Killing Clove Polyps

[mtrott]

TLDR: but what's the easiest way to kill coral on a portion of rock?

Around 3 months ago I had a tank being overrun with with pest blue clove polyps. They slowly killed a large number of zoas and were growing up the bases of birdsnest corals and decimating everything they touched.

I went with the "nuclear" option, rehomed all the snails and soft corals, dosed fenbendazole to the entire tank (2mg/gallon), it worked for a bit, but not enough to completely eradicate them.

Try #2, I took 90% of the rock in the display tank and bleach-cured it. The remaining rock had corals attached, so I re-dosed with a double dose of 4 mg/ gallon in a separate holding tank for 3 weeks. Flash forward to today and those rocks are back in my display tank and... they still have some lingering clove polyps.

I'm looking for a way to go scorched earth on these things without having to break apart the montipora, setosas, and zoas, that are on the rocks.

Does anyone have a recommendation or success with Aiptasia-x, kalkwasser, boiling tank water, butane torch, etc. for clove polyps?

 

[BryanM]

It seems you went the right route, maybe just underdosed/didn't quite follow all of the instructions?

Fenbendazole – eliminate invasive soft corals (Blue Cloves Polyps, Xenia, Aiptasia, Hydriods, etc.)

For those wanting to eliminate invasive soft corals from their tanks; I can report that I successfully eradicated Blue Clove Polyps and Xenia from my tank. I used the canine de-wormer medication Fe…

maxdraco.wordpress.com

I suppose if I really wanted it gone again (and I would), I'd probably try and remove the corals from the rocks, and I'd probably buy new live rock... but I'd probably try the fenbensazole again first, as dumping and replacing live rock is quite expensive.

 

[mtrott]

I’m not sure what step I could have missed. No skimmer, no carbon, even delayed the water changes both times.

I followed these exact instructions and did 2mg/ gallon the first round and 4mg/ gallon the second. Max Draco only used 1mg/gallon. I saw results, but not total eradication

As the montipora is encrusting it’ll be hard if not impossible to take it off the rock and I have plenty of dry rock laying around so not too worried about the live rock

 

[Idech]

Can you take the rock out and keep the good corals under water in a bowl most of the time while scraping the clove polyps ?

 

[mtrott]

Can you take the rock out and keep the good corals under water in a bowl most of the time while scraping the clove polyps ?

Scraping is an option and I could wet with paper towels too as I scrape. That may be my first choice if nobody has a more efficient route they’d recommend.

 

[i cant think]

TLDR: but what's the easiest way to kill coral on a portion of rock?

Around 3 months ago I had a tank being overrun with with pest blue clove polyps. They slowly killed a large number of zoas and were growing up the bases of birdsnest corals and decimating everything they touched.

I went with the "nuclear" option, rehomed all the snails and soft corals, dosed fenbendazole to the entire tank (2mg/gallon), it worked for a bit, but not enough to completely eradicate them.

Try #2, I took 90% of the rock in the display tank and bleach-cured it. The remaining rock had corals attached, so I re-dosed with a double dose of 4 mg/ gallon in a separate holding tank for 3 weeks. Flash forward to today and those rocks are back in my display tank and... they still have some lingering clove polyps.

I'm looking for a way to go scorched earth on these things without having to break apart the montipora, setosas, and zoas, that are on the rocks.

Does anyone have a recommendation or success with Aiptasia-x, kalkwasser, boiling tank water, butane torch, etc. for clove polyps?

A Butterflyfish maybe? But it will risk the zoas.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

2 years ago I did a complete rock swap. I cycled rocks in a separate tank, then I pulled every single rock out of the tank, fragged every coral and mounted on the new rocks. It was a small tank, only 15 gallons, so this might or might not be possible depending on the tank size.