Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Red Bug - Sentinel Treatment



Picked up some new coral colonies, but they were infested with red bugs. Contacted my vet for some interceptor, but he said he doesn't stock any but he can give me sentinel instead.

Sentinel is similar to Interceptor, but additional ingredient of lufenuron, a chitin inhibitor (insect development inhibitor). Theoretically, Sentinel should be just as effective as Interceptor in killing the red bugs, provided that the same concentration of milbemycine is supplied. Whether the lufenuron will have any side effects, good or bad, shall be seen. I wonder if the lufenuron might prevent red bug eggs from hatching, and hence, removing the requirement for further treatment.
Dustin Dorton at ORA says he was able to kill the red bugs with Sentinel (source). No additional symptoms were recorded.

The Interceptor normally used by people is the White Interceptor Flavor Tabs for 51-100 lb dogs. One tab contains 23.0 mg of milbemycin oxime. The Sentinel I received is of smaller dosage, for 25-50 lb dogs. One tab contains 11.5 mg of milbemycin oxime and 230 mg of lufenuron.
I believe each tablet weights 1.0 gram (1000 mg). Recommended dose with Interceptor is 25 mg per 10 gallons of water. Some people say 2-4X that dose is better, upwards of even 10X. Since this Sentinel contains half the amount of milbemycin, I will dose twice the amount I should have dosed Interceptor.

My quarantine tank is a half filled 20 gallon long, about 10 gallons of water volume. 0.025 g of Interceptor, meaning 0.050 g of Sentinel.
2X dose - 0.100 g of Sentinal
4X dose - 0.200 g of Sentinal
10X dose - 0.500 g of Sentinal (half the tablet)

Day 1 - 3/18
~1X dose (~0.06 g) given at 3:40pm.
6 hour mark at 9:40 pm.

1 hour mark (4:40 pm) - Tissue necrosis on base of Oregon tort frag. Superglue applied on base to attempt to stem progression of necrosis. Oregon tort frag was one of two most heavily (red bug) infested pieces. (5:10 pm) - Signs of tissue necrosis at top of frag now.
2 hour mark (5:40 pm) - Did a ~30% water change and added a small bag of carbon to attempt to stop necrosis (and prevent any others as well). I will do a big water change tomorrow and try again with another dose. No other SPS show necrosis (yet?).
3 hour mark (6:40 pm) - No further necrosis noted. Majority of red bugs no longer visible; only one bug noted on the oregon tort piece (uncertain if noted bug is dead or alive). Further treatment will be required to ensure complete eradication.

I don't believe the necrosis was caused by the lufenuron per se. The tort and one other piece was flooded with red bugs (at least 20-30 on a 1-2" piece vs the other that had maybe a handful on a ~5" colony), and I have read that red bugs mess with SPS's slime coat. Perhaps it was weakened by the red bugs, stressed by the environmental change, and the addition of medicine just brought it over the edge. Also, the oregon and one other piece didn't have flow for 24 hours, which was additional cause for stress.

6 hours later - 9:40pm: All corals look fine, except for the oregon tort still looking stressed. No further necrosis noted. No red bugs noted.

14 1X doses of Sentinel are left. Will not increase dosage for further treatment. May do further subsequent treatments for select pieces, but will leave some pieces out (no additional treatments) for observation of red bug.

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