Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

[Brian W]

I killed off my bryopsis by treating it like hair algae and using phosphate rx for a couple weeks, Then scraped all the algae off the plug with a toothbrush. I have not see it in over 3 months so far!

 

[cnseekatz]

I dosed my tank on January 27th. In 12 days, all bryopsis was gone. Yesterday I noticed a tiny bit of baby bryo starting to grow on my Gyre. Not sure if it's residual, or if it's new (somehow). It was easy to remove the pump and clean it off in the sink.

So clearly the medication does not stay in the tank (in an effective amount) forever. It's broken down, or diluted enough in one month to allow new growth. Hopefully the old stuff was fully eradicated, and won't start growing back.

 

[prsnlty]

I killed off my bryopsis by treating it like hair algae and using phosphate rx for a couple weeks, Then scraped all the algae off the plug with a toothbrush. I have not see it in over 3 months so far!

That is great that you were able to do that but it does not work for everyone. Or everyone is not capable of doing it due to their tank setups and types of coral. I myself tried that method and it did not work at all. As a matter of fact it spread in my system and many of my corals were unhappy. We all have to do what works [emoji3]

 

[Idaho-reefer]

I'm not saying your situation isn't happening I believe that it is. However I'm not sure it's due to the fluconazole directly. so I would like to see if there's some way we can get to the bottom of it and fix the situation if we can

100 % positive this was cause by dosing. I don't think it was the flucon itself but the die off that was happening with all the briopsis. I will be checking my no and po but before dosing water was near perfect. Running sps in this tank for over a year with growth and really good success.
Really the advise not running carbon skimmer etc may not have been the best.

 

[prsnlty]

100 % positive this was cause by dosing. I don't think it was the flucon itself but the die off that was happening with all the briopsis. I will be checking my no and po but before dosing water was near perfect. Running sps in this tank for over a year with growth and really good success.
Really the advise not running carbon skimmer etc may not have been the best.

Ok. Until your tank there has not been loses like you're having. I run a mixed reef predominantly sps and have had no loses on the same dosage as everyone else and followed the same "suggestions" as it is still in experimental stages stated at the very beginning of the thread. The thread and treatment is in hopes of a good cure for bryopis that works for most, if not all systems. The suggestions on how to treat is from many of us collecting data from our individual findings as we go along. The treatment is "at your own risk" as also stated on the 1st page of this thread. Your loses are the 1st serious loses reported (sadly) and it would be great if we can figure out why.

We know that skimmers and "Purigen" (newly discovered) can remove the meds from the water column. Gfo and gac is up to you. Dosing one 200mg "capsule" per 10g of water volume in a cup of tank water, we'll mixed, released in high flow at night. For tank overrun with bryopsis and green hair algae, it should be manually pulled as much as one can before treatment to aid in its demise and to lessen the amount of dead free floating algae in the tank. A good cleanup crew is also suggested to help with waste. Great lighting and additional lighting aimed at low lit areas.

So for the sake of all reefers that want to do this treatment will you help us figure out what happened in your tank?

1) Did you do exactly as suggested above? If not, what did you do differently?
2) when did you start your treatment and when did you begin to notice problems?
3) are you doing anything else in your system, if so what?

@NCreefguy @stevo01 @Rick.45cal @Sabellafella Any thoughts?

 

[azreeftank]

100 % positive this was cause by dosing. I don't think it was the flucon itself but the die off that was happening with all the briopsis. I will be checking my no and po but before dosing water was near perfect. Running sps in this tank for over a year with growth and really good success.
Really the advise not running carbon skimmer etc may not have been the best.

What would be the point of doing the treatment if you think turning off skimmer and carbon was a bad idea? It would be a waste of $ to leave them on from the start the Fluco would be in the tank one day. I have heavy LPS and 3 large clams and leathers. Nothing showed even slightest stress during my 14 days. I am sold on this treatment.

 

[prsnlty]

Oh well. We learn by repetition.

[emoji12] lol [emoji1]

 

[Idaho-reefer]

Firefish dead now.

10mg per gallon things were going well. Yesterday the briopsis started going downhill quickly. Not sure like I said of the massive amount of die off changed water parameters to quickly. In process in testing nitrates and phosphates. Honestly this was a battle with briopsis That I was was losing. It's still dying and if I lose a few things in the process, it's better than tearing my tank down. I do not regret doing this but if massive amounts of dying algae release enough phosphate etc then it's worth either running a skimmer or to pull as much out as you can. I took the advice not to pull it because it wasn't as effective. In hindsight I would have removed as much as possible first to minimize what was being brought back into the water column as it died.


Again I am still 100% doing this treatment. And am still moving forward. Nothing else was killing this stuff.

Side note I did start skimming again and it's going CRAZY emptied three cups already and waiting for my ro for a large water change

 

[prsnlty]

Firefish dead now.

10mg per gallon things were going well. Yesterday the briopsis started going downhill quickly. Not sure like I said of the massive amount of die off changed water parameters to quickly. In process in testing nitrates and phosphates. Honestly this was a battle with briopsis That I was was losing. It's still dying and if I lose a few things in the process, it's better than tearing my tank down. I do not regret doing this but if massive amounts of dying algae release enough phosphate etc then it's worth either running a skimmer or to pull as much out as you can. I took the advice not to pull it because it wasn't as effective. In hindsight I would have removed as much as possible first to minimize what was being brought back into the water column as it died.


