Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

[Rakie]

Thanks @Jose Mayo -- A friend actually told me to use h202 spot treatment as well. I'm guessing 1-3ml for a single spot with the flow off. I'm also guessing I shouldn't do more than 5ml per day, so I'd only treat one or two spots a day. My tank is a 24x24x18", so not very large.

Does this sound good to you @Jose Mayo

 

[Jose Mayo]

Does this sound good to you @Jose Mayo

Yes, that's correct.

Regards

 

[Jenna Bearden]

I was wondering. Will this treatment harm my snails, harlequin shrimp, peppermint shrimp? I have read his introduction, but i want to make sure before dosing my nano. Anyone with experience with this medicine and inverts.

 

[Jose Mayo]

I was wondering. Will this treatment harm my snails, harlequin shrimp, peppermint shrimp? I have read his introduction, but i want to make sure before dosing my nano. Anyone with experience with this medicine and inverts.

Fluconazole, by its specific mechanism of action, is not directly lethal to any animal, micro or macro, of the aquarium. There is much evidence of this in the various practical tests performed. Some adverse side effects, quite specific to the volume of experiments, were reported, but there was no way to establish if they were due to a direct action of fluconazole or a consequence of the expected results (death of the algae and consequent release of its nutrients and, perhaps, toxins ).

Regards

 

[Rakie]

Apparently Brightwell Aquatics makes something like the old Kent Tech-M, with the same supplier as the original Tech-M. The mechanism which hampers/kills bryopsis in this formula is Lithium.

So if you want the old Kent Tech-M treatment, get Brightwell Aquatics Hydrat-MG

ReefBuilders article on bryopsis with Hydrat-MG

 

[Cherub]

I really don't want to read through 244 pages... So may I ask, will running the skimmer after a week remove any of the medication? Would I need to redose?

 

[Rakie]

I really don't want to read through 244 pages... So may I ask, will running the skimmer after a week remove any of the medication? Would I need to redose?

Run skimmer low with cup off. You don't want to remove meds early in my experience -- and yes, it will remove the meds.

 

[40B Knasty]

I was wondering. Will this treatment harm my snails, harlequin shrimp, peppermint shrimp? I have read his introduction, but i want to make sure before dosing my nano. Anyone with experience with this medicine and inverts.

Right now on my day 9 going into 10. I had one astrea snail fall off the glass.
Am I chomping at the bit to do a water change, absolutely!
I am using Reef Flux by Reef HD. I could not be happier! Will it come back. I do not know. Is it all gone for now. 95% yes and that last 5% is dead waiting to fall off and be collected in a sponge filter. Which I changed twice now. I did add an extra capsule after 7 days. I discussed that idea with Jose and we both believe it was good move to replenish back up to par with amount I should have in the tank.

 

[40B Knasty]

I really don't want to read through 244 pages... So may I ask, will running the skimmer after a week remove any of the medication? Would I need to redose?

Follow this. Going on 10 days. Did a prep day. 3 day & 6 day results video.

 

[Cherub]

Run skimmer low with cup off. You don't want to remove meds early in my experience -- and yes, it will remove the meds.

running the skimmer with no cup has zero value right? What's the point if nothing is being removed

 

[40B Knasty]

running the skimmer with no cup has zero value right? What's the point if nothing is being removed

Oxygen to the tank.

 

[Cherub]

Oxygen to the tank.

ah ok that makes sense. tyvm

 

[40B Knasty]

running the skimmer with no cup has zero value right? What's the point if nothing is being removed

Also the bryopsis may also be in your skimmer. So you are making sure all pieces of equipment are being treated. Not just your tank.

 

[Jose Mayo]

I really don't want to read through 244 pages... So may I ask, will running the skimmer after a week remove any of the medication? Would I need to redose?

These studies, measuring the amount of fluconazole capable of being withdrawn by the skimmer in a given period of time, have not yet been performed. Throughout the 244 pages of this thread there are several reports of early reintroduction of the skimmer without the results of treatments being affected and others reporting failure when the skimmer cup is not removed.

What is wanted, therefore, is not to propagate the results that are as if they were already an established truth, as in a scientific experiment, but that each one divulge its particular result so that, with the results of all, one arrives to establish a firmer protocol, which can guarantee better results at all when used.

Running the skimmer without the cup is important for the oxygenation of the aquarium and for the stability of the pH by aeration.

 

[Jose Mayo]

Also the bryopsis may also be in your skimmer. So you are making sure all pieces of equipment are being treated. Not just your tank.

