Bryopsis Explosion

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Here's the link to the original thread. Scroll past the blue...

Thread 'Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bryopsis-cure-my-battle-with-bryopsis-using-fluconazole.285096/

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

As I was reading the first post of the "original" bryopsis/flucanozole thread, I saw this comment: ****This treatment seems to work best in well lit areas of the tank. Some people are noticing quicker results by adding light to the shaded areas of their tank.*****

Incidentally, this makes a lot of sense given what others have said about lighting changes bringing it back and that pulling it out before the meds are used causing the roots to be unaffected.

I stand corrected

Well, I wouldn’t say you were wrong. The free floating fluc within the water column may actually be degraded by light..I just don’t know. Something to try to look up when I’m bored.

edit. That is a great article by the way and I truly thank those involved for all their work. I recently lost most my vision so finding and linking these are impossible for me. I eluded to search for it earlier in the thread. Thank you for posting it

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

The original thread is almost 300 pages, so some of this info may have been updated, but here are some of the FAQs in the 1st post: you want to avoid removing any of the meds:

Q: Do I do a WC before treatment?
A: Yes. It would be a good idea as the treatment is for 14-21 days(some GHA can take around 4 weeks) and expect an increase in nutrients.

Q: Do I do a WC during treatment?
A: No. Unless it cannot be avoided and a WC needs to be done to save life.If you perform a wc then replace the meds with the fresh saltwater.

Q: Do I remove my carbon?
A: Yes.

Q: Do I remove my skimmer cup?
A: Its suggested for at least the first few days if not the entire treatment remove your cup. If you pull your cup you may continue to run the skimmer, or turn the skimmer down as to not allow the skim to enter the cup. You do not want to remove the med.

Q: Do I take my ATS offline?
A: Yes. Completely sanitize it, and reintroduce it after all the bryopsis is 100% gone.

Q: Do I take my bio reactor offline?
A: No.

Q: Do I take my GFO offline?
A: No GFO will not remove the meds.It will also help to remove the po4 from dying algae.

Q: Do I take my carbon reactor offline?
A: Yes.

Q:Should I stop using Purigen during treatment?
A:Yes.

Q: Do I take my UV Sterilizer offline?
A: No. At first it was thought that the UV would break down the meds but further testing has shown that it doesn't seem to effect the treatment enough to remove it.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

The original thread is almost 300 pages, so some of this info may have been updated, but here are some of the FAQs in the 1st post: you want to avoid removing any of the meds:

Q: Do I do a WC before treatment?
A: Yes. It would be a good idea as the treatment is for 14-21 days(some GHA can take around 4 weeks) and expect an increase in nutrients.

Q: Do I do a WC during treatment?
A: No. Unless it cannot be avoided and a WC needs to be done to save life.If you perform a wc then replace the meds with the fresh saltwater.

Q: Do I remove my carbon?
A: Yes.

Q: Do I remove my skimmer cup?
A: Its suggested for at least the first few days if not the entire treatment remove your cup. If you pull your cup you may continue to run the skimmer, or turn the skimmer down as to not allow the skim to enter the cup. You do not want to remove the med.

Q: Do I take my ATS offline?
A: Yes. Completely sanitize it, and reintroduce it after all the bryopsis is 100% gone.

Q: Do I take my bio reactor offline?
A: No.

Q: Do I take my GFO offline?
A: No GFO will not remove the meds.It will also help to remove the po4 from dying algae.

Q: Do I take my carbon reactor offline?
A: Yes.

Q:Should I stop using Purigen during treatment?
A:Yes.

Q: Do I take my UV Sterilizer offline?
A: No. At first it was thought that the UV would break down the meds but further testing has shown that it doesn't seem to effect the treatment enough to remove it.

If I remember correctly there was also a do I stop vibrant question! Hahaha I’m guessing you omitted that on purpose! Hahaha
Edit.. thank you for doing this!

 

[CoralB]

Tuxedo urchins and manual pulling if you don’t want to use flux rx .

 

[Reefing102]

Okay so I have a question…will any flux work or does it have to be reef flux? I see a huge difference in price on Amazon between “reef flux” and “fish flux”. I’ve been battle hair algae for a while and I’m thinking this may help get me ahead while I get to the root cause

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

edit. Did not read the hair algae comment. Don’t use this for hair algae!

 

[JCM]

Okay so I have a question…will any flux work or does it have to be reef flux? I see a huge difference in price on Amazon between “reef flux” and “fish flux”. I’ve been battle hair algae for a while and I’m thinking this may help get me ahead while I get to the root cause

I'm a big fan of Fluconazole, but not sure I'd use it for hair algae. Bryopsis is impossible to remove without it, hair algae is more dependent on nutrients and plenty of herbivores will eat it. Get your parameters in check, manually remove as much as possible, and up your herbivores. You'll be better served fixing the root cause of the hair algae, rather than dosing a medication.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I'm a big fan of Fluconazole, but not sure I'd use it for hair algae. Bryopsis is impossible to remove without it, hair algae is more dependent on nutrients and plenty of herbivores will eat it. Get your parameters in check, manually remove as much as possible, and up your herbivores. You'll be better served fixing the root cause of the hair algae, rather than dosing a medication.

EXACTLY THIS! I did not read the hair algae commment. Don’t use this for hair algae!

edit. Jcm thanks for catching my mistake. I only read the can I use this brand on Amazon thing and not the hair algae thing

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

As I understand it, flucanozole is deactivated by light so removal is not necessary.
Along those lines, I recall that it's better to add the medication during ramp-down or after lights are out.

