My Battle with Blue Clove Polyps (BCP) using Fenbendazole - success!

Reeferbadness

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After almost a year of being in denial and watching the BCP plague spread throughout. most of my 200G mixed reef tank, I finally worked up the courage
to try Fenbendazole as it's the only way that i found that can eradicate this plague. BCP, or in my case, ugly brown/red clove polyps started as just a few tufts
on a rock, likely came with a frag and slowly but surely became very ugly and a threat to other corals - especially Zoa's.

I was able to get some pure Fenbendazole from a friend. For an in depth look at how to use Fenbendazole, check out the WP post by Max Draco HERE

Here's a some before and after photos.

One note, i ended up using 1 packet of Thomas Labs Fenbendazole - each packet is 250MG. Max Drago suggests 1MG per Gallon - so i was a little over the 1/2 dose with 1 packet.

It worked incredibly well within 3 days or so, but after 2 weeks, i noticed not all the BCP was gone so it hit it again with another 250MG packet just to make sure. In hindsight, i would do the full or even slighly more dose (in my case, 400MG) straight away - hit 'em hard approach that many others on this forum have advised.

Other reactions: i tried to take out all inverts - but a few hermit crabs and a snail or two were left. Incredibly, the crabs are still alive but moving pretty slowly.

Corals: My Zoa's protested for a couple of days but came back in full. No other harm was caused to softies, SPS or LPS corals and, hopefully my BCP nightmare is finally over.

Phosphates/Algae: I did have a big spike in Phos - from 0.00 to 0.16 in 2 days - due to BCP die off likely,. This triggered an already problematic algae situation but once things calm down, i'll bring back a grip of Turbo Snails, a couple of tuxedo urchins and more hermit crabs to hopefully clean things up nicely.

So for those with BCP issues, hang in there, there are a variety of Fenbendazole available, don't wait until your tank is completely overrun and when you do take this path, hit it hard 1x and wait for the magic to happen.




IMG_1017.png IMG_1111.png IMG_1112.png Screen Shot 2023-02-07 at 8.45.55 AM.png
 
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Update on this.... BCP came back ! Ugggg. Very frustrating. I did read from others who had this issue that they recommended hitting BCP hard with a full or even higher dose (recommended full dose is 2mg per gallon) so, after 1 month and BCP making a strong come back, i picked up some Panacur Dog Dewormer that is 22% Fenbendazole and dosed it with 2 x 1 G packages - enough for 222 Gallons in my 200G tank. Hope this works.
 

Cristy17

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I replied on another post you had written before nuking your tank with Fenbendazole..How is the tank looking with the 22%? I hope it works...I have BCP and recently gave up..the zoas seem to be the worse affected.
 
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I replied on another post you had written before nuking your tank with Fenbendazole..How is the tank looking with the 22%? I hope it works...I have BCP and recently gave up..the zoas seem to be the worse affected.
The 22% at 2 x 1g packets - enough for a full dose for 222g in my 200g worked like a charm! No more BCP and all coral survived, even some crabs ( a large hermit + an emerald crab).
 

Cristy17

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The 22% at 2 x 1g packets - enough for a full dose for 222g in my 200g worked like a charm! No more BCP and all coral survived, even some crabs ( a large hermit + an emerald crab).
That is great news! I hope this will be it for you and BCP! Please let us know if things are still BCP free in a month. I am going to use your results as encouragement to try the 22% Fenbendazole! Thank you!
 
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That is great news! I hope this will be it for you and BCP! Please let us know if things are still BCP free in a month. I am going to use your results as encouragement to try the 22% Fenbendazole! Thank you!
It’s been a little over a month now and I am 100% BCP free!! Still dealing with some hair algae issues despite Nitrate barely detectable and Phos 0.00 - but I’ll take that over BCP menace any day.
 

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I'm about to do this but only have 65G mixed reef. since I only need ~0.07 grams ... I will have to get tiny scale.

I do have bubble tip anemone , will it make it or should I take out ?

Was there something else effected, any shrimps ?
 
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I'm about to do this but only have 65G mixed reef. since I only need ~0.07 grams ... I will have to get tiny scale.

I do have bubble tip anemone , will it make it or should I take out ?

Was there something else effected, any shrimps ?
Definitely use ur scale but u might want to use a little more than the standard amount - best to hit BCP hard and be done with it. As far as inverts, my Turbo snails were def affected, some like an emerald crab and a few hermit crabs survived without any issues. Not sure about anemone - should be but I’m Anenome free and don’t recall reading anything about them with this treatment.

One thing to watch out for is a Phos spike with the BCP die off - this caused an outbreak of hair algae which I’m still fighting.

Good luck !!
 

