White Bandit Acro Crab in birdsnest during interceptor treatment?

[GeoHawk]

I have a white bandit acro crab that is in one of my acros. Looks like this AcroCrab. I am hoping to keep him while I treat for red bugs in my tank, before adding new acros. I am planning on trying to get him into my birdsnest colony and then placing the birdsnest into qt tank with my other crabs. Does anyone have one of these guys in a birdsnest? I am planning on leaving him in this coral for 3 weeks while I treat my tank. Good idea? Should I just replace him in his acro between treatments?

 

[xxbrianxx]

I'm not positive on the exact type of acro crab, but I did have an acro crab in one of my birdsnest colonies. They transfer pretty easily too, all I had to do was grab him and drop him on a different colony. I transferred him between two different birdsnest colonies...if that helps.

 

[swannyson7]

I would just place him back in the acro after the treatment and keep the birdsnest in the tank during treatment. Even though redbugs don't feed off the mucus of Seriatopora, that doesn't mean that there won't be any redbugs on it. By pulling it out of the tank during the treatment and putting it back in later, you risk reintroducing redbugs to your tank. As I'm sure you've noticed seeing as you have them in your tank, they are quite prolific and two can become hundreds rather quickly. I'd imagine that the acro crab could easily survive the 24 treatment without an acro along with the water change and a few hours of running fresh carbon.

 

[cdness]

I have an old birdsnest colony I lost awhile back. If you have something like that see if he'll stay in there in QT. I'd give you mine if I was closer, but you may be able to find something similar locally.

 

[GeoHawk]

I would just place him back in the acro after the treatment and keep the birdsnest in the tank during treatment. Even though redbugs don't feed off the mucus of Seriatopora, that doesn't mean that there won't be any redbugs on it. By pulling it out of the tank during the treatment and putting it back in later, you risk reintroducing redbugs to your tank. As I'm sure you've noticed seeing as you have them in your tank, they are quite prolific and two can become hundreds rather quickly. I'd imagine that the acro crab could easily survive the 24 treatment without an acro along with the water change and a few hours of running fresh carbon.

I don't plan on returning the birdsnest colony to the tank. I am planning on treating the qt tank for redbugs with the birdsnest colony in it, after returning all of the crabs to the main tank. After treating the birdsnest colony and qt tank, I will likely sell the colony, as it has become to big for my tank, and I am just going to keep a frag of it. Of course I would never sell it to anyone before treating it. The acro crab would probably be happier in his acro between treatments though.

 

[GeoHawk]

On another note, does anyone have a good idea on how to catch a porcelain crab?

 

[mobatic]

If you're up late at night you can see them jumping from coral to coral.
The best way to catch them is during the night when they're on the sand or around the rocks, using your net or tongs you can attempt to catch them.

Or bait a small container next to the coral they reside in, pellets or frozen mysis works best. They'll crawl in there at night, rarely during the day as they're threatened.

Goodluck!

 

[GeoHawk]

I reintroduced my acro crab to its colony last night at about 10:00, after doing a 10 gallon water change and fresh carbon at 4:00 PM. After 12 hours he seems to still be alive and ok, but I was wondering if I reintroduced him to early? Total tank volume is 75 gallon. So far my peppermint survived the treatment in the aquarium.

 

[swannyson7]

He should be fine. The carbon will filter out any impurities relatively quickly.

 

[SAZAMA]

false, he will die. interceptor will kill all crabs and all shrimp.

 

[swannyson7]

false, he will die. interceptor will kill all crabs and all shrimp.

False... he already completed the treatment, did a water change, and ran carbon for several hours. I've dosed interceptor several times with the same process afterwards and haven't had any problems with losing crabs. I've even found crabs that were never removed prior to the treatment that had survived.

 

[GeoHawk]

So Should I leave him or take him out?

 

[swannyson7]

How big is your tank Geohawk? I've always completed about a 25 percent water change after the treatment.

 

[GeoHawk]

60 gallon with about 15 gallons sump

 

[swannyson7]

I'd do another 10-15 gallon water change to be on the safe side, but the crab will probably be ok without it. Some people don't do any waterchange after dosing interceptor. They just start their skimmers back up and run fresh carbon. If I remember correctly, Troylee has done that in the past without any problems.

 

[Troylee]

yup no water changes after nuking...doesnt seem to bother anything honestly... carbon will do the trick fwiw.... now after reading this thread what all is in you quarantine tank just crabs??? nothing should be quarentined during a red bug treatment besides crabs and shrimp.... all corals and equipment should be running normal besides you skimmer airline.... hth..

 

[GeoHawk]

Ok this might sound dumb, but what is fwiw and hth? I have a few frags and birdsnest colony in the qt. I also have a bunch of crabs in there. I don't plan on returning the frags or colony to my display until after the qt tank has been treated as well. I know it sounds crazy, but I don't have anywhere to put some of the coral that is in the qt tank at the moment. Thanks again for the help and suggestions 2:30 and acro crab is still alive, and just ate a bloodworm that got caught in the acro. Hopefully he can continue to toughen it out and last 2 more treatments. I plan on doing another 5 gallon water change tonight just to be safe.

 

[swannyson7]

FWIW= For what it's worth
HTH= Hope that helps

Glad to hear that he's still doing well. The water change probably isn't necessary so I wouldnt get too stressed if you don't have time... it's more of a safety net than anything.

 

[GeoHawk]

I really appreciate the help it is comforting to have people to talk to when you don't know what your doing exactly. I will probably do the change, just because if I lose my acro crab I will be kicking myself. I don't know where I would get another one.

 

[swannyson7]

That's what we're here for! The first time I did an interceptor treatment I was checking on the tank every half hour to look for any RTN. After doing it a couple times, I feel confident that it's nothing to fear and won't be biting my fingernails if I ever have to dose interceptor again.