smell like meat, so try not to eat them.

Good luck bud

sent from this awsome galaxy note 4

i have also done a treatment with no water change and only carbon.

I may do more like 15 to 20 percent... alk is at 9 and I use instant ocean which is generally around 9 as well so the shock won't be great but changing 25% for three weeks straight could throw things off just a bit. Hmmm....

Thanks for the website Cody

Sad face.

Best of luck and I hope all goes well.
On a side note, i've read a bunch of times about Interceptor for red bugs on this forum. I was kind of amazed Interceptor is actually for dogs! I thought it was specific for reefing! Shows that I have a lot to learn regarding this reefing game....

I removed the skimmer cup and disconnected the air line.

Here is the large interceptor chew out of the package.

I used a knife and divided it into 3 equal pieces as best I could.

I put some RODI into this cup, and microwaved it so it was hot. Then cut the 1/3 chew into tiny pieces to help it dissolve quicker. It took about 10 minutes of stirring and smashing with a turnkey baster to almost completely dissolve.

I poured the mixture into some saltwater to dilute it some more. Also to cool the warm water I guess.

At about 7:15 this morning, I poured the interceptor / RODI / saltwater mixture through a net (to capture any chunks I may have missed) and into the tank near a powerhead.

At about 1:30pm today, I'm going to do a 25 gallon water change... I have approx. 150 gallons in my system. Then I'll add a sock of carbon to the sump, and turn the skimmer back on.

Good luck and thanks for sharing your experiences

Good luck!

Round 1 complete. I changed 25 gallons of water, added some carbon in a sock to my sump, and turned the skimmer back on.

Everything looks good, no snail deaths. I couldn't catch my pistol so I may have sacrificed him to the reef gods.

Several have told me that they've not done the water change after treatment, and have left it longer than 6 hours. I'm just playing it safe but may change a little less water next Round, and leave it in just a bit longer.

Crappy cell pic from yesterday but everything looks good so far. No snail deaths. Not sure if my pistol shrimp is a goner though. Only time will tell I guess.