Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

[HB AL]

Nice, I hope it works out for you!

In the 3 week treatments, did you do any water changes?

I haven't done a water change in 2 years atleast. Dont have a need to. Just took a couple pics of tank, what I'm doing is working well, and have no reason to change my regimen.

 

[West1]

I haven't done a water change in 2 years atleast. Dont have a need to. Just took a couple pics of tank, what I'm doing is working well, and have no reason to change my regimen.

Wow, what's the secret to keeping nitrate in check? Awesome looking tank!

 

[HB AL]

Wow, what's the secret to keeping nitrate in check? Awesome looking tank!

Send me a PM if you like, and I can answer your questions.

 

[Huff747]

Before the 1st treatment it was in alot of areas but I would just RIP it out. Then I started contemplating the fluconazole treatment and one day decided to do it and within 9 days I could not find any it worked quick, that time i followed the exact directions the OP posted. Then a month after it started showing up again, so I changed to half the dose and only turned off the skimmer for a day and it was gone just as quick as the 1st time. Though this time I left it in for 28 days. The third treatment I did the same as the 2nd one but left it in for 38 days. It took roughly a month before it grew enough in a couple spots before I noticed it yesterday. Gonna start treatment #4 in a couple weeks probably the same way as the last 2 and leave it in for maybe 2 months this time cuz it does seem to not come back in all the same places when it is back. I have alot of corals and fish and haven't seen any negative effects on them the last 2 treatments. Hope that answered your question.

I'm in a similar boat. First go round I followed the directions exactly and it came back in full force. I was frustrated so I didn't treat again for a while but I would pull a lot by hand each week and debated taking that particular tank down since it just kept spreading. I figured I'd give it another go before I pull the plug on that tank so on 1/25 I dosed again according to the initial directions but this time I've been doing my weekly water changes, I just dose the replacement water with fluconazole. I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep doing it but it's been 5 weeks and corals (only 1 SPS in that tank), anemones, inverts, fish all seem fine. I just kind of hope if I keep it up long enough the bryopsis won't be able to recover, but I don't know how long that might be. I'll probably buy another batch of fluc and keep it until I'm through that batch and then see.

If it comes back again that tank is getting drained. My biggest concern if I do that is can the corals carry anything from that tank that would bring the byopsis with? It's basically been isolated to my rocks, most of the corals are in the sand. I'd like to keep the corals but I absolutely don't want this stuff making its way into my bigger tank.

 

[HB AL]

A plug, a little dead part on a coral, anything a spore of it is alive on and you just reintroduced it after all that work. I have noticed it takes a little longer to come back every time and in less spots than before so maybe eventually after a certain amount of treatments one time it won’t come back. I have a lot of corals of all types and lots of sps especially acros and it doesn’t bother them one bit, so I will keep doing it till the day it never comes back.

 

[Velcro]

I used this over a year ago on a tank that I no longer have. It would get rid of the bryopsis for like a month then it would come back. I have a new tank (roughly 9 months old) that's doing really well with a bunch of acropora. Unfortunately, there are some patches of what appears to be bryopsis (fern-like). I see in the first thread that people are doing a constant low dose after the initial bolus. Is anyone having success with this in an acropora tank with no losses? Also, has anyone looked into if a UV degrades the fluconazole? I have to use a UV to keep dino's at bay.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Send me a PM if you like, and I can answer your questions.

I'd like to know too.

 

[HB AL]

I

I'd like to know too.

Dont want to derail the bryopsys thread with controlling your nitrates, your more than welcome to send me a pm.

 

[pecan2phat]

I just recently had to add a 10% maintenance dose after initial full dosage 11 weeks ago. The initial dose was never actively removed either by skimmer, carbon or water changes.
Will observe to see if this "maintenance dose" will work or not.

 

[ShawnSaucier]

So I think I may have the big B starting to bloom in my tank. Luckily my wife works in a vets office. She brought home some pills, not capsules. Should these react the same as the capsules? I was thinking of grinding them up then add to RODI water to add to the tank.

 

[HB AL]

I just recently had to add a 10% maintenance dose after initial full dosage 11 weeks ago. The initial dose was never actively removed either by skimmer, carbon or water changes.
Will observe to see if this "maintenance dose" will work or not.

I have a couple questions, why did you add a 10% “maintenance dose” did it come back? More important question is, how do you know the initial dose was not removed by all those means? A little confused by some key missing info in your post.

 

[HB AL]

So I think I may have the big B starting to bloom in my tank. Luckily my wife works in a vets office. She brought home some pills, not capsules. Should these react the same as the capsules? I was thinking of grinding them up then add to RODI water to add to the tank.

