Fluke Tabs Solved My Blue Clove Polyp Problem!

I find this thread interesting, I have blue cloves in my tank and they grow all over but I have never had a single coral bothered by them. SPS push them back, LPS, ricordia etc all push these back and over run them rather than the cloves killing off other coral. To me they are like coraline, they simply grow where I havent placed a coral yet and spread up to the coral. Id much rather see these vs rock, but thats just my taste.

GSP, Xenia, zoas, shrooms etc are the opposite, I dont care what a zoa or shroom is worth or how bright it is, it will never go in my tank and march all over everything else. In fact I put every sundial snail I can find in my tank just to be sure I dont get a hitch hiker.

I guess my point is, if your concern is your other corals, I wouldnt worry. If you just dont like the look thats a different issue. Ive had these in my tank for years with just about everything from chalice, clams, sps, encrusing sps etc.
 
liquidfunk said:
I find this thread interesting, I have blue cloves in my tank and they grow all over but I have never had a single coral bothered by them. SPS push them back, LPS, ricordia etc all push these back and over run them rather than the cloves killing off other coral. To me they are like coraline, they simply grow where I havent placed a coral yet and spread up to the coral. Id much rather see these vs rock, but thats just my taste.

GSP, Xenia, zoas, shrooms etc are the opposite, I dont care what a zoa or shroom is worth or how bright it is, it will never go in my tank and march all over everything else. In fact I put every sundial snail I can find in my tank just to be sure I dont get a hitch hiker.

I guess my point is, if your concern is your other corals, I wouldnt worry. If you just dont like the look thats a different issue. Ive had these in my tank for years with just about everything from chalice, clams, sps, encrusing sps etc.
Click to expand...

Every reef tank is different. If they are not an issue in your tank, or you do not feel they are an issue, then don't do anything about it. But one thing no one should do is extrapolate that their reef tank and how things grow in their tank is representative of every other reef tank. It is just not an accurate process. Blue clove polyps in your tank do not necessarily grow/spread the same was an another person's tank. They may not threaten coral in your tank, but they definitely do in other tanks.

For some people they are not an issue, for others, a plague. I have a 100 mixed softy/LPS tank that has had blue cloves in it for several years and they are not an issue at all. They stay in one spot and don't invade other space. In my 300 gallon SPS tank they were an absolute plague. I started this thread based on the plague they were in the 300, not as the welcome member they are in my 100.

One factor related to these blue clove polyps relatively undiscussed is their overall impact on water quality. For example, in my 300 gallon SPS tank there was, guesstimated, roughly 4-5 square feet of the stuff on my Totoka rock. Refer to the before/after pics I posted when I started this thread. All animals secrete nitrogenous waste, mucous, hormones, alleles, whatever. In my 300 gallon when the blue clove polyps were at their worst, my ORP could not go above 250 (pretty low). After treatment, my average ORP went up by 100 to 350, or a 40% increase. My tank water became much cleaner after I got rid of the blue clove polyps, and the ORP went up. The BCP were easily the dominant form of life in the 300 gallon.
 
That's a good point acroporaaddict, I do let others know when sharing frags even if no cloves are present on the frag. Doubt it would transfer though.
I used to have a 100 pack of fluke tabs from when I had a store, they work awesome on AEFW, but the concentration is strong enough I don't think it would work as a whole tank treatment. If I have some still ill be happy to share, they will be 5-6 years old so I can't comment on potency anymore.
 
liquidfunk said:
That's a good point acroporaaddict, I do let others know when sharing frags even if no cloves are present on the frag. Doubt it would transfer though.
I used to have a 100 pack of fluke tabs from when I had a store, they work awesome on AEFW, but the concentration is strong enough I don't think it would work as a whole tank treatment. If I have some still ill be happy to share, they will be 5-6 years old so I can't comment on potency anymore.
Click to expand...
FYI, they will transfer. I got my bcp from introducing a frag, 2 actually, from a tank that had bcp in it but nothing on the plugs. I had never had bcp prior.
 
Well, finding this thread at the right time. Lately I have noticed that my bcp is starting to expand fairly rapidly. Not quit at plaque proportions but growing quickly. If everything goes as planned I will be upgrading tanks (125g) in the next few weeks.

