Bryopsis and Hydrogen Peroxide dip.

[newfly]

This is from a FOWLR tank. Only this 1 rock have the most algae since it at the top of the aquascape. I think its bryopsis. Can anyone confirm?
Also, the reddish tint on the rock, its coralline algae, correct? I always assume it is but hey you never know.

Considering a couple of options:

1. Peroxide dip and brush off as much as I can
2. Put the rock in a 5g bucket with powerhead and cover for 2 weeks
3. Put all rock in the 5g bucket with powerhead and cover for 2 weeks. I only have 5-6 rocks, so it should fit. The fish may not like it though.
4. Using bottle bacteria like Vibrant or Microbacter Clean
5. Get more CuC. Only have 2 hermit in the tank. In the past, most Cuc will not last long, likely starve to death after cleaning up the algae. This is a small 15G tank with light aquascape.


What would you do?

The algae is likely due to using tap water for water change for a couple of months, due to my ro system failure. Its fix now, and i'm back to using RO water. No DI though. TDS <5ppm.

Thanks

 

[brandon429]

peroxide and bryopsis have a long and storied career together lol

it will kill the growth on initial contact, but the growback is what we've found to be challenging given the ramp up time for anchoring into the rocks before treatment. Ulva by direct comparison is a weak anchor/light application of peroxide hammers it permanently usually in one pass


but bryopsis will look great for a month then slowly sprig back up we show

so the best bet is remove the rock and not use a brush that pestles the frags deep into the pores. use a pocket knife and detail-score using the tip via scrapes like a denstist rasps plaque, exactly that way. scrape vs brush, you can pick and rinse off flecks of anchor + plant.

lots of work? yep. price of allowed mass, if you just do peroxide and brush it comes back faster. but with metal detail scoring, the whole rock rasped clean in an hour's work, peroxide as the last step on cleaned surfaces vs invaded ones, now that aligns peroxide to really work well

if you still get growback add fluconazole, but only after scoring and cleaning not before.

 

[newfly]

Will fluconazole kill coralline algae and all the good bacteria? I can treat the rock outside of the tank, since there is no need to risk the fish

 

[Miller535]

Bryopsis is probably one of the hardest algaes to physically remove. I am not saying impossible, just hard. If you choose to do the physical removal route, do NOT do it in your tank. Do no allow it to blow around or spread spores. Also I do not think that is coraline.

 

[brandon429]

Fluc is ok for bacteria and coralline yep. its quite good against bryopsis growback

 

[newfly]

Thanks guys. I have a battle plan now. Brush of as many as possible outside of the tank. If that doesn't work, then I am going to go with the fluconazole route outside the tank for 2 weeks, then brush off as many hopefully dead algae before putting it back into the tank.

 

[Miller535]

fluconazole can be purchased fairly cheap on amazon. Another good reason to brush the rocks off first is you do not want all that algae dying off in your tank. It could really fowl the water. If your problem is bad enough you may want to do both as a 1-2 punch.

 

[Miller535]

I would also highly recommend adding the di stage to your ro. You can but a single stage DI from brs for I think like $30. TDS of 5 is fine depending on what's in it, but you don't know what's in it.

 

[GoingBroke88]

Fluconazole shouldn't hurt your fish by the way. If you can easily treat the rock outside of the tank, it's fine. But I don't think it's absolutely necessary to avoid exposing the fish to fluconazole by treating outside of your tank.

 

[brandon429]

I rate dumping fluconazole into the reef as the number one bryopsis killer avail in reefing

im the ultimate doser skeptic too, it beats us in work thread percentages so there's no debating that I have to buy it.

*but its not without flaws. in the 200 page fluconazole thread there are specific mentions of growbacks, they're just at a far lower rate than peroxide. its a much more thorough kill of the plant than h202 but like mentioned above don't fragment any of it

if fragments get encased in detritus slime insulation that's how some may be riding out treatments, so this is why rip cleaning reefs (clean sand vs cloudy, cleaned rocks vs cloudy + plants) is always my go-to prep for any reef small enough to run them

done correctly, deep cleans extend the lifespan of a reef tank they don't stress or lower it, by ridding the system of waste fuel for invaders we really help growback.

rip cleaning addresses most of the cause of growth issues from algae/detritus rotting on site and feeding it.

and then things like blue vs white light intensity, nutrients, all play a part.

 

[newfly]

Thank you all. this is really helpful. I did read up about bryopsis but the sheer number of information available is overwhelming.

>> fluconazole can be purchased fairly cheap on amazon.

I did a quick search on amazon and i can find only 1 hit - ReefHD-Flux-Anti-Fungal. The rest of the products have fluconazole but also other ingredients we may not want in the tank. Is this the only option for 100% fluconazole?



>> I would also highly recommend adding the di stage to your ro. You can but a single stage DI from brs for I think like $30. TDS of 5 is fine depending on what's in it, but you don't know what's in it.

I don't have a dedicated RO for fish. Since its a small tank, i'm just filling a 5g bucket from the sink sharing the same drinking water ro. Yes, adding a DI is in my plan. I'm also planning on a larger tank, and i'm definitely planning on a dedicate fish RODI filter and plumb directly to the ATO reservoir and my salt water mixing station.


By the way, if the reddish stuff on the rock is not Carolline algae, what is it? It sure doesn;t look like red slime. How do i ger carolline? I have added countless snails and hermit in the past. Maybe time to try algae in the bottle? I am still using the cheapo florescent light strip that comes with the 15G hex tank. Since i only ahve fish ( 2 green chromis and 1 neon dottyback) i'm not picky on the color. Is this contributing to the lack of carolline after so many years? I have this setup for 15+ years. Had a pair of clown for 15 years before they die (of old age, i hope).

 

[newfly]

Scrub down the rock and did a 20% water change. the bryopsis is so hard to get off. I think i got only 70% of it. Ordered the fluconazole and will start the treatment next week.

 

[Miller535]

I think with your scrubbing and the fluc you will be successful.

 

[newfly]

Here is the rock post scrubbing and the dottyback photobomb. He is sure not happy when i move the rock around.

 

[newfly]

3 weeks later, the bryopsis is almost 95% gone. I still see some strains of dark green or brown ( hard to see in the shade) left. Can't really tell if its dead, or alive. I follow the instructions, dose fluc, and water change after 14 days.

I'll leave it as-is for now. If it comes back, i can do a second dose. Thank you all for the suggestions.