Clove Mania !

[roxy25]

Clove Pests

 

I have found a pest for cloves last year and I did not have a camera at the time, But I did draw this in paint

 

purple dot top view , green dot botton view, orange egg sacs

 

 

 

I finally got a picture of them from a friend

 

 

All of the white things in the picture are some kind of slug/nudis that eat cloves.

 

Some are that color and some are like the camouflage color ( in paint pic) . The type pictured has no optical tentacles and they don't move that much.

 

I found another type of nudi that was on the cloves but did not get a pic of that. Basically the other type looks like a land slug it has optical tentacles and is bleach white. They have a neon yellow dot near the rear with a small red dot on it. I am not sure if the second type was harmful it could have been a hitchhiker on accident but I found 2 of them on two separate occasions when I introduced new cloves to my tank. Unlike the slugs pictured these cruised around the tank. I didn’t want to chance it so I got rid of them both the minute I saw them lol.

 

I dipped all my colonies in FW for 5 mins, the cloves really hate this but they recover with a few days or up to a week, just depends. I then looked for the egg sacs and picked them of also. The FW dips will not kill the eggs. I finally think I killed all of them because I have yet to see any for months.

 

I suggest doing FW dips on new clove colonies before putting them in your tank and look for egg sacs on the rock.

 

Some Care Tips

 

Flow : Low to medium

 

Cloves prefer this type of flow, Some can handle higher flow rates ex. medium to strong ( you will have to see what they like in your tank) If the shrivel up they need to be moved.

 

SG

 

Its really hard to kill these corals I had my tank sg at 1.030 and all of the cloves seemed fine except the orange tip ones. I even had low SG at around 1.020. ( was using a broken refractometer for a while)

 

Temp

 

The normal reef temp range is perfered again I had my tank colder than what is recommeded.

The coldest was 69 I had a colony that died because my heater got unpluged. The temp was around 64 at night for about 3 nights. All other colonies where not affected.

 

Will add more soon

 

 

 

 

 

I just picked these up from my friends shop

 

 

 

I actually got 3 colonies fom my friend I will try to post pics of them later. They dont look as nice under PCs cant wait to put them under MH

 

 

The rest I had aleady

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

another above shot

[roxy25]

forgot to post these sadly they are RIP

 

 

These where one of my favorites, I called them mini greens I hope to get some more from my friend

[r20crazy]

looks good. FTS

[BytheSea]

The third pic down, I love those!... What specie is that? Where can I get them?

[dickie52]

SWEET!!!

[roxy25]

The third pic down, I love those!... What specie is that? Where can I get them?

 

 

They don't have a name I got them from atlantis aquarium ( didn't pay that price lol) they just call them mystery cloves ? they are not worth the price listed on their site either. These are SUPER tiny and are found as hitchhikers.

 

Here are some more I hate these PCS most of the colors are pale washed out.

 

Here are some green centers with white rims you can see them better in top shot

 

 

And these are some kind of greens again they would look so sweet under MH lol

 

 

 

 

I forgot to add most of the cloves that look colorful in the pictures are under MH

[awcasper]

ive never thought much of cloves before, but that has changed. those are some sweet softies!

[BytheSea]

They don't have a name I got them from atlantis aquarium ( didn't pay that price lol) they just call them mystery cloves ? they are not worth the price listed on their site either. These are SUPER tiny and are found as hitchhikers.

 

Thanks... I took a look at that site and boy to they have some high prices I still would like to get some oneday.

[fiction101]

I've heard the wild ones tend to melt away pretty fast, wondering if you've had any problems with that happening? I just started getting into cloves, just bought some green laced and green centered cloves last week. Check my FTS on here to see them. Also if had those under 20k mh, the colors on those colonies would be amazing!

[roxy25]

I've heard the wild ones tend to melt away pretty fast, wondering if you've had any problems with that happening? I just started getting into cloves, just bought some green laced and green centered cloves last week. Check my FTS on here to see them. Also if had those under 20k mh, the colors on those colonies would be amazing!

 

Well I am really really involved and in love with my cloves. The 3 new colonies I just got are wild caught most of my cloves where. Only like 4 types where fragged from a colony in captivity. I am working on a mini article about clavularia. One man reason cloves "melt" ( they actually don't die will explain in next paragraph) is too much flow. I had all my cloves in my 20 SPS tank most "melted". Clavularia mostly like medium to low flow some like medium to high but its rare. I have also found another reason why cloves die ( actual dying lol) is Nudis. I have found some type of Nudibranch that eats clavularia , I am still trying to determine if they are actually eating the healthy cloves or eating the flesh off of sick colonies. I advise you to FW dip your cloves before putting them in your tank if they are wild caught or if they where in a tank with corals from a wholesaler etc....

