Help!! Black bugs on zoas...need help

alindell · Aug 4, 2024

So I started with seeing black bugs on my SPS and my zoa's. They are small black specs that can move quickly over the corals. Some montipora SPS frags have had them too. I have killed them with Bayer and coral rx on the SPS frags. They died pretty quickly.

I then bought interceptor for my tank and used that. 1 pill killed all the black bugs on the sos corals but I noticed the ones on the zoas didn't. I was surprised. I waited a week and then used 2 large interceptor pills. Still the black bugs on the zoas didn't die. I then took the rock with the zoa's out and did an iodine and coral rx dip. 20 caps for 4 gallons in the bucket so I went even more so than the Instructions . I know the rx has killed the black bugs on the SPS frags before so I thought this would work. After the dipping I noticed them still running around the zoa's. So I'm stuck... Interceptor and coral rx did not work for the bugs on the zoas. They must be a different species???

Any suggestions plz!! What can I do? I was thinking removing the rock and using a high concentration of Bayer and saltwater to pour over the rock. Do you think the rock will absorb the Bayer and even after rinsing the rock with fresh salt water, it will release into the display tank? I need help

bossman818 · Aug 4, 2024

Do you have a photo? Can these be copepods which are beneficial for your system?

Afterhoursaquarist · Aug 4, 2024

I had to use 1200% of the recommendation for killing white bugs. 600% wasnt effective. Try doubling the dosage ! No negative effects on my tangs at 6 tabs for 120g tank. Redbugs die with just the normal dosage. ( 1 tab per 340g) White bugs didnt even slow down at that dosage. Hope that helps!

alindell · Aug 4, 2024

bossman818 said:
Do you have a photo? Can these be copepods which are beneficial for your system?

They are so small. Can't really photograph. Like Little black specs. They move fairly quickly for their size. Anything else would have died from rx. These nasty buggers irritate the zoa's. I thought they weren't supposed to attack soft coral

alindell · Aug 4, 2024

Afterhoursaquarist said:
I had to use 1200% of the recommendation for killing white bugs. 600% wasnt effective. Try doubling the dosage ! No negative effects on my tangs at 6 tabs for 120g tank. Redbugs die with just the normal dosage. ( 1 tab per 340g) White bugs didnt even slow down at that dosage. Hope that helps!

I've got 3 pills left for about 120 plus gallon. This would be about 9 times the recommended amount. I've heard people say they have gone 10 times the amount without issue