Official "Red Bug" Statement

[Octopuss Garden]

Quote from Ron:

"We are aware of what is being said about the "red bugs" in our tank. I care first and foremost about the animals and their health. I see the bugs that are being referred to as the "red bugs" but I fully believe that they are some sort of pod or other reef creature. I have no sick animals because of these creatures, they are NOT crawling on any of my SPS and stick only to the tank walls and other surfaces. If they were red bugs we would be seeing them all over the sps and we would have issues with die off. We do not. I have consulted with one of the most respected SPS aquarists in San Diego and he agrees that they are not "red bugs". I have purchased Interceptor to have on hand in the case I DO find a problem. But I will not treat my whole system with medication for something that I do not see affecting my animals adversely. Interceptor while easy to treat could potentially kill shrimps and mushrooms and an unknown other amount of good organisms. I am not willing to do that when I am fully convinced the infestation was misdiagnosed.

As for the man that posted this accusation, I have banned him from my store because he posted something that was unfounded and untrue, but represented it as fact. He single-handedly caused me to NOTABLY lose business since this whole controversy came up. It should be considered liable and he should be held responsible for spreading information that has personally cost me money. I've had dozens of people in my store asking about the red bugs and no one has bought something out of my SPS tank in over a week all because one man chose to misinform the general public.

Please contact me directly at the store if you have any questions or concerns."

[Jessy]

I went there, personally don't think they are red bugs. I bought a cool Yellow Porites frag though... super happy with that.

[FlameHawk]

Post picture of that coral Jessy! I wanna see it.

Like I said on sdreefs forum, base on my experience I am not sure they are "red bugs" because in the past I will still see bugs on sps corals even when light is on, but the ones in OG I only see them on glasses, and pvc pipes...also many corals in that tank have good polyp extention, to that doesn't make sense if those things are red bugs.

Jasper, thanks for comfirming they are not the"Red Bugs" that people thinks it is.

[SDguy]

Thanks for the info Ron.

Just to give anyone else reading this, some more info, Chris Johnson (clkwrk) over on RC was nice enough to let me use his pictures, hopefully to clear up any confusion here.

Red bugs are SUPER tiny. Most people, even with good vision, will have a hard time seeing them, unless there are hundreds, or the light hits them just right, so they glow like a teeny tiny orange lightbulb. You certainly wouldn't notice them on any glass, pipes, rock, etc. Only on acros, and only with them moving around, catching the light, are they really noticable...and that's after a very long amount of time of just staring at the same coral branch

Here are some pics (please try to keep in mind the scale here....acro polyps are SMALL...red bugs are UBER tiny!!)

[Nanoreefbro]

Good info.. Thanks for the pics Peter.. Now let's get back to having fun...

[SDguy]

No prob.

Here's a bunch more info on pests, if anyone is interested:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...picture+thread

[Jessy]

Originally Posted by FlameHawk

Post picture of that coral Jessy! I wanna see it.

you'll have to excuse the cyano

[David M]

The planue (sp) of some spawning corals look a bit like red bugs accrding to a recent article in FAMA which I know all of you subscribe to. Has anyone considered this?

[FlameHawk]

thanks for the pix jessy

David you have link to that?

[SDguy]

Perhaps David, but if you've ever seen the speed with which redbugs move over/around acros...there is no mistaking it. Relative to size, it must be incredibly fast on a human scale