 

Melting : this is a project I have been working on Clavularia, Clavularia seem to have two types of

rejuvenation.

 

Rejuvenation type 1 : If you think your cloves melted do not throw them away. They are not dead at all ! . When something like flow,temp or Nudis are bothering them, They will "melt" their polyps descend and you will not see any polyps left. What is left is skin tissue from the colony. What I did for my colonies was put them in their own tank. I set up a AGA and just added LR, heater, and 606 pump. No skimmer is needed Cloves actually like dirty water. I put my 96 watt aqua quad on the tank. The growth rate is phenomenal with no skimmer and high flow!

 

Rejuvenation type 2: Cloves will "melt" same as what is stated above, but they "melted" because they have light shock. Usually if you have them under MH and put them on PC's this can occur. This happened when I put some of my frags in the 10 AGA clove tank. With this type of rejuvenation they keep the polyps but they close up for days. When they revive they open up but the stock is longer ( like reaching up for more light like a plant does) I guess when they close up they are growing more stalk.?

 

here are my results

 

Here is a pic of the colony in my SPS before melt down lol They actually "melted" because of light shock.

 

 

Here is what was left after "melted" I tore off the dead stuff ( you can tell if its dead because its not a fleshy pink or grey color, it will be white )

 

 

what was left after I tore off the dead stuff( this was actually a later pic maybe a week after) look on the left t the 3 lines and on the right a polyp is growing.

 

 

A week later notice the lines are puffing up and the polyp in back still growing

 

 

 

weeks later polyp in back ( look for the yellowish green one ) I lost one of the lines , which is more polyps trying to form.

 

 

 

This is just a sample of what I took pics of and documented I will take an update of that piece. I have two polyps now one on each line. For some reason these yellow green cloves grow slow but I have these grey silver ones that have rejuvenated really quickly. I also have some orange tips with green centers that melted from high flow they grew back fast also.

[roxy25]

well here are the updates

 

I lost actually two lines ( probably when I was moving the rocks around )

 

two new polyps

 

 

the main polyp bigger with new small polyp under it

 

[fiction101]

Ah I didn't want to hear that cloves can melt due to high flow. I just bought a koralia nano pump today and it puts out a lot of flow compared to the power head I just took out.

 

What is your flow rate and what kind of powerheads are you using at the moment?

 

 

Also thanks for the info.

[roxy25]

Ah I didn't want to hear that cloves can melt due to high flow. I just bought a koralia nano pump today and it puts out a lot of flow compared to the power head I just took out.

 

What is your flow rate and what kind of powerheads are you using at the moment?

Also thanks for the info.

 

Right now I have then in the ten AGA and just one 606 pump on full blast. I did have the 606 set at the lowest rate, but green algae started to grow on the glass and I turned it up to get rid of it. So far they love it. I think with the nano Koralia they should be fine just don't have them in the front of the flow. You have to test it out, if you see them closed up they do not like the flow LOL.

[fiction101]

Have you ever been to lucky goldfish in Oakland? I just went today for the first time and the selection of cloves was amazing, most were $10 a polyp. Lots of different color morphs and the stalks were around 3-4 inches on one colony which were cool to see.

[roxy25]

Have you ever been to lucky goldfish in Oakland? I just went today for the first time and the selection of cloves was amazing, most were $10 a polyp. Lots of different color morphs and the stalks were around 3-4 inches on one colony which were cool to see.

 

Naw MAN lol your going to be my new best friend !!! you should take pictures I want to see maybe we can do some swapping in the future. I should be fragging my cloves soon once I color them up in their new home. I am making them their own tank. A rimless 20x20x12. I cant wait to see it, it should be done by my bday which is in Jan

 

I dunno I think 10 bucks a polyp is a lot. It depends on what color they are. I have yet to buy cloves for that much and you can see I have quite a collection The cloves that are the highest price are the blues and the orange tips. I got a frag of orange tips for 30 bucks and it had like a lot of polyps on it. I still do not have the blues but I should within a month. The cloves I posted first are from my buddies shop he has so many colonies of blues I will go pick one up once I go back.

 

There are a few cloves I am having trouble getting I want them so badly but no one seems to have them.

[spanko]

They are very pretty. Can we see the FTS please oh please?

[fiction101]

Naw MAN lol your going to be my new best friend !!! you should take pictures I want to see maybe we can do some swapping in the future. I should be fragging my cloves soon once I color them up in their new home. I am making them their own tank. A rimless 20x20x12. I cant wait to see it, it should be done by my bday which is in Jan

 

I dunno I think 10 bucks a polyp is a lot. It depends on what color they are. I have yet to buy cloves for that much and you can see I have quite a collection The cloves that are the highest price are the blues and the orange tips. I got a frag of orange tips for 30 bucks and it had like a lot of polyps on it. I still do not have the blues but I should within a month. The cloves I posted first are from my buddies shop he has so many colonies of blues I will go pick one up once I go back.

