victoly Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 So i have been considering this for a while, but I finally took the plunge and did it. Following this blog: http://maxdraco.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/fenbendazole-eliminate-invasive-soft-corals-blue-cloves-polyps-xenia-aiptasia-hydriods-etc/ and this RC thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2153276 The first drug people used to do this were "fluke tabs" which I have a single tab of. The active ingredients are mebendazole and trichlorfon. Through experimentation similar to the maxdraco blog, i determined that mebendazole (he uses febendzole) is the active ingredient. I bought them from an online pharmacy (verm-ox, 100mg) and got free viagra! I dosed it at 1 mg/gallon, or about 1/3 pill for my tank. I left in chalices, acros, montis, zoas, shrooms and a clam. I removed my green tipped leather, tube worms, nepthea, conchs and hermits to another tank for treatment. Unfortunately, a heater freaked out and cooked everything in there (including a fire shrimp that I hadn't put into my DT!!!). Bummer. Anyway, i turned off my carbon and skimmer, crushed up 30/mg of the stuff and added it to a small cup of DI which I added to the tank. I treated for 3 days total and resumed skimming/Carbon/GFO on the 3rd day. My only direct casualty from treatment was a purple gorgonian. I had a cyphastrea which was kind of on the decline, and think it was stressed to death by the treatment as well. I don't think it was the cyphastrea species itself, as I have another cyph that did just fine. Here are the pictures. Day 1: Day 2: Day 3: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 FTS Post treatment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 We're the clownfish In the whole time? Any water parameter swings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Sucks about the losses. Are you completely BCP free? +1 to ckyuv's questions, did your PO4 or anything spike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 We're the clownfish In the whole time? Any water parameter swings? Fish were there the whole time. I haven't measured params yet, but I wouldnt be surprised to see some N/P due to the killing fields. I need to check soon. Sucks about the losses. Are you completely BCP free? +1 to ckyuv's questions, did your PO4 or anything spike? I think so! I got rid of most of my LR that had BCP, but I had a few frags that still had it, and I wanted to make **** sure it was all gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I don't need to kill anything...I actually don't need the viagra either...but I'm happy to give you a green polyped toadstool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I guess im missing it but where are the blue clove polyps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 4, 2013 Author Share Posted June 4, 2013 It used to be everywhere, but I bought new LR. Check around the eagle eye zoas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 4, 2013 Author Share Posted June 4, 2013 Nitrate is still zero (thanks skimmer!) but my phosphates have crept up a bit. My GFO was off for three days, plus the release of whatever phosphate was bound into anything that I nuked. Not a big deal though, just gonna change GFO and move along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 I would suggest doing at least 3 or 4 25% to 35% water changes over the next few weeks. With a dieoff of animals for whatever reason I would not be surprised to see a jump in nuicense algae in 6 - 10 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 For those interested, my PO4 did raise to 0.12, which is considerably higher than I typically run at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Did you ever do a water change or just turn the equipment back on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 Did 10% immediately after conclusion, and will do 10% every 3 days until I get my PO4 to 0.03-0.04 consistently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Nitrates still zero, phosphate was 0.14, so holding pretty steady at a high level. I've noticed some cyano on the sandbed, but vacuumed it up during water change. I'll continue with the 10% changes every few days until i make an impact. I'm also running pretty lean on GFO, and I just got in my high capacity GFO from BRS, so I may drop some of that in there and see where we go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 That's how it all starts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Don't you put that evil on me Ricky bobby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Weekend update? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 Phosphates are down to 0.04. My feather duster blew his top, not sure if that's related are not. I do have a bit of cyano on the sand bed, so I'm going to continue with the 10% WC's every few days. Not everything in the tank looks happy yet, not sure if it's because of residual chemicals or the previously high phosphate. I also put a whole tube of 2-part epoxy in the tank mounting frags, so my skimmer is going ape. You know how it is in reefing, you can't ever pin down a root cause because you're doing 10 things at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 +1 for catching the reference. -1 for not using the only acceptable image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishypets Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 How does aptasia fair with this treatment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 I don't have any, but from what I've read they are unaffected. Just get a copperband or berghia nudi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishypets Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Tried a CB and the purple tang quickly sliced and diced him. I also bought five berghia but haven't seen them in over a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 Update: No BCP to speak of. I've lost my feather duster as well, and a derasa I bought croaked. Also lost a tri-color valida I've had for a while and had some general bleaching on a few pieces. Hard to say if the treatment caused this, or was related to lack of carbon/gfo for that time period. In any event, some pieces that had lost color in the weeks preceding treatment have started to color back up. I still have some cyano on the sandbed in addition to some strings of it in various places on the tank. Just going to keep on with the water changes and hit my GFO again in 2 weeks instead of a month. Side note: LOVE the BRS high capacity. I can run much higher flow through it without it becoming totally suspended. It also seems "harder" and less flaky, if that makes any sense. I suspect after I did a bleaching on purigen I was running that it screwed up my system for a while. I've removed the purigen and am going to see how that affects my NO3 levels. PO4 is hanging out at 0.07 mg/l. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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