I was thinking when I move my rocks over I would scrub and much off as I can then try the concentrated dip method before moving the rocks into the new tank. This will hopefully allow me to pull out my snails and potentially affected corals.

Does anyone know where I can get a tab or two?

Thanks, Matt
 
I'd love another few tabs to try again at full strength. My xs dip only knocked mine out for a few months and they have returned on a large rock in my dt that is full of my cherry zoas. In my case, I think it's just time to start ditching live rock and fragging out what I can without any substrate.

Liquidfunk - there are several species that are very different that are all lumped in the generic term "blue clove polyp". I've encountered at least 6 distinct species. 2 of them have survived my efforts to nuke them.

Dodger - they can reproduce sexually. Lucky you, getting free seeds...
 
TampaSnooker said:
Dodger - they can reproduce sexually. Lucky you, getting free seeds...
Click to expand...
Yay, lucky me.

I am just finishing up my third treatment, believe it or not! First 2 times, it reappeared within 4-6 weeks in same spot. It has not spread and only stays on an e-shopps frag rock. I followed the thread instructions but prior 2 times bcp (actually mine's more of a bwn/purp clove polyp) came back. Been 5 days today since I started the 3rd treatment. I will WC this afternoon, change out carbon and gfo and put reactors and skimmer back online. Hopefully 3rd time is the charm :deadhorse1:
 
I'm dodgerblews fan...I mean friend. I have the red clove polyps and the tabs wiped em out for awhile. I used 1 2/3 tabs in 130 gallons of water...either way...they came back grrrr.. time to try 2 tabs or that other treatment
 
didgerblew and chefzilla - can you post pics of your species? Mine is a posted earlier in the thread. 3rd treatment beginning this week for me...
 
I have pics of CP posted in this thread with some before and after first treatment. I have not seen any after 3rd treatment as of yet.

I also had no choice but to add a small toadstool leather back into my system 10-14 days after the last treatment (person who was holding it decided to break down his tank) and it is fine
 
Had a friend just use the tabs on her 55 that was covered. Worked great, and I got a free leathers lol.

And after seeing what they can do I won't even get a coral if I see cloves anywhere in the tank lol
 
givinggoodwill said:
I did this as well. Fluke tabs are not necessary, just get mebendazole (100 mg in vermox) or safeguard (febendazole).

All I lost was a purple gorgonian, Purple Candelabra Eco-Gorgâ„¢
(Plexaura flexuosa) .

Here's my treatment link:

http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/27441-mebendazole-to-kill-blue-clove-polyps/
Click to expand...

This is good info. Thanks for sharing an alternate source for this drug.

I did my 3rd treatment with Fluke Tabs on my 180 4 days ago with 2 tabs dosed. Lost 2/4 gorgonians and an urchin. Interestingly there are 2 purple plume gorgs and 1 is fine. My flat blade gorg is also fine. I think the other one I lost was a candelabra as well.

It looks like there is a side benefit in that the Fluke Tabs took out all of the hydroids. Now I have a tool against them, too. :)
 
Well I started this treatment yesterday. I did a water change of 15 gal just because the tank was due. I probably have around 30-35gal total volume. I used half a tab...
24 hrs later my pygmy angel is probably going to die by the time the lights go out today.. I don't have a hospital tank ready..
I lost 2 nassarius snails as well.
The polyps are definitely in recession.

I am thinking my dose was too much..


I turned off skimmer and removed carbon before adding the half tab which I dissolved prior to adding but it didn't dissolve well.. wondering if perhaps the angel consumed some or something. He was fine and lively yesterday before lights out.
 
Day 4..

BCP (or in my case brown/red CP) definite recession and have been since day one. No more fish casualties, but snails look to be struggling. My 2 turbos haven't moved today, and my Astrea have been dropping off the glass today...

My tank was so overrun I don't want to start skimmer and carbon too soon... holding out abit longer. I have 40% water change prepared, likely looking at Monday or Tuesday.

Got the hospital/Quarantine tank started too
 
My red cloves grew back :-( Maybe we need to do a few treatments within a few months time for them to be eradicated. I need to get a few more tabs or order the other meds. They are overtaking my zoas and sps again!!! Grrrrr
 
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