 

There are a few cloves I am having trouble getting I want them so badly but no one seems to have them.

 

If they all do good in my tank, then I'll frag some for sure. I've never heard of blue tipped cloves before, also the orange ones have been a pain in ass to find around here. I didn't see any at atlantis even though they have some posted on their website!? One sweet color morph I saw was a rainbow type tip that were going for $10 a polyp, it has green centers and then orange that goes into yellow on the tips.

 

Here's a photo of the new colony I just bought, it was $80 which sounded like a fair price (since they're hard to find around here). Sorry for all the blue , I have a new 20k bulb that is still breaking in.

 

[roxy25]

They are very pretty. Can we see the FTS please oh please?

 

nothing special just packed with cloves and a few small frags of zoos

 

 

 

[roxy25]

If they all do good in my tank, then I'll frag some for sure. I've never heard of blue tipped cloves before, also the orange ones have been a pain in ass to find around here. I didn't see any at atlantis even though they have some posted on their website!? One sweet color morph I saw was a rainbow type tip that were going for $10 a polyp, it has green centers and then orange that goes into yellow on the tips.

 

Here's a photo of the new colony I just bought, it was $80 which sounded like a fair price (since they're hard to find around here). Sorry for all the blue , I have a new 20k bulb that is still breaking in.

 

 

 

are these just green centers ? how big are the polyps and how long are the stalks?

 

They are not blue tipped cloves they are all Blue cloves. I have seen the rainbow cloves but I was kind of skeptical about the true color because most pics are taken under Actinic . I would pay 10 bucks per polyp if they are truly that color

 

well I know a lot of people with the gold tips and blue cloves maybe we can do a trade

[fiction101]

These ones are solid neon green throughout the tips, what I like about them is that they are solid and the tips don't bend down or sway. I have other neon green cloves that are more bushy and softer tips, like a palm tree.

 

The rainbow cloves are very small, which makes the colors harder to see unless your a right over them. Also this place had tons of blue actinic.

 

I have the blue cloves, those are actually common around the bay area fish stores.

 

One other kind I forgot to mention was white clove polyps, which were going for $10 a polyp. I'll try to use my camera phone next time I go in.

[fiction101]

Here's a shot without flash (I think), you can see the goldish tips.

 

 

Photo of both colonies.

 

 

Green tipped.

 

[roxy25]

These ones are solid neon green throughout the tips, what I like about them is that they are solid and the tips don't bend down or sway. I have other neon green cloves that are more bushy and softer tips, like a palm tree.

 

The rainbow cloves are very small, which makes the colors harder to see unless your a right over them. Also this place had tons of blue actinic.

 

I have the blue cloves, those are actually common around the bay area fish stores.

 

One other kind I forgot to mention was white clove polyps, which were going for $10 a polyp. I'll try to use my camera phone next time I go in.

 

 

Yeah I know what you are talking about , when you say the tips don't bend. The ones I have are the same. They are small tho, I call them dwarf stargazers, the stalks are so short. I had true stargazers from ATL but they did not make it. They where bigger and had longer stalks. I just looked at you tank thread and I can see the difference from that picture. I haven't seen fuzzy green center cloves yet just the stiff more conformed ones.

 

The blue actinic or 20k bulbs just makes me wonder what they would look like under 12k bulbs that I have. I bought some nice cloves from reefermadness for 25 bucks. I thought the color would have changed under my bulbs but it didn't they even kept their nice color under the PCs which is surprising. The yellow rimmed cloves that are the first ones posted are starting to fade and lose color under my PC.

 

White ? mmmmm stop telling me about these cloves lol I should be getting some new cloves this weekend from my friend, he said that they are some odd white color with orange ? and he told me I do not have them yet. I can not wait to see them

 

Yeah PLEASE take pictures and post them here !

[roxy25]

Here's a shot without flash (I think), you can see the goldish tips.

 

 

 

Those look Like yellow tips to me. I have some that are green center with yellow tips like that. I posted them on first page on the above shot. That pic taken under 14k MH

[fiction101]

Those yellow rimmed cloves are my favorite, I've never seen those before I saw your photo of them.

 

The white cloves are nothing special actually, at $10 a polyp it's not worth it.

 

Have you seen this site before:

http://www.trieu-exotics.com/cart/index.ph...a74ee0a2e6569c2

They have a nice selection but high prices.

[fiction101]

Those look Like yellow tips to me. I have some that are green center with yellow tips like that. I posted them on first page on the above shot. That pic taken under 14k MH

 

I think these are true gold tipped cloves: