Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

prsnlty · Feb 14, 2017

Muttley said:
Good info Jackie! Makes me think that Fluconazole does not break down and become inert quickly in our reef tank like a biocide. I will keep the skimmer off in case Fluconazole is hydrophobic. Going to research the compound tonight.

Thank you, and please let us know what you find out

Reefinny · Feb 14, 2017

So tested all the parameters tonight. Everything looks good except nitrates are reading ZERO which makes me scratch my head. Although the Cyano is still really all over the place so I am sure getting a false reading.

Mag - 1280
Alk - 8.6
Cal - 440
Potassium 440 ( I am dosing this working my way to 500 already seeing some great reds and purples in the tank)
Phos - 0.05 (hanna ULR Phosporus)
Nitrate - 0
my PH hangs out 8.0-8.20
Salinity pretty stable at 1.025

Damien Buckley · Feb 14, 2017

Interested in this treatment but also keen to know if anyone has dosed a tank with clams or inverts like banded shrimp, urchins etc? I have all of those & am concerned at potential effects.

Also, has anyone found a supplier in Australia or can I just buy it over the counter at a pharmacy?

NCreefguy · Feb 14, 2017

Damien Buckley said:
Interested in this treatment but also keen to know if anyone has dosed a tank with clams or inverts like banded shrimp, urchins etc? I have all of those & am concerned at potential effects.

Also, has anyone found a supplier in Australia or can I just buy it over the counter at a pharmacy?

There have been a few people who said their clams were not harmed...http://reef2reef.com/threads/bryops...using-fluconazole.285096/page-57#post-3503006

@samparker is in Australia so he might be able to tell you where he got his.

Reefinny · Feb 14, 2017

My clams are fine, shrimp are fine and urchin is fine. On the other hand my bryopsis is dying!

samparker · Feb 15, 2017

NCreefguy said:
There have been a few people who said their clams were not harmed...http://reef2reef.com/threads/bryops...using-fluconazole.285096/page-57#post-3503006

@samparker is in Australia so he might be able to tell you where he got his.

Still tracking some down here in australia. Have found you can purchase 150mg pills individually for $11ea at Chemist warehouse. If you have a small tank, that could be a good option?

Muttley · Feb 15, 2017

prsnlty said:
Thank you, and please let us know what you find out

While reading some articles about Fluconazole I found it to neutral or hydrophobic depending on PH. It does bind to the protein's hydrophobic core which could be taken out by foam fractionation/skimming. It definitely inhibits the function to convert lanosterol to ergosterol which was discussed earlier. The drug is also highly selective on which proteins to inhibit. Like I said I am not pharmacist, but I would like to know if the medication binding to the protein renders it useless after it finds its way to the protein's hydrophobic core. Citiations I know, sorry...

prsnlty · Feb 15, 2017

Muttley said:
While reading some articles about Fluconazole I found it to neutral or hydrophobic depending on PH. It does bind to the protein's hydrophobic core which could be taken out by foam fractionation/skimming. It definitely inhibits the function to convert lanosterol to ergosterol which was discussed earlier. The drug is also highly selective on which proteins to inhibit. Like I said I am not pharmacist, but I would like to know if the medication binding to the protein renders it useless after it finds its way to the protein's hydrophobic core. Citiations I know, sorry...

So my suspicion was most likely correct? If so it is therefore best NOT to run protein skimmers during treatment.

Muttley · Feb 15, 2017

prsnlty said:
So my suspicion was most likely correct? If so it is therefore best NOT to run protein skimmers during treatment.

Yes, I agree with your suspicion. Skimmer should be off to be most effective.

prsnlty · Feb 15, 2017

Muttley said:
Yes, I agree with your suspicion. Skimmer should be off to be most effective.

Thank you

@NCreefguy Please notate this finding on the FAQ [emoji12]

prsnlty · Feb 15, 2017

I wonder who all had their skimmers running or turned them back on during treatment that their algae was not 100% gone by the end of treatment. Chime in if you're one of them please?

NCreefguy · Feb 15, 2017

prsnlty said:
@NCreefguy Please notate this finding on the FAQ [emoji12]

That's been in the FAQs. Did you not read them?

prsnlty · Feb 15, 2017

NCreefguy said:
@NCreefguy Please notate this finding on the FAQ [emoji12]

That's been in the FAQs. Did you not read them?

