Eliminating Blue Clove Polyps with Fenbendazole

MnFish1 · Apr 14, 2021

Krheigh said:
I’ve been having problems with brownish close polyps. Been controlling them with Calc paste but can’t get to all stumble over this fenbendazole treatment posts.
I live in Sweden and it’s kinda hard to get hold on fenbendazole here in small pacs (1l smallest and its about 200/250$ And I would need 1-2 ml)
there is some deworming drugs but they contain much other stuff I even can’t pronounce
Any hints where I can get small pacs of it ?

Fembendazole is usually (I believe) sold as a powder, then dissolved slightly in alcohol (like vodka) - then diluted with water. I would be careful dosing a liquid - unless you know what its diluted in. You can google it - its available on many sites. And - many sites recommend that you treat the rock in a separate container - rather than in the display tank

menglish · Apr 14, 2021

Reef Oscar said:
After a few recurrences in my tank, the dose that finally killed the BCP permanently was:

-3 treatments of 2.5 mg per gallon, each two weeks apart.
-I left out carbon for 2 weeks after the last dose, for a total of 8 weeks.

Can you detail exactly what you did on one page? It would be nice to include a picture of what you had too. Lots of folks are having varing results and I think one of the issue is, there are different clove polyps people are using it on and it do not seems to work on all of them

menglish · Apr 14, 2021

@khazmodain

Have you started your treatment as yet? What have you done so far? What are you seeing?

thanks

Reefasaurus X · Apr 15, 2021

menglish said:
Can you detail exactly what you did on one page? It would be nice to include a picture of what you had too. Lots of folks are having varing results and I think one of the issue is, there are different clove polyps people are using it on and it do not seems to work on all of them

I'll be happy to detail it and show some pics. I'll also put it in bold letters, so people scrolling can find it easily

PERMANENT CURE FOR BCP

(at least for my tough case)

BACKGROUND:

About 10 years ago I got a frag from a guy who grew corals in his garage. Later, I noticed these cute little flowers (Brown Clove Polyps) growing from it. Attaching a close up pic of what they looked like. 1 year ago, the BCP had owned about 20% of my tank, was ugly and was bothering my corals. I had battled it with Kalk paste and lost. Then I started trying to kill it with fenbendazole after reading this thread. I won't bore you with the 3 attempts that only worked temporarily. With the failed attempts, 2-4 weeks after adding carbon, I would see tiny BCP starting to sprout up. The roots grow deep into the rocks and are hard to eradicate. I'll only spell out the treatment that worked permanently. I've been 100% BCP free for 4 months. I’m only speaking from my personal experience. Hopefully the same will work for you.

PRODUCT:

Fenbendazole by the brand name FISHBENDAZOLE. I bought it on Amazon, but it doesn’t appear to be there any longer. If you do a websearch for it, you can find it sold by various online retailers. Attaching a picture. Yes, it says not to use in aquariums with corals, which is probably good advice for beginners. If you’re reading this post, clearly you’re at the next level and you know what your doing.

TREATMENT:

2.5 mg per gallon – I used a 250mg packet to treat 100 gallons of water volume.

I warmed a 16 oz jar half filled with RO/DI water in the microwave, added the powder and shook it up really well.

I poured half the solution into the tank on one evening, then the rest the following evening. Tank water will look cloudy for a couple of hours, as the powder is white and doesn’t completely dissolve.

I repeated the same treatment 14 days later and again 14 days after that, for a total of three treatments.

You must keep your skimmer on. As the BCP dies off, especially in the beginning, it will fill your skimmer with some putrid smelling die-off.

You must leave out any carbon, as carbon will remove enough of the fenbendazole to make it ineffective against the BCP. I left the carbon out until 4 weeks after the third dose of fenbendazole, for a total of 8 weeks.

I did not remove phosguard, which I was running at the time.

I did one 15% water change at 4 weeks. I’d say, if you have a need to do a water change, go ahead. I don’t think it affects the fenbendazole level significantly.

