Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Jahdiel wrote: I highly suggest that everyone checks their tanks weekly for awhile. We all do frag swaps, and from posts made in LA this has been a real issue everywhere.

This is a great idea. I will not trade anything until I know that my tank is cured. Who knows where we got them but with how often we trade it could have come from anywhere.

I had previously warned people about those flat worms I had. I did 2 treatments with flatworm X and still had a lot left. I no longer have any. I guess it was the mandarine or the wrasse. Regardless its nice to know if anyone you traded with has any problems like this so it doesn't destroy your tank.

Hopefully I can find a vet my way that will give me some Interceptor.

Thanks FishFood! That's a really really sharp picture

in one way i wish it was mine and a way i wouldn't. The picture is great but the red bugs aren't. I don't even have a camera.

Wow that is an awesome pic of those reched creatures.

Who else has found these on their corals. I would love to have an idea of just how prevalent they are around these parts compared to others.

I think the best protective measure would be to have an extra 10 gal tank and little heater and powerhead and treat any new coral you recieve for the 6 hour period I read about for dips. Once I get mine cleared up thats what I plan on doing. Sure its a PITA but so is removing all your crabs and shrimp every time you have to treat the entire tank. I would imagine more people around have them but just don't know or realize it. I have no idea how long they have been in my tank so I couldn't tell you if anyone got them from me.

As you can tell from this thread, they have it there too, where everyone is trading frags. If our friends hadn't gone through it themselves and called us up, we would have had no idea. And as you remember, I was just ready to sell some corals, I too would have helped those buggers spread the grub. I am sure there are several out there with them and dont know it. Just as those that have flatworms, it just happens when we are not careful. But I know I for one will forever keep an eye on them now.

I once did a check for them about 2 months ago but couldn't see anything on any of the coral i check. I only could tell from this one that has turned practically white in the last week or so. They stick out like a sore thumb. I hadn't been looking for them this time until you posted about it. I was more concerned about my new ricordia staying attached the the rock i glued them to.

Yeah great picture Fishfood now I know what all the fuss is about.

I know what you mean as far as the vet looking at you oddly. I had to order acetazolamide (used for mental patients, sleep disorders, etc.) for my female seahorse, in addition to some syringes (which gets you the most attention )

I don't know that I would suspend all trades. I imagine that most people that have acros have them. I have even seen them on acros in stores. If they come from the wild and have no predators in our tanks they will become a problem and will continue to be shipped in.

If Interceptor is not available or the treatment is not an option you could try natural solutions. There have been posts that say certain fishes can help. Some that I remember are: 6-line wrasse, dragon faced pipe fish, mandarin, mainly pod eating or micro fauna grazing fish. The big problem is that one 6-line may eat them and the next may not.

I also believe that a healthy population of acro crabs will keep the flat worms and red bugs down. While a large portion of these crabs diet may be vegetarian, it is believed that they are in the acros not to pick food stuck to the tentacles but to eat the parasites. This is very rarely mentioned, but I believe it to be true based on a number of conversations with the big sps dogs on RC. There was also a conversation at MACNA last year about this. It was speculated that the number of crabs in large wild acros cannot be supported by the passing food they can catch alone.

It seems that a lot of the folks that have major problems grow from a substantial amount of frags instead of colonies. They have a poor crab to colony ratio. Those folks that have a substantial number of acro crabs, seem to be able to maintain lower concentrations of pests or no pests. I personally believe that it is hard to have a tank completely void of flat worms or red bugs.

I have very few frag colonies in my tank. Every colony with more than three branches has an acro crab or in most cases two. I seem to have a multiplying population of the white acro crabs that have a black band across their face. I have seen some small one in holes and crevices in my rocks as there is apparently no room for them in the acros.

It may pay for some of you to peruse the local stors for dead or dying corals to get the acro crabs. I have been doing that here in pensacola quite a bit. There is always at least one crab in every acro.

I know of at least one compnay that is going to try and capitalize on this market by marketing acro crabs.

This may be the case in some situations. But I can tell you that one of the acros that is infested in our tank, contains an acro crab.

That well and truly sucks. Do you by chance see it possibly picking from the acro? What kind is it?

You can see it in the first picture I posted. It is a fuzzy chocolate color. I don't ever see it do anything but sit there and get it's picture taken.

Well.. I looked and looked and I can't find any, but haven't traded anything in a long time, and I do Iodine dips for most all new stonies.

I did get some needed tank maintenence done.. did you know Xenia doesn't pulse while it's sitting in the bottom of the toilet