red bugs

While taking a picture of the blue tort acropora that was recently mounted to the aquascape, I spotted something on the coral that I didn't want to see. To know for sure, I took a few more pictures with a couple of different lenses, trying to capture the exact spot I'd seen the first time.  It turned out to be real, I found two red bugs in my reef today.  

Red bugs (Tegastes acroporanus) are small flea-like beasts that can infest smooth-skinned acropora sp.   Some reefers have gone out of their way to eliminate them from their reef tank, but that is not the purpose of this article. I've seen them in my tank on occasion, but never worried much about them. Maybe if they did more damage, I'd be more concerned. Still, whatever coral I saw them on, the coral wasn't as happy as it could be, because these guys are like little blood-suckers.