Edit: I believe I have posted incorrect info here. See my reply (to myself, lol) with additional information

FYI I very quickly looked this up for craps and giggles. The only reference I found was a study on the effects of heat, time, and uv light on different brands of fluconazole. It appears that light, uv light specifically, has little to no effect. Whereas heat, did degrade one of the three brands and time did not have any measurable affect. Nothing on good old visible spectrum lighting though.

Effect of heat, time and UV light on different brands of fluconazole by UV spectrophotometeric method | Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO) | US EPA

 

[Lavey29]

I suspect you didn't actually have bryopsis but possibly a more stubborn GHA.

Possibly but my visual ID led me to believe otherwise.

 

[JCM]

EXACTLY THIS! I did not read the hair algae commment. Don’t use this for hair algae!

edit. Jcm thanks for catching my mistake. I only read the can I use this brand on Amazon thing and not the hair algae thing

Yeah, hair algae sucks to deal with but it's beatable. I'm not convinced bryopsis is beatable naturally.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Yeah, hair algae sucks to deal with but it's beatable. I'm not convinced bryopsis is beatable naturally.

I think it’s the true devils lettuce! Haha

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

If I remember correctly there was also a do I stop vibrant question! Hahaha I’m guessing you omitted that on purpose! Hahaha
Edit.. thank you for doing this!

Yep

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Okay so I have a question…will any flux work or does it have to be reef flux? I see a huge difference in price on Amazon between “reef flux” and “fish flux”. I’ve been battle hair algae for a while and I’m thinking this may help get me ahead while I get to the root cause

All brands *should* be the same medication - flucanozole.

PSA:
As we know, there are a lot of "human" prescription meds that are available without a prescription as fish meds... antibiotics, antifungals, etc. When I used flucanozole for bryopsis, none of the "fish" brands of it had been made/marketed on the US yet, so I got a prescription from my vet and filled it at a regular pharmacy. (He's a cool guy and after he read the research and understood I wanted a total of 2 pills, he was fine with it... I put one of my fish down as a patient, lol).
My point is, "human" grade prescription meds can be used for fish, but don't assume the opposite is true... They *should* be the same, but aren't regulated the same way, so it's not worth the risk.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

edit. Did not read the hair algae comment. Don’t use this for hair algae!

If you have both kinds of algae in the tank, then I don't see an issue with continuing treatment for another week or 2 beyond what is needed to kill bryopsis.

But I agree that it's probably not the first thing to try. ( Of course, if it's a choice between Vibrant and fluc, I'd go for it, lol)

 

[Reefing102]

All brands *should* be the same medication - flucanozole.

PSA:
As we know, there are a lot of "human" prescription meds that are available without a prescription as fish meds... antibiotics, antifungals, etc. When I used flucanozole for bryopsis, none of the "fish" brands of it had been made/marketed on the US yet, so I got a prescription from my vet and filled it at a regular pharmacy. (He's a cool guy and after he read the research and understood I wanted a total of 2 pills, he was fine with it... I put one of my fish down as a patient, lol).
My point is, "human" grade prescription meds can be used for fish, but don't assume the opposite is true... They *should* be the same, but aren't regulated the same way, so it's not worth the risk.

Thanks! Definitely not using vibrant. I’m working on uping my maintenance (part of the reason I have the issue) and then need to readjust my flow. I was just thinking this may help with a “Fresh start” per se. To my knowledge, there’s no bryopsis in the tank just the hair algae

 

[hans4811]

I think this was mentioned somewhere in this post, but has anyone that’s used fluc had a refugium ? And if so, how was it affected ? I have a good amount of Chaeto and Caulerpa in my fuge and taking it out would be a pain as the roots have imbedded in my miracle mud in the bottom of fuge. Willing to take a chance and just leave it but would like to hear if someone did the same.

And that person is right….this stuff is the devils lettuce !!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I think this was mentioned somewhere in this post, but has anyone that’s used fluc had a refugium ? And if so, how was it affected ? I have a good amount of Chaeto and Caulerpa in my fuge and taking it out would be a pain as the roots have imbedded in my miracle mud in the bottom of fuge. Willing to take a chance and just leave it but would like to hear if someone did the same.

And that person is right….this stuff is the devils lettuce !!

You’ll hear mixed results on that. Some say they’ve had no issues, others say it died back and then never really took off again when the treatment was complete, and others had it all die off. Some say to remove it for treatment and put it back after, but I would be worried about reintroducing the bryopsis myself. Back in the 1800s macro was cheap and people would give it away. Now everyone sees dollar signs…my thought is to leave it in it or pull it out and throw it away. Worst thing that can happen if you leave it is that it may die off. Worst thing if you take it out, put it in a bucket and put it back after treatment is bryopsis may return.

 

[hans4811]

You’ll hear mixed results on that. Some say they’ve had no issues, others say it died back and then never really took off again when the treatment was complete, and others had it all die off. Some say to remove it for treatment and put it back after, but I would be worried about reintroducing the bryopsis myself. Back in the 1800s macro was cheap and people would give it away. Now everyone sees dollar signs…my thought is to leave it in it or pull it out and throw it away. Worst thing that can happen if you leave it is that it may die off. Worst thing if you take it out, put it in a bucket and put it back after treatment is bryopsis may return.

Good point, didn’t think of reintroducing this plague by putting the algae back in after treatment….so macro algae stays and takes me chances ! (said in my best pirate impersonation)