Unhappy Corals... ahh Red bugs

[stubbsz]

Hi, I posted about unhappy corals Unhappy-Corals
and I finally yanked out one really sad acro and noticed... can you guess from the title... red bugs. Not that many but after straining my eyes, I found a few.

I'm curious about these beasts. Is it only Acropora that they infect and is it all types of Acros? I've still got Acropora millepora that look pretty good to me where as my green slimer is browned, bleaching and polyp-challanged...yet not dead and I haven't spotted a bug yet... but I had trouble seeing them on the other stag.

Any evidence that other corals can be hit by them ?My montis look unhappy as I mentioned before as does a large Hydnophora.


I just can't make up my mid whether I should go for the entire tank intercepter blitz or whether I should put my acros in a Q.Tank... I have a 35 gallon hex that I guess I could use.... a few power heads knocking around but not much else...


If I go full tank I guess I'll diconnect the sump for a few weeks and put my hermits in there.

Anyway, if anyone can answer the questions... even if the answer is "no one knows yet", i'd be grateful

Any advice about how to set up a minimal QT tank.

Last Question. One Acro has an acro crab that I'd like to keep alive... what do I do with it... if I throw it in the sump refugium, I'll never see it again as it is tiny. Will it survive in jar with some fish food thrown in now and then?

Thanks for any advice.

-Adrian

 

[Len]

I'm sorry to hear that. With a bunch of affected colonies/frags, I'd just do the whole tank. Or try your luck with dragon pipefish, although I've heard only mixed results.

A minimal QT will require heater, lights (can be reduced a bit), and water movement. That's about all you need. A skimmer is a very nice addition if you can swing it.

For the acro crab, it'll likely live in a separate container, but I've never tried to be honest. Can you get a fake deco acro and use it as temporary shelter? Or if you have a dead acro skeleton around, use that.

 

[stubbsz]

Thanks Len. I might think about the pipe fish if they survive OK without redbugs and take prepared food... I know nothing about them though...yet. I want more fish in my tank as I have 5 fish in my 100g and only one of those is of any significant size.

What is really getting to me is that I can't see any on the acros now. I through out the heavily infected acro for a couple of reasons and I've stared through a magnifying glass all over the other sickly looking colonies and can't find any bugs... I'm starting to doubt I have them which is probably dumb. I'm at a point where I want it to be red bugs so I can treat and move on.

I'm moving toward whole-tank cure but I'm definitely going to work on the HEX and set up a QT.

-Adrian