SAFETY:

My LPS, SPS, Zoas, Palys and mushrooms were completely unharmed. Attaching a pic of my tank so you can see the variety of corals I have that were safe.

I had one out of two Acan colonies that didn’t do well during that time, but there may have been other factors affecting it.

Crabs and pods were fine.

I understand that fenbendazole harms snails, but I don’t use snails for CUC.

After the final treatment, my annoyingly high population or micro brittle stars disappeared as a bonus. So I’m assuming it’s not safe for starfish.

CORALS THAT WILL DIE:

Any trace of clove polyps and leather corals will shrivel up, die and disappear. GSP, zenia, BCP and anything of the like will die. If you’re going to introduce any of these after treatment, I would wait at least three months after adding carbon, then experiment with something cheap.

GRADITUDE:

I’m super thankful to Peanut, Menglish and everyone who experimented with Fenbendazole on their beloved corals in this endeavor and posted on this thread to guide the rest of us. I was getting ready to tear down my whole tank and start over because of this invasive plague of little brown flowers that was ruining my coral reef vibe. Now I’m stoked that they’re gone and I can move on with developing the coral reef that I love.

Peanut · Apr 15, 2021

Reef Oscar said:
I'll be happy to detail it and show some pics. I'll also put it in bold letters, so people scrolling can find it easily

PERMANENT CURE FOR BCP

(at least for my tough case)

BACKGROUND:

About 10 years ago I got a frag from a guy who grew corals in his garage. Later, I noticed these cute little flowers (Brown Clove Polyps) growing from it. Attaching a close up pic of what they looked like. 1 year ago, the BCP had owned about 20% of my tank, was ugly and was bothering my corals. I had battled it with Kalk paste and lost. Then I started trying to kill it with fenbendazole after reading this thread. I won't bore you with the 3 attempts that only worked temporarily. With the failed attempts, 2-4 weeks after adding carbon, I would see tiny BCP starting to sprout up. The roots grow deep into the rocks and are hard to eradicate. I'll only spell out the treatment that worked permanently. I've been 100% BCP free for 4 months. I’m only speaking from my personal experience. Hopefully the same will work for you.

PRODUCT:

Fenbendazole by the brand name FISHBENDAZOLE. I bought it on Amazon, but it doesn’t appear to be there any longer. If you do a websearch for it, you can find it sold by various online retailers. Attaching a picture. Yes, it says not to use in aquariums with corals, which is probably good advice for beginners. If you’re reading this post, clearly you’re at the next level and you know what your doing.

TREATMENT:

2.5 mg per gallon – I used a 250mg packet to treat 100 gallons of water volume.

I warmed a 16 oz jar half filled with RO/DI water in the microwave, added the powder and shook it up really well.

I poured half the solution into the tank on one evening, then the rest the following evening. Tank water will look cloudy for a couple of hours, as the powder is white and doesn’t completely dissolve.

I repeated the same treatment 14 days later and again 14 days after that, for a total of three treatments.

You must keep your skimmer on. As the BCP dies off, especially in the beginning, it will fill your skimmer with some putrid smelling die-off.

You must leave out any carbon, as carbon will remove enough of the fenbendazole to make it ineffective against the BCP. I left the carbon out until 4 weeks after the third dose of fenbendazole, for a total of 8 weeks.

I did not remove phosguard, which I was running at the time.

I did one 15% water change at 4 weeks. I’d say, if you have a need to do a water change, go ahead. I don’t think it affects the fenbendazole level significantly.

SAFETY:

My LPS, SPS, Zoas, Palys and mushrooms were completely unharmed. Attaching a pic of my tank so you can see the variety of corals I have that were safe.

I had one out of two Acan colonies that didn’t do well during that time, but there may have been other factors affecting it.

Crabs and pods were fine.

I understand that fenbendazole harms snails, but I don’t use snails for CUC.

After the final treatment, my annoyingly high population or micro brittle stars disappeared as a bonus. So I’m assuming it’s not safe for starfish.