[/QUOTE]
[emoji15] no because they were not there when I started on this thread. At that the beginning we were not sure. Guess I best go read [emoji12]

NCreefguy · Feb 15, 2017

prsnlty said:
[emoji15] no because they were not there when I started on this thread. At that the beginning we were not sure. Guess I best go read [emoji12]

Hahaha I understand...Your tank is clean and looking good so you don't care about any ole FAQs lol

NCreefguy · Feb 15, 2017

prsnlty said:
I wonder who all had their skimmers running or turned them back on during treatment that their algae was not 100% gone by the end of treatment. Chime in if you're one of them please?

I turned my skimmer on around day 3-4 and the treatment still worked. Some have skimmed the entire time and the treatment still worked. There have been a couple of people though that skimmed and they ended up having to retreat their tank due to skimming too much of the meds out(or so we assume that's why it failed).

prsnlty · Feb 15, 2017

NCreefguy said:
Hahaha I understand...Your tank tank is clean and looking good so you don't care about any ole FAQs lol

Lol yes I do or I still wouldn't be hanging around [emoji12]

Actually I have a couple of days left. 95% is gone, I put the cup back on the skimmer on day 8 as it was spilling out gunk at its lowest setting. Let me tell you I still kept it on the lowest setting and filled my cup with thick black sludge. Which I have emptied several times but it seems to be slowing down now as is the killing process... that is what made me feel like the meds were possibly being removed from the water column. Since we now know for sure that that's what's going on we should probably make sure the people know not to run their skimmers with the cup on it for the entire treatment as opposed to maybe they could start them up after a few days. And yes I did go read it LOL. But there's a lot of people on this thread that restarted their skimmers after a day or so and some never actually turned them off.

Muttley · Feb 15, 2017

prsnlty said:
Thank you

@NCreefguy Please notate this finding on the FAQ [emoji12]

Absolutely, thank you for your insights as well!

MaccaPopEye · Feb 15, 2017

Damien Buckley said:
Interested in this treatment but also keen to know if anyone has dosed a tank with clams or inverts like banded shrimp, urchins etc? I have all of those & am concerned at potential effects.

Also, has anyone found a supplier in Australia or can I just buy it over the counter at a pharmacy?

samparker said:
Still tracking some down here in australia. Have found you can purchase 150mg pills individually for $11ea at Chemist warehouse. If you have a small tank, that could be a good option?

Darwin Australia here.

With a 6x2x2 it would have cost way too much to pay the $11-13/150mg over the counter and a doc wont give you a script for the 20 pack of 200mg pills ($30) unless you have "serious reoccurring thrush" haha but if you know of a dodgy one they might give you a script without looking.

However the research and FAQ put together by NCRG was enough to convince a vet to give me the 4000mg I needed - costs $80 for the pills + a vet consult fee though but still cheaper than over the counter.

On day 5 of treatment and I have 2 maxima clams, 2 CBS and a long spined urchin. No ill effects seen on any of them so far (urchin hasn't been seen in 2-3 of days but regally disappears for days at a time as its small).

Not really any change yet to my Derbesia though. Some of it MIGHT be turning a bit white but I don't know if that's just because I want it to look white already or not

No increase to NO3 (still undetectable with salifert low range) and minor increase to PO4 (from 0-0.02ppm with salifert high sensitivity) but that could be from taking GFO offline.

prsnlty · Feb 15, 2017

@Damien Buckley I have all that you mentioned except the clam. All are perfectly fine. Others on this thread have reported to have clams and are also unaffected.

NCreefguy · Feb 15, 2017

MaccaPopEye said:
Darwin Australia here.

With a 6x2x2 it would have cost way too much to pay the $11-13/150mg over the counter and a doc wont give you a script for the 20 pack of 200mg pills ($30) unless you have "serious reoccurring thrush" haha but if you know of a dodgy one they might give you a script without looking.

However the research and FAQ put together by NCRG was enough to convince a vet to give me the 4000mg I needed - costs $80 for the pills + a vet consult fee though but still cheaper than over the counter.

On day 5 of treatment and I have 2 maxima clams, 2 CBS and a long spined urchin. No ill effects seen on any of them so far (urchin hasn't been seen in 2-3 of days but regally disappears for days at a time as its small).

Not really any change yet to my Derbesia though. Some of it MIGHT be turning a bit white but I don't know if that's just because I want it to look white already or not

No increase to NO3 (still undetectable with salifert low range) and minor increase to PO4 (from 0-0.02ppm with salifert high sensitivity) but that could be from taking GFO offline.

I'm glad you found a vet willing to help you. Not that Vets don't want to help but most of them will tell you that they have to physically see the animal that you're treating before they can write a script. I think we have a Vet(s) here on R2R that would probably tell you the same thing. The laws are pretty strict on them.