Any Macroalgae resistant to fluconazole??

[Hugo’s_Reef]

i have been able to eliminate bryopsis almost completely from my sps system with fluconazole . Unfortunately after a few months it comes back. I am currently running triton method so every time I dose the fluconazole I have to pull out my chaeto.

going forward I would like to just leave fluconazole in the system for a while to see if it will eliminate completely. Is there another macro algae that does not get damaged by fluconazole that I can replace my chaeto with ??

thanks in advanced.

 

[Lividfanatica]

i have been able to eliminate bryopsis almost completely from my sps system with fluconazole . Unfortunately after a few months it comes back. I am currently running triton method so every time I dose the fluconazole I have to pull out my chaeto.

going forward I would like to just leave fluconazole in the system for a while to see if it will eliminate completely. Is there another macro algae that does not get damaged by fluconazole that I can replace my chaeto with ??

thanks in advanced.

I can't speak to the algae piece... but I have heard that you want to double down on a second dose of fluconazole after the initial dose/water change in order to really kill bryopsis. I have not tried it though.

 

[Hugo’s_Reef]

I can't speak to the algae piece... but I have heard that you want to double down on a second dose of fluconazole after the initial dose/water change in order to really kill bryopsis. I have not tried it though.

I actually did double dose and left it in the system for 5+ weeks. All the bryopsis was visibly gone by week 2-3.

unfortunately after like 3-4 months it starts sprouting back up from little tiny crevices.

don’t get me wrong fluconazole works at keeping it at bay . I just want to try and leave it long term to see if it can be a permanent fix.

 

[Lividfanatica]

I actually did double dose and left it in the system for 5+ weeks. All the bryopsis was visibly gone by week 2-3.

unfortunately after like 3-4 months it starts sprouting back up from little tiny crevices.

don’t get me wrong fluconazole works at keeping it at bay . I just want to try and leave it long term to see if it can be a permanent fix.

Ah gotchya - I am still battling bryopsis in my tank too... I have recently shifted to H2O2 and spot treating it slowly around my tank (and also making sure I don't move any of it to my new build).

You could slowly shift over to vodka dosing for nutrient control then add fluconazole after you have the vodka dialed in and the tank is acclimated to the depressed pH. See if bryopsis comes back... then WC/remove fluconazole and shift back to a fuge? I moved from macro algae to vodka in my 24 gallon over the course of a couple of months and the tank didn't skip a beat. Just another thought!

 

[jmichaelh7]

So it kills Chaeto and sea lettuce ?

 

[homegrowncichlid]

My fox face is the only fish that will control bryopsis. It did it so well, that it cleared/ prevented it from growing in the main display, but I had pieces of it start colonizing my frag rack, so I added a new fox face to that part of the system. Now, I can see I have bryopsis growing in the over flow area, where my skimmer enters the tank, and other hard to reach places, but the new fox face has been doing a pretty good job and preventing it from "growing out" of the area.
As for the method of control.. If it was really hungry and if there was nothing else to eat, I believe it will munch on the new shoots, but since I feed all my fish well, the foxface doesn't really eat the bryopsis whole, I believe it's pulling it off the rock to get the fresh shoots, but the "older" tough fiber, isn't being eaten, but being physically removed and then gets filtered out. Once the bryopsis is pulled off, the rest of the clean up crew polishes off the rock.
Currently I still have bryopsis on my frag rack, where no fish or crab can reach, but as soon as the tips grow beyond the protected area, the tops of the bryopsis looks like a mowed lawn.
Other fish I have in my system (I keep one of each in both the main display and in the frag area,
Yellow, scorpas and sailfin zebrasoma, a powder (blue and brown one of each) a kole (or orange line, must have a bristle mouth tang and kole's are no longer available) and a fox face.
I do not believe any of the other fish go for bryopsis. I had a rabbit fish in the past, it also ate everything, but I didn't have bryopsis at that time and the 2-bar rabbit grew too big.
My clean up crew includes, urchins, snails and hermit crabs, which may help new growth from taking hold, but again, they can't reach the tiny cracks and crevices, where the pest algae will start out.
Whenever, (every 2 or 3 months) I see hair algae or some other pesky algae take hold, I do a 3 day black out. That weakens the algae enough for the herbivores to clear it.
NOTE: for obvious reasons, I do not keep any soft corals that the foxface may find interesting to taste.

As for ulva, I grow plenty of that in my algae scrubber, I believe it is more sensitive than chaeto over all, with a much softer tissue.

 

[Spare time]

So it kills Chaeto and sea lettuce ?

Sometimes. My chaeto survived it.

 

[Hugo’s_Reef]

Sometimes. My chaeto survived it.

It took my chaeto a long ting before it stated growing like it used to.

 

[Big Smelly fish]

I actually did double dose and left it in the system for 5+ weeks. All the bryopsis was visibly gone by week 2-3.

unfortunately after like 3-4 months it starts sprouting back up from little tiny crevices.

don’t get me wrong fluconazole works at keeping it at bay . I just want to try and leave it long term to see if it can be a permanent fix.

I have used it and followed the directions and once it was gone has never come back. Maybe I was lucky.