CORALS THAT WILL DIE:

Any trace of clove polyps and leather corals will shrivel up, die and disappear. GSP, zenia, BCP and anything of the like will die. If you’re going to introduce any of these after treatment, I would wait at least three months after adding carbon, then experiment with something cheap.

GRADITUDE:

I’m super thankful to Peanut, Menglish and everyone who experimented with Fenbendazole on their beloved corals in this endeavor and posted on this thread to guide the rest of us. I was getting ready to tear down my whole tank and start over because of this invasive plague of little brown flowers that was ruining my coral reef vibe. Now I’m stoked that they’re gone and I can move on with developing the coral reef that I love.

thanks for your summary. great stuff!

menglish · Apr 15, 2021

@Reef Oscar
Excellent work with the wright up. I am happy this worked for you. Mine are back and i am thinking about trying your approach.
a few points of clarifications,
1) so you actually did a final concentrations of about 7.5 mg/gal for 42 days and only did one 15% wc during that time? is that correct?
2) The kind of BCP you have looks exactly like what i have so that is good to see.
3) The major difference between what you did and i did are ; a) i used the Canine dewormer and you used Fish fenbenzadole. b) My final concentration was 7 mg/gal and your was 7.5 mg/gal. c) My treatment lasted 7 days and your lasted 42.

So we have to hit these guys really hard.
I will try this.

FYI,
I was doing some research on similar drugs to try.

Fenbendazole is in a group of compounds call Benzimidazoles.
Others in this group that i was looking at are oxfendazole and albendazole (there are other as well). I was interested in these two because they have a longer half-life similar to fenbendazole and are not repidly metabolized to inactive products.

So, if someone out there wants to do some experiments on other potential treatment options, i would suggest they start with oxfendazole and albendazole

Much thanks

Milton

MnFish1 · Apr 15, 2021

Those do not look 'brown'. I would before any medication in a display take out the rocks - and scrub/clean them. This is going to kill a lot of things in the tank that you can't see. IMHO

menglish · Apr 16, 2021

MnFish1 said:
Those do not look 'brown'. I would before any medication in a display take out the rocks - and scrub/clean them. This is going to kill a lot of things in the tank that you can't see. IMHO

Taking our rocks is simply not an option for me. I have a 180DT and it has been up for years and full of corals. This is a current state of the tank. My options are either to treat the tank or live with the infestations and seeing them every day is really bugging me

Reefasaurus X · Apr 16, 2021

menglish said:
@Reef Oscar
Excellent work with the wright up. I am happy this worked for you. Mine are back and i am thinking about trying your approach.
a few points of clarifications,
1) so you actually did a final concentrations of about 7.5 mg/gal for 42 days and only did one 15% wc during that time? is that correct?
2) The kind of BCP you have looks exactly like what i have so that is good to see.
3) The major difference between what you did and i did are ; a) i used the Canine dewormer and you used Fish fenbenzadole. b) My final concentration was 7 mg/gal and your was 7.5 mg/gal. c) My treatment lasted 7 days and your lasted 42.

So we have to hit these guys really hard.
I will try this.

FYI,
I was doing some research on similar drugs to try.

Fenbendazole is in a group of compounds call Benzimidazoles.
Others in this group that i was looking at are oxfendazole and albendazole (there are other as well). I was interested in these two because they have a longer half-life similar to fenbendazole and are not repidly metabolized to inactive products.

So, if someone out there wants to do some experiments on other potential treatment options, i would suggest they start with oxfendazole and albendazole

Much thanks

Milton

I’m glad you have the same type. They were very resistant as they kept coming back after some seemingly lengthy treatments. My theory is that the uglier and more bland looking the invader, the harder it is to kill I can confidently say now that they’re gone for good.

menglish said:
@Reef Oscar
Excellent work with the wright up. I am happy this worked for you. Mine are back and i am thinking about trying your approach.
a few points of clarifications,
1) so you actually did a final concentrations of about 7.5 mg/gal for 42 days and only did one 15% wc during that time? is that correct?
2) The kind of BCP you have looks exactly like what i have so that is good to see.
3) The major difference between what you did and i did are ; a) i used the Canine dewormer and you used Fish fenbenzadole. b) My final concentration was 7 mg/gal and your was 7.5 mg/gal. c) My treatment lasted 7 days and your lasted 42.

So we have to hit these guys really hard.
I will try this.

FYI,
I was doing some research on similar drugs to try.

Fenbendazole is in a group of compounds call Benzimidazoles.
Others in this group that i was looking at are oxfendazole and albendazole (there are other as well). I was interested in these two because they have a longer half-life similar to fenbendazole and are not repidly metabolized to inactive products.

So, if someone out there wants to do some experiments on other potential treatment options, i would suggest they start with oxfendazole and albendazole

Much thanks

Milton

Hey Milton,

That's interesting about the other compounds. I imagine, depending on where folks live, they may not have easy access to fenbendazole but maybe to the others.

I also agree that for some strains of BCP, we have to hit them hard. Over a years time, I increased the dose and duration until I finally achieved a permanently effective dose. All the time, I monitored my corals looking for the slightest bit of harm and I never saw it. Did my previous three treatments contribute towards the final treatment working? Maybe. I can't really separate that. I would say that if you do get a recurrence and you haven't seen any coral harm, then retreat.

I regards to the clarifications you asked for:

1) so you actually did a final concentrations of about 7.5 mg/gal for 42 days and only did one 15% wc during that time? is that correct?
Yes

2) The kind of BCP you have looks exactly like what i have so that is good to see.
Cool. It should work for you then. Although I saw zero of the corals described as targets survive. So, I really think this will work on any strain of blue or brown clove polyps.

3) The major difference between what you did and i did are ; a) i used the Canine dewormer and you used Fish fenbenzadole. b) My final concentration was 7 mg/gal and your was 7.5 mg/gal. c) My treatment lasted 7 days and your lasted 42.
Yes. I think the key is to leave the fenbendazole active by not using carbon, for a long enough time to make sure that none of the roots embedded deep in the rocks survive. 7 days and 14 days that I previously tried, worked initially but the BCP came back. As far as using anything other than fenbendazole I can't really speak knowledgeably about it.

Keep us posted on how it goes. After all the frustration, it's a great feeling to have them gone for good!

MnFish1 · Apr 16, 2021

menglish said:
Taking our rocks is simply not an option for me. I have a 180DT and it has been up for years and full of corals. This is a current state of the tank. My options are either to treat the tank or live with the infestations and seeing them every day is really bugging me

MHO - you have a fantastic tank. My opinion only - unless they are crowding out - or killing your other corals - you are risking more with the medication than just 'enjoying' the diversity. 99.99999 percent of people here would kill for that tank - with double the polyps. On the other hand - I used a different method that worked - without chemicals - but was time consuming. Set up a 'python' or some other way of vacuuming - except fit a very small nozzle so the suction is very concentrated - and will suck up all the polpy - and just mow them over. Once done - try to place something over (coral , etc) - to block further growth. Again my opinion, the coral in your tank know how to fight off the polyps as well as the polyps fighting the coral. The coral will eventually outgrow them (hopefully) - if the coral is healthy

Peanut · Apr 17, 2021

MnFish1 said:
MHO - you have a fantastic tank. My opinion only - unless they are crowding out - or killing your other corals - you are risking more with the medication than just 'enjoying' the diversity. 99.99999 percent of people here would kill for that tank - with double the polyps. On the other hand - I used a different method that worked - without chemicals - but was time consuming. Set up a 'python' or some other way of vacuuming - except fit a very small nozzle so the suction is very concentrated - and will suck up all the polpy - and just mow them over. Once done - try to place something over (coral , etc) - to block further growth. Again my opinion, the coral in your tank know how to fight off the polyps as well as the polyps fighting the coral. The coral will eventually outgrow them (hopefully) - if the coral is healthy

unfortunately, no. the polyps will grow over everything, and it is not possible to just vacuum them out.

