AEFW or Black Bugs or both?

[Zero_Cool]

I had been losing SPS corals at a pretty good clip for several weeks. First ones I thought were just tissue necrosis but when I dipped them I found this (see picture and video)

Are these Black bugs or AEFW? How do you treat for this in tank as most of the corals are encrusted.

I have a melanarus and a 6-line plus 3 Springeri damsels. I dose KZ FlatwormStop daily.

Thank you in advance for any help that can be provided.

 

[cdemoss01]

I had been losing SPS corals at a pretty good clip for several weeks. First ones I thought were just tissue necrosis but when I dipped them I found this (see picture and video)

Are these Black bugs or AEFW? How do you treat for this in tank as most of the corals are encrusted.

I have a melanarus and a 6-line plus 3 Springeri damsels. I dose KZ FlatwormStop daily.

Thank you in advance for any help that can be provided.

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Zero_Cool]

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[jackson6745]

I never dealt with black bugs but I’m sure that I must have had them. White bugs I dealt with (hard to see) + red bugs. Those eggs looks like ones from Acro flatworms.

My suggestion would be to move all of your acros onto tiles in preparation for weekly dips in potassium chloride KCL and Bayer. I usually dip first in Bayer insecticide for 20 mins (this kills bugs), then dip in kcl to kill remaining flatworms if any and it also serves as a rinse for the Bayer. I would do this weekly for a month, and then hit the tank with interceptor just to make sure the bugs are dead.

 

[Zero_Cool]

I never dealt with black bugs but I’m sure that I must have had them. White bugs I dealt with (hard to see) + red bugs. Those eggs looks like ones from Acro flatworms.

My suggestion would be to move all of your acros onto tiles in preparation for weekly dips in potassium chloride KCL and Bayer. I usually dip first in Bayer insecticide for 20 mins (this kills bugs), then dip in kcl to kill remaining flatworms if any and it also serves as a rinse for the Bayer. I would do this weekly for a month, and then hit the tank with interceptor just to make sure the bugs are dead.

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[coral reeftank]

That is terrifying! I don't think these things are affected by the common dips used. I remember hearing something about the use of Prazi-pro or melafix as a dip for these pests. You may want to look into those options as well if the normal dips do not work.

Most "interceptor" sold today has praziquantel as an ingredient in addition to the milbemycin, so a strong dose, perhaps 4-10X (the red bug dose) may kill these as well.

 

[branbray07]

Greetings. good news and bad news.
BAD NEWS---- Black bugs..AKA the Devil.
GOOD NEWS--- You can beat them. I just did.
DIPS
As Allan stated, no dips work on them. Well i wouldn't say none, i only know of 2.
One being Dr G, which is impossible to find since i believe the discontinued it. Basically contains interceptor. Is you find it buy it, since its liquid gold. You can even do whole tank treatment with it.
Second dip. Professor Polyp's Bubble Bath Coral Dip. This one you can easily buy, and its very good. At least it worked for me. Its actually my new Favorite dip.
IN TANK TREATMENT
Interceptor
Problem is that you need a Vet to give you and RX. If not , Canadian websites sell it but i dont know how long it take. I was able to get it from a local reefer, who happens to be a Vet. He recommended 1 1/2 pill - 2 pills for my tank of the large 50-100 lbs interceptor plus pill. This contains 23mg of milbemycin/228g prazi. Milbemycin being what you need. I believe the recommended dosage is 23mg of Milbemycin (1 large dog 50-100lb pill) per 400 gallons. 3 doses every 7 days. But this is for red bugs , black bugs are extremely resistant so its recommended a 8x-10x the dosage. So basically 1 pill per 50 Gallons. You will for sure loose most if not all you inverts, but bugs will die. My SPS had full PE within 6 hrs. FIY Interceptor goes innert after about 24 hrs., Dont run carbon, but you can run skimmer with lid of . No water change necessary after treatment but you can do one after 48 hrs. Good Luck.