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Do you know how long after treatment I can put softies back in ? I have clove polyps, leather and some GSP that I would like to put back eventually.
 

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It’s been a little over a month now and I am 100% BCP free!! Still dealing with some hair algae issues despite Nitrate barely detectable and Phos 0.00 - but I’ll take that over BCP menace any day.
Try to get your pho’s up and the nitrates as when you zero them out you stand the risk of getting Dino’s
 
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Do you know how long after treatment I can put softies back in ? I have clove polyps, leather and some GSP that I would like to put back eventually.
It might take a while - I think about 4 weeks of 10-15% water change and u should be ok.
 
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Update on this: After 4 months, the Blue Clove Polyps came back!! Fck!! One thing I didn't do last time with the 22% x 2 1g packets (enough for 222 Gallons and i have a 200G tank) was turn off my Skimmer for 3 days. This time i'll do that also (per Max Draco's instructions: https://maxdraco.wordpress.com/2013...ue-cloves-polyps-xenia-aiptasia-hydriods-etc/). At least this process is easier than the battle i had with hair algae - grind packet, mix with water, dump in tank, wait... Pretty painless and most of my invertebrates lived last time - so hoping for the same this time (emerald crab, 5 urchins, a couple of hermit crabs)
 

Cristy17

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Update on this: After 4 months, the Blue Clove Polyps came back!! Fck!! One thing I didn't do last time with the 22% x 2 1g packets (enough for 222 Gallons and i have a 200G tank) was turn off my Skimmer for 3 days. This time i'll do that also (per Max Draco's instructions: https://maxdraco.wordpress.com/2013...ue-cloves-polyps-xenia-aiptasia-hydriods-etc/). At least this process is easier than the battle i had with hair algae - grind packet, mix with water, dump in tank, wait... Pretty painless and most of my invertebrates lived last time - so hoping for the same this time (emerald crab, 5 urchins, a couple of hermit crabs)
Darn..sorry to hear this. Thanks for the update. I still have not tried the Fenbendazole. I have been battling hair algae and bubble algae! I am sure you are a pro at using this stuff by now. Again, please keep us posted and good luck!
 

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I recently dosed the panacur into my sps heavy mixed reef and wanted to share my experience. I’m currently about 5 days into treatment. My blue cloves were very thick and have turned brown and are covered in a layer of death it looks like. Fingers crossed it works!

Params:
Nitrate: 8
Phosphate: .16
Alk: 9
Cal:450
Mag: 1345
SG 1.026

My nitrates have dropped to 4.4 and I’m 5 days in but I’m expecting that to change with the die off. Water change is on standby for that.

I didn’t grind the packets up so if it doesn’t work I will blame that but I don’t think it was necessary. My tank is about 150 gallons Total water volume and I dosed 1.5 packets roughly.

I added a ton of snails about a month ago and a lot perished that were hiding pre treatment (turbo, astera, trochus) although my conches seem okay along with emerald crab, red serpent star, peppermint shrimps. All of my coral seem totally fine. I have 6 torches, 12 gonis, 100s of sps and various LPS. I was mostly worried about acros and torches but they seem totally unaffected.
 

Oshanickreef

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Thanks for documenting this. Will this kill my shrimp?
I still see peppermints in my frag and display. My serpent star is fine. Conchs didn’t have any issues. I don’t have many hermits but they also lived. Lost all snails I didn’t find within 24 hours of dosing. Also lost a gold torch and big Walt Disney colony. I have been dosing prime two times per day and changing out carbon often since the torch died. I think those corals died due to the die off overload (ammonia) and also low flow. I had some dead spots and they were near very large thick clusters of the polyps and I think that combo nuked my two corals. I ramped up flow and have done 5 25% water changes. Everything seems great since dosing Prime. I have 2 other golds from the one that died and they are fine.
 

tcwoodrn

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Thanks for posting your story. I finally pulled the trigger and dosed fenbendazole after seeing a surge in BCP growth and wanting to hit it before it took the tank over. I’d say 20% or so of rock had it.

After 3 days the BCP was totally gone and at this point, 10 days later, they are all gone. I’m in the midst of a pretty bad algae outbreak. I did a 20% change on day 4 and another 20% on day 6. I plane to do another 10% today. My levels are fine, N3-4, phos 0.03 but I suspect that’s because the algae is consuming it.

My main question is, when are snails safe to add again? I pulled all snails out to a temporary home during the treatment and readded them after the first 20% change which I also added carbon and phosban. My astraea snails seem totally fine. My nerites not so much. I’d say half are mobile and half haven’t moved in days. They are tucked into their shells and don’t flop out or anything when I check them but they haven’t moved. I don’t want them sitting in my tank rotting. I’d like to purchase some replacements but I don’t know when I can expect them to be fine? Any thoughts?
 

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