Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

[Kimmi2413]

So I got the pills to start treatment on my tank. How much exactly do I have to dos? I have a Red Sea reefer 250 about 64 g total with sump and ro res. Got the 200mg pill

 

[puffy127]

So I got the pills to start treatment on my tank. How much exactly do I have to dos? I have a Red Sea reefer 250 about 64 g total with sump and ro res. Got the 200mg pill

20 mg per gallon

 

[Kimmi2413]

20 mg per gallon

How many pills would that be? I’m new to all this.

these are the pills

 

[Kimmi2413]

How many 200mg pills is that?

 

[puffy127]

(20 mg/gallon) x 64 gallons = 1280 mg x (1 pill/200 mg) = 6.4 pills

 

[Kimmi2413]

(20 mg/gallon) x 64 gallons = 1280 mg x (1 pill/200 mg) = 6.4 pills

Thanks!

 

[Matt F]

With fluconazole how often do you dose everyday or wait a couple of days?

 

[puffy127]

Dose only 1 time. When they talk about length of treatment they are referring to how long before you do a water change/add carbon/bring skimmer back online after doing your one dose.

 

[Matt F]

Ok thanks puffy127

 

[DeepBlueSeaV1]

Day 7 Treatment - I only had 1 bryopsis "spot", about the size of a man's fist, with 3-5" long 'feathers'. Actually the movement looked kind of nice in the aquarium but I can't be having this in the tank.

So day the 'feathers' are gone. If I look closely, I can see about 1cm stalks still coming out of the rock.

This is my second time treating (basically the same spot) in the past 10 months. First time I probably skimmed to much out or just didn't let it go the full 14/15 days.

I have my skimmer running for aeration only, pouring back into sump. I'm going to run this way for the full 14/15 days. I'm then going to do a 15 gallon water change and I might run 10mg/gal for another 15 days. Really want to feel like I eradicated this time around.

 

[Matt F]

Does fluconazole effect anemones?

 

[nanomania]

GHA turn white and die or they just start to detach them selves from the rock??

 

[Kimmi2413]

is this normal to do after treatment? I started treatment last Saturday and now turning on skimmer

 

[Herby’s reef]

So the guys on the vibrant thread think I have bryopsis, but I really thought it was hair algae. It is soft, and I dont see any fronds. I am getting older so the near vision is not as good as it used to be, but if it has them they are small. What do you guys think? I have 4 urchins, tangs, fox face and turbo snails, emerald crabs, hermit crabs, and many other types of snails. Nothing touches it. My have never been high. Nitrates are 2 to 5 by Nyos, and phosphate reads 0 by Hannah. I dont have to scrape my glass often, and if I let my alk rise past 8 I get burnt tips, so I think my readings are accurate. I have one rock in my display, and some areas of my frag tank on the same system with this stuff on it. What do you think? Bryopsis or GHA?

 

[Herby’s reef]

Here are two more pics. It is in the back so really hard to get a good one

 

[jsbull]

I have used Fluconazole 4 times now per the instructions in this thread. I have double dosed once (water change, then another dose). Each time the Bryopsis returns.

Info:

• I stop skimming for 2-3 weeks at the start of treatment and have no carbon or any other media running.
• I have done a ~20% water change about 6-8 weeks after treatment each time.
• I have lots of macro algae in my tank and a refugium with Chaeto because I have seahorses in part of my aquarium and they create a lot of waste. So there are a lot of nutrients, but also a lot of competition for them.
• Each time the bryopsis has returned after a 2-4 months.
• I have not added anything new to my tank in many months. It's growing nicely and I haven't needed to. So it is not being reintroduced.
• It grows in the exact same spots each time. Unfortunately, I cannot remove that spot from the tank without killing great encrusted coral around it. One spot is also an acropora skeleton, so it's impossible to scrub well enough.
• I run Triton method, but do periodic water changes every 3-4 months, so the Fluc is not in there long-term.

My conclusion is that Fluconazole is wonderful at beating down the bryopsis, but does not eradicate it. As long as Fluc is present, bryopsis will not return. However, when it is removed, it comes back.

I am now changing my mag dosing from Triton 3a and 3b to Brightwell Aquatics Hydrat-MG for a while to see if that will finish it off. I also have some additional Fluconazole on the way to tag-team it.

 

[kylebolch]

I currently have some Bryopsis in one of my tanks, but it’s not exactly “taking over” either because it’s in the beginning stages or perhaps because I keep a low nutrient system. Can it be eliminated without treatment?

 

[Mikedawg]

I have used Fluconazole 4 times now per the instructions in this thread. I have double dosed once (water change, then another dose). Each time the Bryopsis returns.

Info:

• I stop skimming for 2-3 weeks at the start of treatment and have no carbon or any other media running.
• I have done a ~20% water change about 6-8 weeks after treatment each time.
• I have lots of macro algae in my tank and a refugium with Chaeto because I have seahorses in part of my aquarium and they create a lot of waste. So there are a lot of nutrients, but also a lot of competition for them.
• Each time the bryopsis has returned after a 2-4 months.
• I have not added anything new to my tank in many months. It's growing nicely and I haven't needed to. So it is not being reintroduced.
• It grows in the exact same spots each time. Unfortunately, I cannot remove that spot from the tank without killing great encrusted coral around it. One spot is also an acropora skeleton, so it's impossible to scrub well enough.
• I run Triton method, but do periodic water changes every 3-4 months, so the Fluc is not in there long-term.

My conclusion is that Fluconazole is wonderful at beating down the bryopsis, but does not eradicate it. As long as Fluc is present, bryopsis will not return. However, when it is removed, it comes back.

I am now changing my mag dosing from Triton 3a and 3b to Brightwell Aquatics Hydrat-MG for a while to see if that will finish it off. I also have some additional Fluconazole on the way to tag-team it.

I've read where some reefers maintain a "therapeutic value" of Fluc in their tanks continuously as a preventative; maybe as little as 10% of the normal dose. I have no personal experience with this strategy but may be something to consider.

 

[btmedic04]

Just dosed my nuvo 20 lastnight. Skimmer cup removed (but still running skimmer for oxygenation) reactor cartridge removed. 14 gallons of total volume so I dosed 300 mg. plan is to run like this for the next two weeks. Wish me luck folks!

 

[Huff747]

Does fluconazole effect anemones?

Sorry if you already got your answer, I used Reef Flux and my anemone was fine. Not sure my experience is the norm though. My bryopsis and GHA went away and the tank looked amazing, and then all came back. My chaeto seemed un-affected and most people seem to say theirs died. And I did lose 3 corals, a favia, cyphastrea, and a purple stylo, which are generally supposed to be pretty hardy. Although I have no clue if that was from the reef flux or if it was caused having the skimmer cup off and not doing water changes during the treatment which caused my nitrates and phosphates to go up quite a bit. I had another favia, a green acro, and a couple hammers and zoas that came through fine. The acro did turn a funky shade of gray for a while during and after treatment but it's polyps stayed green (was actually kind of a cool look) but has now slowly returned to it's normal bright green color.

I've spent a fair amount of time pulling everything I can and scrubbing with a toothbrush and I decided to give a shot to a lettuce nudibranch currently. Figured at worst eats some algae and doesn't touch the bryopsis but is still a neat and inexpensive creature to add to the tank. I only feed once a day and I don't think I'm overstocked and I have some more clean up members going through QT so guess we'll see what happens.