Trust me, I and everyone else who has done this was at the point where it was this or tear the tank down. Its a last resort so that I didn't have to quit the hobby, and thankfully it was nothing short of a miracle.

menglish · Apr 17, 2021

Thank you. It is not an easy decision for me. The left side of the tank is covered with them. I ve scrubed them off with a toothbrush, use kalk paste, blast them with flow and they still wont die. I have some new acro frags on that left side and they are growing up the frag and have killed a few of them. Now my OCD wont allow me to look pass it. I see them everyday and it bugs the crap out of me (i know it a risk, but dang, i am having a hard time seeing them and not doing anything. A huge risk. i know

Reefasaurus X · Apr 17, 2021

In agreement with Peanut & Menglish. By the time someone is willing to read 23 pages of a thread with the hopes of finding a method to kill BCP as a tank treatment, they’ve exhausted the obvious methods.

Here’s a pic of my tank. It’s not a matter of taking out a rock and scrubbing it. There’s no way to remove all the infected rocks without thrashing the corals. The BCP had spread all over the place, owning 20% my my real estate. The BCP intertwines with everything in the tank and inhibits corals. It grew up the stalk of an 8 head torch and killed it. It grows up and onto corals, inhibiting most and killing some. It especially inhibits SPS from encrusting and grows up onto acros.

Plus they have thread-like roots that grow deep into the pores of the rocks. I know of an LFS in the SFV that emptied their 800 gallon display tank because of BCP. They cleaned everything they could off the rocks and left them outside in the sun during summer for two weeks. They set up the tank again and after a month, started seeing the BCP growing back. They finally started over with all new rocks.

We wouldn’t be drugging our tanks if it was simply a small annoyance. But think of it like taking a drug to kill something bad in your body. If the benefit outweighs the risk, then you do it. Same thing here. Fortunately, many reefers that had the same problem came together and fixed it collectively. Unless someone’s too attached to their snails, leather corals and pulsing xenia, then they can know all their other awesome corals won’t be affected. And all those other corals will be happy as hell that they won’t have BCP crawling all over them. My tank started doing better in general after the first treatment, which worked, just not permanently. With 20% of my tank covered in them and growing up to or onto other corals, think of all the chemical warfare that was going on that’s now gone.

Like everyone else, I wouldn’t treat my tank with a medication without first exhausting the other options and without significant thought and research. In this case it was one of the best things I’ve done for the health of my aquarium.

menglish · May 5, 2021

Reef Oscar said:
In agreement with Peanut & Menglish. By the time someone is willing to read 23 pages of a thread with the hopes of finding a method to kill BCP as a tank treatment, they’ve exhausted the obvious methods.

Here’s a pic of my tank. It’s not a matter of taking out a rock and scrubbing it. There’s no way to remove all the infected rocks without thrashing the corals. The BCP had spread all over the place, owning 20% my my real estate. The BCP intertwines with everything in the tank and inhibits corals. It grew up the stalk of an 8 head torch and killed it. It grows up and onto corals, inhibiting most and killing some. It especially inhibits SPS from encrusting and grows up onto acros.

Plus they have thread-like roots that grow deep into the pores of the rocks. I know of an LFS in the SFV that emptied their 800 gallon display tank because of BCP. They cleaned everything they could off the rocks and left them outside in the sun during summer for two weeks. They set up the tank again and after a month, started seeing the BCP growing back. They finally started over with all new rocks.

We wouldn’t be drugging our tanks if it was simply a small annoyance. But think of it like taking a drug to kill something bad in your body. If the benefit outweighs the risk, then you do it. Same thing here. Fortunately, many reefers that had the same problem came together and fixed it collectively. Unless someone’s too attached to their snails, leather corals and pulsing xenia, then they can know all their other awesome corals won’t be affected. And all those other corals will be happy as hell that they won’t have BCP crawling all over them. My tank started doing better in general after the first treatment, which worked, just not permanently. With 20% of my tank covered in them and growing up to or onto other corals, think of all the chemical warfare that was going on that’s now gone.

Like everyone else, I wouldn’t treat my tank with a medication without first exhausting the other options and without significant thought and research. In this case it was one of the best things I’ve done for the health of my aquarium.