Jorge

 

[jackson6745]

Greetings. good news and bad news.
BAD NEWS---- Black bugs..AKA the Devil.
GOOD NEWS--- You can beat them. I just did.
DIPS
As Allan stated, no dips work on them. Well i wouldn't say none, i only know of 2.
One being Dr G, which is impossible to find since i believe the discontinued it. Basically contains interceptor. Is you find it buy it, since its liquid gold. You can even do whole tank treatment with it.
Second dip. Professor Polyp's Bubble Bath Coral Dip. This one you can easily buy, and its very good. At least it worked for me. Its actually my new Favorite dip.
IN TANK TREATMENT
Interceptor
Problem is that you need a Vet to give you and RX. If not , Canadian websites sell it but i dont know how long it take. I was able to get it from a local reefer, who happens to be a Vet. He recommended 1 1/2 pill - 2 pills for my tank of the large 50-100 lbs interceptor plus pill. This contains 23mg of milbemycin/228g prazi. Milbemycin being what you need. I believe the recommended dosage is 23mg of Milbemycin (1 large dog 50-100lb pill) per 400 gallons. 3 doses every 7 days. But this is for red bugs , black bugs are extremely resistant so its recommended a 8x-10x the dosage. So basically 1 pill per 50 Gallons. You will for sure loose most if not all you inverts, but bugs will die. My SPS had full PE within 6 hrs. FIY Interceptor goes innert after about 24 hrs., Dont run carbon, but you can run skimmer with lid of . No water change necessary after treatment but you can do one after 48 hrs. Good Luck.

Jorge

Hey Jorge,
Can you confirm that a bayer won't kill black bugs? It's the only dip that I used that killed white bugs. That stuff is so toxic that it seems to kill everything lol.

 

[branbray07]

Hey Jorge,
Can you confirm that a bayer won't kill black bugs? It's the only dip that I used that killed white bugs. That stuff is so toxic that it seems to kill everything lol.

Hey Jackson.
Unfortunately i cannot confirm this, however Bayer will always be my favorite dip. You are right , stuff is super toxic, yet basically harmless to corals beats me.But from i have read, it can be but at very very high doses. But, if it was able to kill white bugs( dealt with them as well, same method for blackbugs) then by all means give it a whirl. I wont lie ,i suspect the bugs got in my tank due to my laziness . Im currently coral sitting for a buddy who crashed his tank with KALK, and im housing all his survivors. I took his word he dipped with CoralRX(i believe him), but i didn't double up with the polyps bubble bath. That and i evicted both my workhorse wrasses (melanarus and mystery).

 

[Zero_Cool]

Greetings. good news and bad news.
BAD NEWS---- Black bugs..AKA the Devil.
GOOD NEWS--- You can beat them. I just did.
DIPS
As Allan stated, no dips work on them. Well i wouldn't say none, i only know of 2.
One being Dr G, which is impossible to find since i believe the discontinued it. Basically contains interceptor. Is you find it buy it, since its liquid gold. You can even do whole tank treatment with it.
Second dip. Professor Polyp's Bubble Bath Coral Dip. This one you can easily buy, and its very good. At least it worked for me. Its actually my new Favorite dip.
IN TANK TREATMENT
Interceptor
Problem is that you need a Vet to give you and RX. If not , Canadian websites sell it but i dont know how long it take. I was able to get it from a local reefer, who happens to be a Vet. He recommended 1 1/2 pill - 2 pills for my tank of the large 50-100 lbs interceptor plus pill. This contains 23mg of milbemycin/228g prazi. Milbemycin being what you need. I believe the recommended dosage is 23mg of Milbemycin (1 large dog 50-100lb pill) per 400 gallons. 3 doses every 7 days. But this is for red bugs , black bugs are extremely resistant so its recommended a 8x-10x the dosage. So basically 1 pill per 50 Gallons. You will for sure loose most if not all you inverts, but bugs will die. My SPS had full PE within 6 hrs. FIY Interceptor goes innert after about 24 hrs., Dont run carbon, but you can run skimmer with lid of . No water change necessary after treatment but you can do one after 48 hrs. Good Luck.

Jorge

Thank you for the detailed information. I have access to interceptor and it may come to this.

In my research I found dragon face pipefish will eat red bugs and I am considering adding a couple to see if they will do the same with black bugs.