Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

[Shigshwa]

Alright, I will share my own log of my attempt with Fluconazole and hopefully tack on another record of a success! I'm dosing this into my 40B. The lights are currently off, so I'll post some initial pics tomorrow.

I expect nothing less than absolute death, death to bryopsis!

 

[Susan Edwards]

We are a sick bunch. All while mine was turning white, I was rubbing my hands gleefully as though I was Dorothy in the Wizard of oz listening to the wicked witch crying "i'm melting"....

I'll have to look at the display refugium to see if there is death yet. I may have more gha there with some bryopsis.

 

[jelly]

Has anyone found out if we can use less then 20mg per gallon.

 

[Shigshwa]

Alright, let's mark this day 1!

 

[ksanfranfan]

Has anyone found out if we can use less then 20mg per gallon.

Some have tried it at a lower dosage. The treatment wasn't as effective as the recommended dosage.

 

[Shigshwa]

Day 2. Nothing much is different, except for some browning of the algae, perhaps.

 

[kimoy]

First of let me say sorry if this was already asked but this thread is so long (213 pages) and it's gong to take me forever to go through it. All I need to know is where can I get fluconazole without a prescription?

 

[Susan Edwards]

You can buy at payless pet (not sure the link but if you hunt this thread you'll find it--maybe front and maybe a few pages from back. I got mine at
https://www.fishlifeantibiotics.com I've ordered twice. I think it might have been cheaper than payless pet. Came very fast so I also recommend this place.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Maybe someone ought to sticky the two website if can be purchased right up front

 

[Shigshwa]

First of let me say sorry if this was already asked but this thread is so long (213 pages) and it's gong to take me forever to go through it. All I need to know is where can I get fluconazole without a prescription?

https://www.payless-petproducts.com/fluconazole200.html
https://www.fishlifeantibiotics.com/products/fluconazole-200mg

I got mine from the second site.

 

[liveround69]

https://www.fishlifeantibiotics.com/collections/frontpage/products/fluconazole-200mg

Is where i purchased my bottle of bryopsis death.

$15.99 for 10 caps due to sale.
Great deal. Other sites want $25
Shipping is also free

 

[mskohl]

So, I poured the meds in!
I waited until lights out and poured into my overflow - it clouded a little in the sump, but I couldn't tell that it ever did in the display. This morning all critters look oblivious that anything changed.

We are about 22 hours into the treatment and I think I might already see some whitening. It could also be wishful thinking. ;-)

 

[Shigshwa]

Day 3. There is definite browning of the algae, whether bryopsis or GHA. Some isolated strands have already fallen off on my frags.

 

[liveround69]

It took about 48 to 72 hrs before i seen the tips start to lose the really bright green color. By day 6 the stuff was really white from top to bottom. By day 10 i had a major cyano outbreak. I had to turn on the skimmer and do a water change on day 12. So have patience and rest assured the treatment works great. I can see in your pics its starting to turn brown on the tips. In a week you are going to be really happy.

 

[Elgringodiablo]

I think at this point it's pretty well proven that this stuff works. I just wonder if there are any unknown side effects. Has anyone done ICP tests before and after to see if it's leaving anything bad in our tanks?

 

[Susan Edwards]

So far the main tank is looking good even a week after the water change. Still some small areas that I may have to retreat. Refugium (display) is finally showing die off. Took 5 days. Not as good flow in this tank. Will have to upgrade plus I added an other capsule.

 

[ReefBeta]

Need help on this, some of my corals are having trouble after the Fluconazole treatment.

I dosed 1000mg to my tank, about 45G volume, on 08/08. Right before that, I did a 15G water change. Also turned off skimmer for 3 days, then turned it back on because PH was dropping from 7.8 to 7.5 at night, but I took off the skimmer cup.

I left town on 08/13. At that time, the algae did not show obvious effect yet, and all corals looked fine. I asked my wife to feed half of what I used to feed, 8 pieces of 3/8" cube frozen to 4 pieces. Didn't ask her to dose fuel which I dose about every two days for 3ml.

I returned last night, 08/16. Majority of the algae is gone. All Bryopsis seem gone. Tiny bits of hair algae left on base of couple frags. But some of my corals are having big troubles.

Problems:

• Wellsophyllia Brain is bleaching, and shrink to having skeleton around mouth exposed.
• Green clove polyps turned very pale, like from this to this.
• One colony of Acan have couple heads dying to exposed skeleton on the mouths, another colony of different color seems unaffected.
• A frag of flaming montipora setosa is losing tissue from the top. The base is still fine so far. It's a new frag, less than 1 month old. Frags of red dragon and rainbow monti I got at the same time seems not affected.

Observations:

• All other corals seems unaffected, like SPS including dozens of acropora, montipora, and stylophora frags/colonies, hammer, candy cane, wellsi, zoanthids, maxima clams, ricordea.
• Lots of aiptasia popped out, just did a round of Aiptasia-X tonight. The amount come out during that 3 days is more than what it usually took for several weeks.
• All fish are fine
• Just tested water params: NO3 = 0.2, PO4 = 0.045, Ca = 420, Alk = 10.4 (have been between 8 to 11 for many months)
• Dosing: doser: 2 parts, vodka, manual: fuel

Are there any report of those affected corals having trouble with Fluconazole?

