Flucanazole and alkalinity spike

[Necrodaemus]

I recently dosed Reef Flux ( Flucanazole) to help combat some hair/turf algae and over the past couple of days I noticed my alk spike from the stable 8.5 to 10. Is this normal? What could cause this?

 

[Ashwinclement]

I have seen this happen when I did a fenbendazole treatment in my tank, I attributed it to a stall in coral growth, the corals dont consume alk as much in the tank because the stress caused by the medication so alk rises with the same level of dosing. I reduced dosing amount and as the medication slowly got out of the system, the alk consumption rose again to pre-medication level, but for fenbendazole it takes a while to get the medication completely out, not sure about fluconazole.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

It’s happened to me. People will tell you that everything is perfectly safe and won’t affect anything alive in your system but things do happen. It probably ticked off some corals and for lack of better term, stopped growing and using as much alkalinity as usual. I try to advise people to test more often while dosing anything and adjust as needed. Some people have no reported issues while others do. The fluconazole itself probably won’t hurt anything directly but a large enough Alk swing caused the animals not consuming as normal definitely can. Your swing wasn’t too bad and it’s good that you caught it. I would let it fall on its own by stopping your dosing for awhile. You might have to slowly ramp up your dosing again after the treatment is over.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I have seen this happen when I did a fenbendazole treatment in my tank, I attributed it to a stall in coral growth, the corals dont consume alk as much in the tank because the stress caused by the medication so alk rises with the same level of dosing. I reduced dosing amount and as the medication slowly got out of the system, the alk consumption rose again to pre-medication level, but for fenbendazole it takes a while to get the medication completely out, not sure about fluconazole.

Jinx..I want my coke! Ha

 

[Necrodaemus]

It’s happened to me. People will tell you that everything is perfectly safe and won’t affect anything alive in your system but things do happen. It probably ticked off some corals and for lack of better term, stopped growing and using as much alkalinity as usual. I try to advise people to test more often while dosing anything and adjust as needed. Some people have no reported issues while others do. The fluconazole itself probably won’t hurt anything directly but a large enough Alk swing caused the animals not consuming as normal definitely can. Your swing wasn’t too bad and it’s good that you caught it. I would let it fall on its own by stopping your dosing for awhile. You might have to slowly ramp up your dosing again after the treatment is over.

That’s exactly what I’m thinking has happened. I dose AFR to maintain parameters and nothing has changed aside from the Flucanazole dose. I’ll definitely keep an eye on the alk and do very small water changes if I see it continue to climb. Thanks for the insight!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

That’s exactly what I’m thinking has happened. I dose AFR to maintain parameters and nothing has changed aside from the Flucanazole dose. I’ll definitely keep an eye on the alk and do very small water changes if I see it continue to climb. Thanks for the insight!

My first run with Fluc for bryopsis I ended up losing several sps. I did not catch the spike as I was stupid and believed everyone that said it’s perfectly safe and doesn’t affect anything in any way. Mine went from sevenish to fourteen in a matter of days. Funny thing it affected the older larger colonies and not the fresh frags which at that point, was backwards in my head.

 

[Necrodaemus]

My first run with Fluc for bryopsis I ended up losing several sps. I did not catch the spike as I was stupid and believed everyone that said it’s perfectly safe and doesn’t affect anything in any way. Mine went from sevenish to fourteen in a matter of days. Funny thing it affected the older larger colonies and not the fresh frags which at that point, was backwards in my head.

Oh man, that had to sting. Fortunately I’m dosing a low amount of All For Reef to maintain alk and Ca so I’m not as worried about a larger spike than what I’m seeing.

 

[Necrodaemus]

It’s happened to me. People will tell you that everything is perfectly safe and won’t affect anything alive in your system but things do happen. It probably ticked off some corals and for lack of better term, stopped growing and using as much alkalinity as usual. I try to advise people to test more often while dosing anything and adjust as needed. Some people have no reported issues while others do. The fluconazole itself probably won’t hurt anything directly but a large enough Alk swing caused the animals not consuming as normal definitely can. Your swing wasn’t too bad and it’s good that you caught it. I would let it fall on its own by stopping your dosing for awhile. You might have to slowly ramp up your dosing again after the treatment is over.

Do you recall how long it took before the sps regained normal consumption?

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I have dosed fluconazole in 1/10 of the recommended dose in a nano by making a fluconazole solution. At that low dose it still killed the GHA but my ALK consumption never budged. It was a year and a half ago. I may still have the spreadsheet from my testing then. I'll look when I get home.

Put short I think the recommended doses of fluconazole are entirely too high.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Do you recall how long it took before the sps regained normal consumption?

About five to seven days after the treatment was completed and it started to go back up gradually. I think around ten to twelve days after the treatment I was back to normal. A little lower as I lost a couple colonies. I fragged the heck out of the colonies that started rtn. Only a couple of those frags made it through. I dosed for bryopsis not gha and ran the full course of treatment.