SPS Predators - Your Experiences?

[Zibba]

I'm interested to hear what others have dealt with in their tanks? I think that it is important that we as a club make aware to others what we've been through in our tanks (just as mentioned by Julian Sprung).

So maybe I can start us off. I was shooting some close up pictures of this coral and it wasn't until I enlarged them on my computer that I could see it is heavily infested with red bugs.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z187/zibba02/Red-Bugs.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z187/zibba02/Red-Bugs--2.jpg

I've talked with our vet, and I will be getting some interceptor this week to begin the 3-week treatment. So if your up to it: what's your experience, quarantine regime, and general practice for trading corals?





FWIW - I feel like I just admitted I had an STD (which I don't!)...but I'm okay with it since I know that if we all are open about this it will ultimately be better for our community.

[mtfatwork]

Had AEFW once. Never again!!! LRB are a breeze compared to those basstards. Now every new coral goes into QT where it sits for a couple of months of observation. If after a couple of months it shows no signs of critters, it gets treated anyway :) .


If they are infested, they get treated. My treatment regimen has changed a couple of times along the way, and I will be testing the Sprung stuff this week on the QT corals. I am pretty sure they are clean, but I want to know how stressfull it is to the corals. I have tried every treatment available, and just go with what works for me :)

[Redwinger]

Well having had the AEFW and the LRB's all corals are observed. I have fought that battle once and do not want to do it ever again.

[MNGold15]

I have had LRB's before, and other than that I really have not had too much, i had some bug that started to take out my superman monti, and i dipped it and cut off the infested part. Ever since it has been doing great. I never really did take pics of the infested pieces, didn't ever think of it at the time. but since having them, I have made sure that every coral that I put into my system I inspect carefully. So far so good after the treatments. LRB treatment is pretty easy, just time consuming, and lots of water that needs to be changed out.

[mtfatwork]

I have had LRB's before, and other than that I really have not had too much, i had some bug that started to take out my superman monti, and i dipped it and cut off the infested part. Ever since it has been doing great. I never really did take pics of the infested pieces, didn't ever think of it at the time. but since having them, I have made sure that every coral that I put into my system I inspect carefully. So far so good after the treatments. LRB treatment is pretty easy, just time consuming, and lots of water that needs to be changed out.


Grant,


were they white things?

[MNGold15]

Grant,


were they white things?

The monti bugs? I do not believe they were nudis, but they were white. I looked all around the coral, and the underside, and saw very small white things, yes.

[mtfatwork]

they probably were the nudi's then. They were probably babies. You got monster lucky man :)

[Zibba]

I have everything needed to qt fish, but I'm not properly set up for qt'ing new coral additions (lack of lighting). Is dipping new arrivals enough? If so, can you recommend products that have worked in the past?

You're all right - the red bug treatment is pretty straight forward. I'm pretty sure I don't have AEFW, but from what I've read, they tend to "roll" together.

I don't know what it is, but I keep thinking of HIV/AIDs when thinking of these parasites. Seems like we could all stop spreading it if we just used adequate "protection" (reef condoms?) and were properly informed. Unfortunately, for me, I was neither prepared nor informed (and I blame this on one person - MYSELF!).

[MNGold15]

they probably were the nudi's then. They were probably babies. You got monster lucky man :)

Lol yea could be i guess, I had only like 4 other montis in the system at time, but one was the pokerstar, and a few other nice ones that I cant think of, lol. But boy they could sure destroy the coral fast. They had taken the coral out about .5" from the edge of this one side in one day! I know the piece was a wild caught, so it could easily have had them I guess. :doh: But thankfully I have not seen any signs of them since, which was a few months ago, and the coral has started to encrust back onto where I had taken the huge piece off.

[Zibba]

Anyone else?

[David Grigor]

Ultimately, your responsible for protecting yourself. LFS have so much turnover there is just no wait you can expect everything to come to you clean. Same goes with trading. I don't think anyone can absolutely say with 100% certainty that you don't have some of these pests ( and even so I'd never take anyones word for it - no offense to anyone ) so again must do everything you can to protect yourself. While quarantine setup with good lighting may not be cheap, it's a necessary cost to having/collecting corals and mostly sps.

Everyone has or has had the redbugs. I don't care what you think, they are unavoidable if you have every bought a acro from a LFS or traded. Thankfully once the interceptor treatment was discovered they have been easy to treat.

I've never had any monti nudibranchs. Having seen how fast they can eat your montipora, I would know by now since it has been along time since adding any and they start eating them quite rapidly.

AEFW, luckily I had gotten out of sps and was just softy/lps when they started to run rampate in local coral trading within the club a few years back. I have caught 2 corals in quarantine that had AEFW both were from OD and the corals were on the decline. Caught early enough and constantly keeping a watch for warning signs with your corals, I don't see AEFW as being as disasterous as they were when they were pretty much unknown. Corals growing and no signs of any recession at the base or undersides you should be fine. At the first suspection coral has to be taken out and closely monitored. If that means the rock has to come with it then so be it. You just can't take the chance and do nothing or just assume it is just becuase coral shading etc.

Zoanthid nudibranchs are pretty much guaranteed on wild caught zoanthids. If you have bought some and didn't specifically treat/quarantine then chances are very high your have them.

Just about everything, it is much easier and inspect and treat frags than a whole colony. This is why I don't buy colonies anymore not matter how tempting a wild caught or mariculted cool coral may be at the LFS.......

[Zibba]

I completely agree that it is up to the individual to protect themselves when buying or trading any exotic species. Whether it be fish, coral, or whatever...

I think that the importance of some of these steps in acquiring such amazing specimens and actually being successful at it, is increasingly appreciated as one gains experience. I'm very new to this hobby, especially in respect to other members on this form, but (as cliche as this is may sound) if I knew then what I know now, my approach to beginning hobby would be completely different. I guess what I'm saying is that I now understand the importance of quarantining.

Ok that was a digression from the topic of this thread - so back on topic...

Can you comment on your coral quarantine set-up? Do you do specific "baths" or "dips"?

[Zibba]

I will be testing the Sprung stuff this week on the QT corals. I am pretty sure they are clean, but I want to know how stressfull it is to the corals. I have tried every treatment available, and just go with what works for me :)

You'll definitely have to report back on this Julian's product.

What else has worked for you?

[mtfatwork]

You'll definitely have to report back on this Julian's product.

What else has worked for you?


I have tried all of the following products:
Levimasole~ works, but is very harsh on the corals, dismal survival rate
Betadine~ Italians swear by it. I tested it on a frag and it pissed the frag off pretty bad, but it is back and doing fine, no peeling of flesh or anything.
TMPCC~ This is kinda the standard right now I think. Fairly easy on the corals but freaking expensive to treat with. The other thing is according to the threads on reef central the concentration has to be fairly high, which sick corals will not like.
Fluke Tab~ This is my favorite so far, seems to be pretty darn easy on the corals, and CHEAP. Only downside to this is that you have to have a mature quarantine to do it or for some reason everything will die.

Next stop on the AEFW test track is the Coral Revive, I will let you know first thoughts on it next week :)