The possibilities I can think of.

1. Fluconazole affecting the coral directly
   
2. By product of Bryopsis die off
3. Reduced feeding and skipped amino acids dosing lead to too low of nutrition level
4. Reduced feeding lead to fish picking on coral (Have a moorish idol in the tank. Green clove don't show physical damage though)
5. Skimmer not working as normal (ever since I turn it back on, the PH at night have been stable back at 7.8)

Any ideas what to investigate next to narrow down the cause and fix? Should I call the treatment done and start water changes?

 

[ksanfranfan]

Need help on this, some of my corals are having trouble after the Fluconazole treatment.

I dosed 1000mg to my tank, about 45G volume, on 08/08. Right before that, I did a 15G water change. Also turned off skimmer for 3 days, then turned it back on because PH was dropping from 7.8 to 7.5 at night, but I took off the skimmer cup.

I left town on 08/13. At that time, the algae did not show obvious effect yet, and all corals looked fine. I asked my wife to feed half of what I used to feed, 8 pieces of 3/8" cube frozen to 4 pieces. Didn't ask her to dose fuel which I dose about every two days for 3ml.

I returned last night, 08/16. Majority of the algae is gone. All Bryopsis seem gone. Tiny bits of hair algae left on base of couple frags. But some of my corals are having big troubles.

Problems:

• Wellsophyllia Brain is bleaching, and shrink to having skeleton around mouth exposed.
• Green clove polyps turned very pale, like from this to this.
• One colony of Acan have couple heads dying to exposed skeleton on the mouths, another colony of different color seems unaffected.
• A frag of flaming montipora setosa is losing tissue from the top. The base is still fine so far. It's a new frag, less than 1 month old. Frags of red dragon and rainbow monti I got at the same time seems not affected.

Observations:

• All other corals seems unaffected, like SPS including dozens of acropora, montipora, and stylophora frags/colonies, hammer, candy cane, wellsi, zoanthids, maxima clams, ricordea.
• Lots of aiptasia popped out, just did a round of Aiptasia-X tonight. The amount come out during that 3 days is more than what it usually took for several weeks.
• All fish are fine
• Just tested water params: NO3 = 0.2, PO4 = 0.045, Ca = 420, Alk = 10.4 (have been between 8 to 11 for many months)
• Dosing: doser: 2 parts, vodka, manual: fuel

Are there any report of those affected corals having trouble with Fluconazole?

The possibilities I can think of.

1. Fluconazole affecting the coral directly
   
2. By product of Bryopsis die off
3. Reduced feeding and skipped amino acids dosing lead to too low of nutrition level
4. Reduced feeding lead to fish picking on coral (Have a moorish idol in the tank. Green clove don't show physical damage though)
5. Skimmer not working as normal (ever since I turn it back on, the PH at night have been stable back at 7.8)

Any ideas what to investigate next to narrow down the cause and fix? Should I call the treatment done and start water changes?

I have acans in one of the tanks that I treated. I treated it at a higher dosage than recommended. It has acans as well. The acans and other lps made it through the treatment fine.
Every tank is different and it's possible that there may be some that react different than others from the treatment.
It's possible that it could be a combination of all of the possibilities that you listed. Each one could have had an effect on the other in way or another.
Performing a water change and letting things balance out again would probably be the best option at this time. I recall a couple of others that had issues with lps during treatment. If I remember correctly, they stopped the treatment. Don't remember the outcome afterwards.

 

[ksanfranfan]

I think at this point it's pretty well proven that this stuff works. I just wonder if there are any unknown side effects. Has anyone done ICP tests before and after to see if it's leaving anything bad in our tanks?

As far as we know from those treating their tanks with the meds, know one has reported any type of testing as far as what's in the water before or after. Someone could send a before and after water sample to triton maybe to get an analysis. I'd be curious to know myself. I haven't had any issues using it but it would be nice to know.
Someone was supposed to be performing tests but so far their haven't been any confirmed analysis of the effects of this treatment. It would be helpful to know at what point the medication has been eliminated from the tank. I had to treat one of my tanks a second time about 3 months later due to bryopsis returning. I believe the second time was due to introducing it again from a new frag.

 

[JoeIII]

I have lobophyllia, lots of acans, and a big colony of setosa among my coral and none showed any stress during my flucon treatment. I was at the high end of the recommended dosage for my water volume.

I suspect the ph swings are the #1 cause of your stressed corals, but 8 cubes of frozen a day seems like a LOT of food for 45G of water to me. This raises the question if nutrients are a problem, either too low on the halved feedings, or too high now that the algae is no longer taking up excess.

All of your proposed causes are possibilities, but I suspect those are the most likely culprits. I hope everything pulls through for you.

We all need to keep in mind, particularly if we have a bad infestation, we are removing a lot of biomass from our systems pretty quickly during this process. This biomass is also very aggressive in the uptake of nutrients (why it out-competes so many other things) as well as the release of O2 into the system. We need to remain vigilant in monitoring water parameters and change our husbandry as needed as these changes happen.