Again I am still 100% doing this treatment. And am still moving forward. Nothing else was killing this stuff.

Side note I did start skimming again and it's going CRAZY emptied three cups already and waiting for my ro for a large water change

The advice was to remove it before treatment but don't do it once treatment was in progress. Because it is the tips of the bryopsis that consumes the fluconazole. If you remove it before it will quickly get its tips back on but at a lesser amount of algae. Which would mean a lesser amount of die off at once.

I'm really sorry about your fish [emoji26] I know how terrible it is because I had a hundred and eighty gallons full of bryopsis that I was battling for 8 months and losing. This provided the win ! I also treated my 29 gallon and 45 gallon without issues. My po4 did rise when did I put gfo back online. Although to this date I am still not running carbon and my tank is crystal clear and the corals are all fluffy and polyps extended beautifully period actually better than before. That's because the bryopsis is no longer eating up all the nutrients in the tank. So please let us know your findings.
Pictures taken just now

 

[Idaho-reefer]

Up till yesterday my corals we looking better than ever. Then today. All water parameters are unchanged.

Salinity 1.025
Temp 80
Alk 10
Calc 400
Mag ~1300
Nitrates don't even register on my red sea test both are low range.
Phosphate .08 ppm

 

[Squid]

Up till yesterday my corals we looking better than ever. Then today. All water parameters are unchanged.

Salinity 1.025
Temp 80
Alk 10
Calc 400
Mag ~1300
Nitrates don't even register on my red sea test both are low range.
Phosphate .08 ppm

Your nitrates are too low for your alk to be that high. Easy way to kill your sps. I dont think that killed your stuff through . think oxygen depletion (lack of gas exchange) may be responsible

 

[prsnlty]

Up till yesterday my corals we looking better than ever. Then today. All water parameters are unchanged.

Salinity 1.025
Temp 80
Alk 10
Calc 400
Mag ~1300
Nitrates don't even register on my red sea test both are low range.
Phosphate .08 ppm

What is your normal po4? For everything to change like that in 24 hrs is very strange though. Your parameters are still safe. Are you sure it couldn't have been an alk spike? If I didn't know that you dosed fluconazole or any other medication that would have been my first question. Because that's the kind of reaction that an alkalinity Spike causes.

My po4 went from undetectable to .16 and turned the gfo back on. Had no issues from it.

 

[Idaho-reefer]

Your nitrates are too low for your alk to be that high. Easy way to kill your sps. I dont think that killed your stuff through . think oxygen depletion (lack of gas exchange) may be responsible

nitrates and alk don't effect each other like what you posted.

 

[Idaho-reefer]

What is your normal po4? For everything to change like that in 24 hrs is very strange though. Your parameters are still safe. Are you sure it couldn't have been an alk spike? If I didn't know that you dosed fluconazole or any other medication that would have been my first question. Because that's the kind of reaction that an alkalinity Spike causes.

My po4 went from undetectable to .16 and turned the gfo back on. Had no issues from it.

Normal po and no always very very low usually can't even see color. I am just as confused. I did have this black short algae that also died off. I am wondering if and if it was toxic. I have no idea.

I dose two part and that's still good. All my fish now are at the bottom breathing heavy. Ugh

Literally no other changes made or anything else dosed.

 

[prsnlty]

Normal po and no and always very very low usually can't even see color. I am just as confused. I did have this black short algae that also died off. I am wondering if and if it was toxic. I have no idea.

That is very interesting! Do you have any pics of the algae?

 

[Idaho-reefer]

This one shows the black algae (towards the top right)







Today My clam seems to be unaffected everything else looks ticked off. I am glad at least the briopsis is fading away.

 

[Squid]

nitrates and alk don't effect each other like what you posted.

Uh yes they do. The search function on this website and Google work wonders.

 

[Idaho-reefer]

Please show me how an alk of 10 and low nitrates effect gas exchange lol. Alk, ph and co2 are related for that.

 

[Squid]

Please show me how an alk of 10 and low nitrates effect gas exchange lol. Alk, ph and co2 are related for that.

Lol you may want to re-read my post. I never said high alk low nutrients affect gas exchange. In fact, i even said that your high alk low nutrients are not likely the culprit. High alk low nutrients cause alk burn and coral deaths which was what I was alluding to

 

[Idaho-reefer]

Lol you may want to re-read my post. I never said high alk low nutrients affect gas exchange. In fact, i even said that your high alk low nutrients are not likely the culprit. High alk low nutrients cause alk burn and coral deaths which was what I was alluding to

Yea you had me confused, I was rereading what you said and realized what you meant ... yes dang nitrates lol even dosed potassium nitrate in the past to try and raise it. I have never had any issues with alk burn.

Thanks for clarifying your post.

The gas exchange doesn't explain my now two dead fish..snails look good. Clam surprisingly looks okay.

I am doing a water change and still moving forward with treatment. If I end up with a dead tank at least I can start without briopsis.