Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

[Jose Mayo]

So I just started treating for bryopsis a couple days ago using reef flux.

Here is a pic of the algae I normally get in my display with bryopsis is saw for the first time last week. I didn't take a picture when I first saw it so this is after 2 days of treatment. You can already see it turning white. My emerald crabs keep the other algae in check so I normally don't worry about t but we will see if the reef flux has any effect on it...

Yes, you have there Bryopsis hypnoides and Ulva latuca, treatment will work, although Ulva latuca may be much more resistant than Bryopsis sp.

Regards

 

[lbacha]

Yes, you have there Bryopsis hypnoides and Ulva latuca, treatment will work, although Ulva latuca may be much more resistant than Bryopsis sp.

Regards

Thanks for the confirmation I was pretty sure the top one was ulva and when I saw the small patch of what I thought was bryopsis I decided to add the reef flux (I had it in my reef first aid kit just in case I needed it) it has worked fast as you can see from the picture.

I'm not concerned about the fluconazole treating the ulva, my emerald crabs and bicolor blenny keep it in check (I had to search around for the piece I pulled out for the pic.

I prefer clean up crew and grazers for the minor algae that shows up in a healthy tank but from all I have read here bryopsis is a different beast and fluconazole seems to be the best option I will probably do a big water change once it is gone so I don't rid the tank of food for my crabs and blenny

I'll post again in a week or so with the final outcome of the treatment

Thanks again Len

 

[Slav]

Hi all,
I'm near to the end of third week of my first fluconazole treating. So far looks good, bryopsis is gone. The problem is that I have a nasty cyano outbreak. Does somebody knows if I can run chemiclean for several days along with fluconazole and then to do a 20% waterchange? Or to wait several days to see if cyano will go away after fluconazole waterchange?
Is there any success dosing small amounts of fluco afterwards, in order bryopsis not to come back?
I'm battling cyano and bryopses for 3 years When I have cyano, bryopses is gone - when I remove cyano, bryopsis starts growing mad. When it starts dissapearing, there is another cyano boom. So, I'm afraid if I use chemiclean again, not to see returning bryopsis.

 

[BullGator]

I am 5 days in to a treatment on my Biocube 29. The Bryopsis has been the bane of my existence, and the Kent Tech-M solution which worked for me before no longer worked, so I tried the Fluconazole.

I can see the tips starting to whiten and wither away, getting more pronounced each day. Mine is such a heavy infestation I fully expect to have to do a second treatment, but the results are clear that this stuff kills my bryopsis!

Before Treatment

Day 5

So far so good!

 

[lbacha]

So one week in and bryopsis is gone. Going to let it go for another week to make sure it's completely gone then start water changes again

 

[Amboss72]

Has anyone had Cyanobacteria pop up upon completion of a fluconazole treatment?

 

[Malkbone]

Has anyone had Cyanobacteria pop up upon completion of a fluconazole treatment?

I haven't had bryopsis on my current tank but before, after treating I did have a greyish cyano take over alot of my tank

 

[coralcruze]

Has anyone had Cyanobacteria pop up upon completion of a fluconazole treatment?

Yes... but i was not worried about it as much as bleaching and ultimately complete loss of about 6-7 mature sps colonies grown from frags.

The cyano eventually went away on its own.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Well you can add me to the list of successful results with the fluconazole treatment. I was having multiple patches of GHA popping up on the rock work as well as on the branches of my trumpets. I dosed the tank with fluconazole I also added a sailfin to the tank. I did't see much happening with the GHA for the first week, but I did see the tang aggressively going after it. On day 8 I noticed the color of the GHA starting to change from dark green, and starting to take on a white hue to it. Over the next few days my tank was down to just a couple small patches that I watched the sailfin clear up. I followed up at day 14 with a 30% water change and added my purigen and chemi-pure blue back to the filter. It's been two weeks since then and no sign of any GHA at all.