Very well noted ... materials and equipment that have already been used in the infested tank, and that are not submitted to treatment, may be, yes, a source of reinfestation with algae fungi or bacteria, when they are reused.

Congratulations

 

[Rakie]

Oxygen to the tank.

And pH.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I haven't visited this thread since page 3 I think?

I did skim through several pages with pictures and reoccurring outbreaks. I remember a time when flucon wasn't available and the most common route to reduce bryopsis growth was manual removal. What we also knew then was that in the areas we manually picked, if picked properly, bryopsis wouldn't regrow in that area. The idea was to turn pumps off and drop filaments into ro/di water so we didnt have any free floating filaments to plant itself later on. Trust me i've been there.



So, my point is when I see pictures of big bushy patches as a reference to flucon progression, I wonder to myself why nobody is picking as much bryopsis out as possible during or after treatment? I've seen large frag systems at a LFS plagued with bryopsis and prior to flucon treatment, a tedious task of bryopsis picking sessions were taken place. The results were 100% eradication.

 

[Jose Mayo]

So, my point is when I see pictures of big bushy patches as a reference to flucon progression, I wonder to myself why nobody is picking as much bryopsis out as possible during or after treatment?

In some studies, and due to particular mechanisms of this algae, it seems that Bryopsis should not be pruned; this may favor his return, through forms of regeneration from his protoplasm, see below:

Life without a cell membrane: regeneration of protoplasts from disintegrated cells of the marine green alga Bryopsis plumosa.
Kim GH1, Klotchkova TA, Kang YM.
Author information
Abstract
When the multi-nucleate giant cells of the green alga Bryopsis plumosa (Huds.) Ag. are injured, the protoplasm is extruded from the cells and can generate spontaneously numerous new cells. The cell organelles aggregate rapidly in seawater and become covered with a gelatinous envelope within 15 minutes. A lipid cell membrane is formed inside the envelope within 9 to 12 hours and about 15% of the original cell membrane is recycled to make the membrane of new protoplasts. Cytochemical studies using Nile Red and various enzymes revealed that the primary envelope is initially composed of polysaccharides, and then transformed into a polysaccharide-lipid complex. Fluorescein diacetate staining showed that the primary envelope has some characteristics of a cell membrane including semi-permeability and selective transport of materials. The aggregation of cell organelles appears to be mediated by two kinds of materials, one present in vacuolar sap and the other on the surface of the cell organelles. About a thousand new cells were generated from a single disintegrated branch and 40% of them eventually developed into mature plants.

Best regards

 

[40B Knasty]

@Jose Mayo, so my 14 days are up. I did a 10g water change. I have a 65g. All looks good. I only have placed a very small bag of Purigen in the tetra filter I have for chemical media and replenished the Phosguard bag that I used the whole time treating with fluconazole. Now I have 2x200mg capsules left. Should I pull the Purigen out and dose 1 capsule per week to help make sure it does not come back? I left the collection cup off the whole time. It is back on now, but dry skimming.

 

[reeferfoxx]

In some studies, and due to particular mechanisms of this algae, it seems that Bryopsis should not be pruned; this may favor his return, through forms of regeneration from his protoplasm, see below:

Life without a cell membrane: regeneration of protoplasts from disintegrated cells of the marine green alga Bryopsis plumosa.
Kim GH1, Klotchkova TA, Kang YM.
Author information
Abstract
When the multi-nucleate giant cells of the green alga Bryopsis plumosa (Huds.) Ag. are injured, the protoplasm is extruded from the cells and can generate spontaneously numerous new cells. The cell organelles aggregate rapidly in seawater and become covered with a gelatinous envelope within 15 minutes. A lipid cell membrane is formed inside the envelope within 9 to 12 hours and about 15% of the original cell membrane is recycled to make the membrane of new protoplasts. Cytochemical studies using Nile Red and various enzymes revealed that the primary envelope is initially composed of polysaccharides, and then transformed into a polysaccharide-lipid complex. Fluorescein diacetate staining showed that the primary envelope has some characteristics of a cell membrane including semi-permeability and selective transport of materials. The aggregation of cell organelles appears to be mediated by two kinds of materials, one present in vacuolar sap and the other on the surface of the cell organelles. About a thousand new cells were generated from a single disintegrated branch and 40% of them eventually developed into mature plants.

Best regards

That research seems to contradict my experience. When we pull bryopsis patches, we pull from the base. There is limited damage to the plumosa filaments in this fashion. Also not uncommon for a water change to take place after extraction.