gahh tomorrow is going to be interesting

freeborder_01

freeborder_01

Member
I got a micromussa frag and it started to melt away 2 weeks after i got it. Not sure if anyone is familiar with this but its a pretty common problem over on -- with people losing thousands of dollars in chalices, acans, favias, micros, ect due to some weird slow melting away. The flesh on one of the heads is slowly peeling off as though its being eaten away. No one knows what exactly is the cause but people have had success with stopping it using a heart worm med called interceptor. Tomorrow im going to go to some local vets with information on what it does and what my problem is to see if i can get a small pack of it (it needs a prescription). If i do get it i have to figure out how much to use for the amount of water im going to dip the coral in. Most people dose it to their tanks but my tank is pretty small and its known to kill pods and inverts and i dont want to kill my sexy shrimp so im going to try a dip.
Hopefully it works and the recession stops. I will try 3 dips. 1 a day for 3 days. I will post my results here if i remember. If the dip fails to work i will go out and buy mg alk and ca test kits because i heard the problem could also be low mg levels. I doubt this though because after reading 10 pages about this problem a couple people reported perfect water conditions but still recession and a weird white stringy mucas coming off where the flesh was leaving. Well tonight i noticed that mucus and i have been led to believe i have the parasite/infection/bacteria/bug that has led to a lot of people losing priceless colonies to melt aways (sounds like expensive zoas melting away)
wish me luck, i really am sad...i dont wanna lose my micro it was kinda expensive as far as what i usually spend and its a really pretty color.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
I always thought that the Interceptor treatment was for red bugs. Do you have and infestation of redbugs? I also thought that red bugs we a fairly specific acropora problem.
 
freeborder_01

freeborder_01

Member
id link the article but its to a different forum. It was first found to be very effective vs red bugs. As of last year people started using it on their lps tanks in which their sps were amazing, water was perfect yet acans, micros, chalices...ect were melting away to no avail of any other help. After proper dosing of the interceptor a lot of people reported that the recession stopped and the coral seemed to perk up and everything was fine.
Some people started using it in hospital tanks as a way to isolate the coral as interceptor has been known to kill inverts in the display tank. This is not a popular way to do it but its been done as a dip which is what i was going to use it for. Basically just place it in a bowl with tank water and what i felt was a good dose and then in an insulated container to try and keep the heat. Let it sit for an hour or two and then rinse and return to my tank.
One guy did it in a seperate tank and when he did the intereptor he noticed small black bugs that came out and were moving around in the skeleton where the flesh had just left. After an hour most of the bugs stopped moving, after 2 he said there was no more movement with them. I dont know if this is what is eating the flesh but w.e is the interceptor dip stopped the recession for him.
Lose of flesh has also been said to be caused by low mg levels which leads to low alk and ca. I dont believe this is the cause in my tank however i cant be 100% sure,m as i dont have the test kits. Its much cheaper for the time being to buy the interceptor and treat that because if it doesnt work it wont kill the coral.
I tried today but all the vets were closed as its sunday and the hospital place said they wouldnt be able to prescribe it. Im going to do another lugols dip today to see if i can at least slow the recession to buy myself time. I should be able to get some next weekend if i cant get it any sooner because im going home for the weekend and we have a small dog so im sure my vet will prescribe it.
Ill keep my progress posted, as of late last night post dip it had lost more flesh and when i dipped it i blew some of the lose flesh off pretty easily which means my suspicions were correct.
if the interceptor fails, then

[hr]
it ill let it melt away and buy some test kits when i get a job.
Wish me luck
edit: red bugs is an sps only thing, i have no sps, and therefore no redbugs. The interceptor is planned to treat whatever parasite i believe is affecting my micro.
 
rebelprettyboy

rebelprettyboy

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2937136
I always thought that the Interceptor treatment was for red bugs. Do you have and infestation of redbugs? I also thought that red bugs we a fairly specific acropora problem.
Interceptor is being used for many different thins now. A WHOLE LOT
 
freeborder_01

freeborder_01

Member
im gunna move the frag to a new spot with some better flow see if that helps, i just fed every single head including the half heads a piece of shrimp pellet i use to feed my sexy shrimp (its all i got because i left my mysis back at home :/ ) this includes the one thats losing flesh. i have no idea it looks amazing today minus the area its losing flesh everything was extended and super puffy. Good luck to me haha
 
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