I also told my LFS about it who has been battling a nasty GHA and briopsys outbreak in their frag tanks and have battling with NoPox with limited success. They decided to give it a try as well. Took about 8 days and this stuff wiped out all the GHA and briopsys in their setup as well.

This is some great stuff.

 

[PiscesPower]

I run a Triton method system.

Here is a link to my thread about my treatment process over a period of a week. I had great success, and never got a real nutrient spike, I believe because of the ability of my macroalgae bed to keep up.

PiscesPower's Experience with Fluconazole in a Triton System

Before & after pics of one particular rock in my tank, more pics on my thread.

 

[KenO]

I know this forum thread is for Bryopsis and I don't have Bryopsis, Jose felt that what I have is Caulerpa verticillate. Still I wanted to post an update. Now I did have Bryopsis in my nano tank over a year ago and the treatment did kill it and it hasn't returned.

I went through 21 days and most of the Caulerpa verticillate died, very slowly I might add which is what Jose indicated. Like I said most died, but there were a few areas that were in bad shape but still there. When I started everyone of my rocks was covered and the algae was working its way across my sand bed. It uses a root like structure to hold on. After the 21 days, I did a 35% water change. I have an ATS and left it running during the treatment. The algae on it died and the screen started growing a dark film like it did when I first set up the ATS. That dark film I found still absorbs NO3 and PO4 so I thought just let it ride. After 5 days of treatment, my NO3 and PO4 numbers went to zero overnight. I started to get tissue loss on my birds nest corals. I started adding KNO3 and TSP which brought my numbers up to 5ppm NO3 and 0.1 PO4. Then at 10 days, my NO3 and PO4 went high. NO3 shot up to over 20ppm and my PO4 went to 0.36ppm. My birds nest coral couldn't handle the changes was a total loss.

After the 21 days, I restarted my skimmer and after the water change, the areas of Caulerpa verticillate that were in bad shape started to show signs of life. Not good. Even though my NO3 and PO4 were still a bit high 12ppm NO3 and 0.25ppm PO4, I decided to start a 2nd treatment. I will let this treatment go for at least another 21 days maybe longer. I'm hoping that since there is only a small amount of the algae remaining and not the amount I had had, that the full amount of fluconazole will wipe out the remaining areas. My previous information was in Post #4967.

A big thanks to Jose in identifying the algae and to NCreefguy.

 

[amazongb]

Just wanted to say, thanks to this thread, my bryopsis is gone after one week. Still going to leave the tank alone for two more weeks.. If I require a water change, I'll re-dose the changed amount.. then after the third week will resume normal water changes. Corals (montis, birds nest, zoas, space invader, cryponite, shrooms, and red bubble tip have not been affected so far. Info: 24 gal SCA, with about 16 gal water volume. Dosed 300mg fluc. Really happy with the results so far. I noticed that P04 went from .04 prior to dose to .21 mid-week during dose, but have now settled back down at .06, which I'm guessing is due to the die off.

Now if someone could please start a miracle aptasia killing thread

 

[jasonrusso]

I'm getting ready to go for the Fluconazole myself. I've been running phosguard but I am caught in a loop where at PO4 0.08 the drop stalls (I feel due to dying gha which releases P04 and saturates my phosguard) then rises again.

I have found that it doesn't affect sps, LPS, or fish. I can't find a definitive answer on anemone, specifically a rainbow BTA.

Also, what is the consensus on skimmers? Take the cup off (is it proven the skimmer removes the medication?) but let it run.

I'll remove the carbon, but leave the phosguard in to catch the released PO4 from the die off.

 

[jasonrusso]

I skimmed through this thread but didn't read all 247 pages and I was wondering if anyone has any issues with fluconazole in a tank with clams and anemones? I have several clams along with an 11 year old magnifica anemone and several gigantea and haddonis. Thanks.

How did it work out? I am contemplating this, but I also have a rainbow BTA.

