To fenbendazole or not fenbendazole

[Reniva Ma]

I recently got a pretty bad plague of blue clove polyps. They’re super unsightly and I’m seriously considering treating the full tank with fenbendazole. However I heard of the potential risk of causing ammonia spikes due to it killing all the cloves at once as well as worms and snails. Has anyone done it and is it worth the risk? I have lots of fancy acros that I do not wish to loose. I’m also worried of palytoxin build up assuming these are similar to other soft corals

 

[Subsea]

@Reniva Ma
Only zoanthus have palytoxins. Not so with clove polyps.


“Fenbendazole is a benzimidazole that presents a wide spectrum anthelmintic effect. It is used against a number of gastrointestinal parasites including giardia, roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, the Taenia genus of tapeworms, pinworms, aelurostrongylus, paragonimiasis, strongyles, and Strongyloides.“

@Jay Hemdal
Is Fenbendazole treatment for eradication of clove polyps in display appropriate?

PS: I have treated canines with Fenbendazole for parasitic worms. It amazes me what hobbiest will put into their reef tanks.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How big is your tank? I rip-cleaned my tank to get rid of clove polyps, but its only a 15 gallon. If its a small tank its feasible.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I used it on my 135 SPS tank. It was absolutely full of blue clove polyps and they were actually overtaking some of the acros.

I initially was feeding fenbendazole flakes, but ran out of patience after about 10 days and just dosed the dewormer. My snails, Clove polyps, and bristle worms all died and the acros were not happy. I lost 2 colonies and had some die off on others.

A few clove polyp patches eventually came back. I started feeding the flakes again and they killed off the remaining clove polyps after a couple weeks. There was no impact on anything else this time.

I highly recommend the flake route. I ran my skimmer and carbon the entire time.

Before:

After:

 

[JSR]

I used it on my 135 SPS tank. It was absolutely full of blue clove polyps and they were actually overtaking some of the acros.

I initially was feeding fenbendazole flakes, but ran out of patience after about 10 days and just dosed the dewormer. My snails, Clove polyps, and bristle worms all died and the acros were not happy. I lost 2 colonies and had some die off on others.

A few clove polyp patches eventually came back. I started feeding the flakes again and they killed off the remaining clove polyps after a couple weeks. There was no impact on anything else this time.

I highly recommend the flake route. I ran my skimmer and carbon the entire time.

Before:

After:

Are you saying you would only do the flakes; no dose? Think that would kill all?

What flakes are thise?

 

[bobnicaragua]

The flakes didn’t work. I dosed dog medication and left it in for about a month. The base of the clove polyps was a thick purple mat in some spots. I left the medication in until the bases dissolved.

I lost 4 acro colonies in the process.

This is what I used

 

[JSR]

Lose any zoas?

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I used it on my 135 SPS tank. It was absolutely full of blue clove polyps and they were actually overtaking some of the acros.

I initially was feeding fenbendazole flakes, but ran out of patience after about 10 days and just dosed the dewormer. My snails, Clove polyps, and bristle worms all died and the acros were not happy. I lost 2 colonies and had some die off on others.

A few clove polyp patches eventually came back. I started feeding the flakes again and they killed off the remaining clove polyps after a couple weeks. There was no impact on anything else this time.

I highly recommend the flake route. I ran my skimmer and carbon the entire time.

Before:

After:

I wish they still sold this. I have the purple, but not the green. I should have bought both.

 

[FishRN]

I used it in my 20 cube worked great for killing blue clove polyps. I couldn’t have snails or leather corals in the tank for about 6 months though.