Acropora with Red Bugs - Tegastes acroporanus
Picture taken January 2007, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Sigma 105mm EX macro lens

Red bugs (Tegastes acroporanus) are small "mite" like or flea shaped little critters called copepods about ½ millimeter in size which is a bit small for the naked eye to detect. Many reef keepers do not know they have a problem until they take macro photography images such as these. Red bugs can typically be found in the shaded areas under branches.

The first signs of an infestation is a loss of coral color and typically a reduction of polyp extension. A few Red Bugs would normally not be enough to kill an Acropora but in the closed system of our tanks with no predators the red bugs multiply rapidly and can suck the life out of an Acropora.

Acropora with Red Bugs - Tegastes acroporanus
Picture taken January 2007, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Sigma 105mm EX macro lens

An infested acropora can take weeks to months to die. Worse yet, once word gets out that you have them nobody will want to trade frags with you. Luckily it is not very difficult to treat red bugs.

I used the well documented cure of a dog medication called "Interceptor" which has the active ingredient Milbemycin oxime. I used three 12 hour treatments as outlined by Eric Borneman HERE.