 

[NCreefguy]

I'm getting ready to go for the Fluconazole myself. I've been running phosguard but I am caught in a loop where at PO4 0.08 the drop stalls (I feel due to dying gha which releases P04 and saturates my phosguard) then rises again.

I have found that it doesn't affect sps, LPS, or fish. I can't find a definitive answer on anemone, specifically a rainbow BTA.

Also, what is the consensus on skimmers? Take the cup off (is it proven the skimmer removes the medication?) but let it run.

I'll remove the carbon, but leave the phosguard in to catch the released PO4 from the die off.

Several people through out the thread have noted that their BTAs showed no ill effects during treatment.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-202#post-3841675


I would leave your skimmer running but just remove the skimmer cup for the first few days. Since your treating your tank for GHA and not Bryopsis you'll probably have to run the treatment for 4-6 weeks. Also keep in mind that once you perform water changes and remove the meds,GHA can return unless you address the conditions in your tank that allowed it's growth in the first place. You can however run a continuous low dose of Flucon to keep your tank clear of algae. It's outlined in the first post of the thread.

 

[jasonrusso]

Several people through out the thread have noted that their BTAs showed no ill effects during treatment.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-202#post-3841675


I would leave your skimmer running but just remove the skimmer cup for the first few days. Since your treating your tank for GHA and not Bryopsis you'll probably have to run the treatment for 4-6 weeks. Also keep in mind that once you perform water changes and remove the meds,GHA can return unless you address the conditions in your tank that allowed it's growth in the first place. You can however run a continuous low dose of Flucon to keep your tank clear of algae. It's outlined in the first post of the thread.

Yes, I read that about removing the source which I think I identified. That being said, it's easier to prevent it than to remove it.

I assume it is GHA, what so you think about my pictures? It doesn't have a leafy look to it like bryopsis.

SPS, LPS should be fine., correct? Dosage is 200 ml per 10 gallon? I have a 32, I usually dose for 25 gallons to account for rock.

 

[NCreefguy]

Yes, I read that about removing the source which I think I identified. That being said, it's easier to prevent it than to remove it.

I assume it is GHA, what so you think about my pictures? It doesn't have a leafy look to it like bryopsis.

SPS, LPS should be fine., correct? Dosage is 200 ml per 10 gallon? I have a 32, I usually dose for 25 gallons to account for rock.

Correct you have GHA. 20mg/gal or 200mg/10 gal (same) is the correct dosage. You would need around 500mg for your tank. I would go ahead and use 3 capsules (600mg) since your treating GHA. People are using much more than our dosage safely so don't worry about it being too much.
If you notice an increase in nutrients more than you are comfortable with during treatment then you can perform a water change and replace the meds that you took out and continue the treatment.

 

[jasonrusso]

Correct you have GHA. 20mg/gal or 200mg/10 gal (same) is the correct dosage. You would need around 500mg for your tank. I would go ahead and use 3 capsules (600mg) since your treating GHA. People are using much more than our dosage safely so don't worry about it being too much.
If you notice an increase in nutrients more than you are comfortable with during treatment then you can perform a water change and replace the meds that you took out and continue the treatment.

Good to know about the dosage. I am going to leave the phosguard in to absorb the "loose" PO4 from the dying algae, but remove the carbon.

I will also do WC, but I am familiar with dosing the change water like I do with Chloroquine Phosphate treatment.

 

[NCreefguy]

Good to know about the dosage. I am going to leave the phosguard in to absorb the "loose" PO4 from the dying algae, but remove the carbon.

I will also do WC, but I am familiar with dosing the change water like I do with Chloroquine Phosphate treatment.

Perfect. Keep us updated with some pics to see how your treatment goes.


On a side note, don't let the trolls get to you for using Flucon. Those same trolls don't worry about themselves and the things they use that impact our earth. Some of the biggest names in the reefing industry are using Fluconazole continously to keep their systems algae free.

 

[lbacha]

I looked on the front page and didn't see what a sustaining dose should be. Can you point me to where in the tread it is