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red bugs or not?

K

katlongo

I came home two days ago to find my giant colt partially shriveled up. This morning more of him looked to be melting away. I removed him from my tank and put him in a small QT. When I came home tonight, he looks like a goner and there are a gazillion, clearish, pinkish moving things on the walls of the QT? and now my kenya tree seems to be melting as well. As far as I have read so far they shouldn't be affecting my soft corals? or have I not read enough yet. My two SPS don't appear to have anything infesting them.
 
mynd

mynd

Not really sure redbugs are your problem. I know they are tiny but is there any way you can get a photo? I am sure you surfed the net for information but did you see this?

http://www.melevsreef.com/redbugs.html

If at all possible try and get a photo and sorry to hear about your loss.
 
C

concept3

Guest
Hey Kat- Red bugs only affect SPS and are very hard to see with the naked eye unless it is very heavily infested. I have no idea what could infect a colt coral, but I doubt the little buggers caused it, that's probably just an explosion of copepods from the excess nutrients or them coming out because the water quality has degraded from it dying.
 
K

katlongo

Thanks! I didn't read this until after I'd cleaned out my QT - washing all of the little things down the drain. I've cut off what is really dead and hopefully can get the rest of it to revive. My water parameters are pretty right on - mag is a little high and my nitrates are at a little less than 25 - probably from the dying colt. I guess I'll do a water change tomorrow and keep a close eye.

Mynd - they don't really look like Merv's picture. They're more pinkish, clear and flat (or they were).
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Red bugs = Yellow with a red spot.
Flat worms = pinkish to red to brown flat things. Sounds like that may be what you have, but that won't generally kill a coral. Do you have any other parameters out of wack?
 
K

katlongo

Absolutely everything else that I measure is within normal ranges. Coralline is growing, fish are happy, the caps are spreading like wildfire, the millie and birdsnest have never looked better! I'm short on snails and crabs (thank you Hawkfish) and my angel just started eating zooas. The colt is the only thing that has died (yet!)
 
K

katlongo

I read up on flat worms. I don't think that's what they were, either. Mine were perfectly oval not the shape that I see on line. The colt is totally dead so I'll do a big water change and see what's what.
 
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