Grind them up into as much of a fine powder as possible mix it up in a cup of tank water and pour it in the sump. As long as it’s 100% fluconzole it will work the same.

 

[pecan2phat]

I have a couple questions, why did you add a 10% “maintenance dose” did it come back? More important question is, how do you know the initial dose was not removed by all those means? A little confused by some key missing info in your post.

So a little clarification, the system that I was using the fluconazole does not have a skimmer and I only do a very small water change maybe 2x a year. Carbon was taken out of the system since the 2nd attempt with fluconazole and has not been replaced since. So basically unless fluconazole becomes inert due to light exposure or biological film denigration then it should still be in the system since I have not actively tried to remove it due to the last experience with the fluconazole treatment.
I chose the 10% "maintenance" dose to see if that is all that would be needed to kick back the green that I am slowly starting to see appear on the rocks and near the teeth of my overflow. I use this as a visual to the start of a resurgence of the bryopsis and hair algae since this was how it happened after the 1st treatment and after the active removal of the fluconazole based on the OP's instructions on the 1st page.
2nd time around I did not bother to take out the fluconazole since it did no harm to any of the corals, clams or inverts in the tank for 2.5 months.
The 10% might not work but I wanted to try since technically I did not remove any of the full dosage in the water column.

 

[HB AL]

So a little clarification, the system that I was using the fluconazole does not have a skimmer and I only do a very small water change maybe 2x a year. Carbon was taken out of the system since the 2nd attempt with fluconazole and has not been replaced since. So basically unless fluconazole becomes inert due to light exposure or biological film denigration then it should still be in the system since I have not actively tried to remove it due to the last experience with the fluconazole treatment.
I chose the 10% "maintenance" dose to see if that is all that would be needed to kick back the green that I am slowly starting to see appear on the rocks and near the teeth of my overflow. I use this as a visual to the start of a resurgence of the bryopsis and hair algae since this was how it happened after the 1st treatment and after the active removal of the fluconazole based on the OP's instructions on the 1st page.
2nd time around I did not bother to take out the fluconazole since it did no harm to any of the corals, clams or inverts in the tank for 2.5 months.
The 10% might not work but I wanted to try since technically I did not remove any of the full dosage in the water column.

Well I don’t do water changes ever so I can tell you for sure that although I have a skimmer I put carbon back in after treating for a month the last 2 times and it does come back but each time in less areas but always in the same zones, the roots must go deep into the rock and not die off completely. It just started coming back again but I’m gonna let it go for a while to see all the spots it comes back in, I’m just gonna manually prune it for now as it is minimal. Then maybe in a month try agin. The last 2 times I used half the recommended dose and it was gone just as quick(within a week) as the 1st time I did the full dose recommended, but noticed some acros suffering with the full dose, so I dropped the dose in half the last 2 times and left the carbon out for a month. I only turn off the skimmer for a day, so the carbon is definetly removing it cuz it comes back within a month or so. A light maintenance dose continually might actually work, please keep us informed.

 

[ImGoingCoastal]

Just added some to my own tank. Nothing seems to have even noticed though it does feel like the algae is slowly starting to vanish. It gave two dosing options one weaker and one stronger for quicker action. I went with the lighter dose. I may toss another capsule in there to see if it will speed up the process.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Does it also get rid of macro algae such as halimitia, chato, or codium.

 

[pecan2phat]

From what I've read, it doesn't affect macro algae much. My Chaeto did not die off during all the multiple treatments.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Oh good

 

[Mark_4880]

Day 1 over here.

I haven't done a WC in 5 months and don't plan on doing one after treatment, unless it's really important to do so.

I've been using Vibrant for a couple months at least once a week and as of recently every 3 days because I didn't know I had bryopsis. I'm hoping my corals start showing faster growth again by cutting back on that and eliminating bryo.

 

[DeepBlueSeaV1]

Round 3 -

Completed two full dose rounds, but the bryopsis continues to come back. Guess, 14 day treatment just hasn't been enought to really get the 'roots' of bryopsis.

This time went with half dosage, byopsis has disintegrated. If you know where to look, you can see 1/8" stalks in a few of the denses patches.

Since I have not been collecting my skimmate (Skimmer running, but overflowing back into sump) for almost 14 day, I plan to collect skimmate for 36 hours (nutrient export), and re-dose half dosage for another 14 days without collecting skimmate. That will be a 28 day treatment and see what the 1/8" stalks look like at that point in time.

Hopefully, 28 days will erradicate it from the system. If not, I'm prepared to do another 14 day for a 42 day treatment.