Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

reefn247 · Feb 22, 2018

@NCreefguy where u located? Im in charlotte nc

NCreefguy · Feb 22, 2018

reefn247 said:
@NCreefguy where u located? Im in charlotte nc

Sent you a pm

Jose Mayo · Feb 22, 2018

NCreefguy said:
Let me go through my notes to see if anyone is using one. If not though I don't see any reason why it would have an effect on the actions of the meds.
@Jose Mayo Do you know if a sulfur denitrator would inhibit the treatment in any way?

I have not tried this, but the fluconazole molecule is able to cross the very acidic environment of the human stomach (pH 1.0), the alkaline environment of the human duodenum (pH 9.0) and still be found unchanged, in human urine, in large proportion. It is a very stable molecule in every way, but I do not know how it would behave in an environment of sulphation ... it would have to be experienced.

Regards

2una · Feb 22, 2018

Was running a carbon denitrator here & the fluc worked fine - its not a sulphur one but maybe useful for someones later reference.

reefn247 · Feb 22, 2018

16 day result... yay or nay?

David osborne · Feb 24, 2018

So how do we know active carbon absorbs fluconazole ??

Jose Mayo · Feb 24, 2018

David osborne said:
So how do we know active carbon absorbs fluconazole ??

As a matter of fact, and in order to ease doubts, I present below a study carried out on the adsorption of Fluconazole in activated charcoal, in a context of fulvic acid presence, exactly, or very close, to what may occur in a marine aquarium, in which the fulvic and humic acids are released by algae:

Adsorption of organic and inorganic compounds on activated carbon and biochar

"In figure 8 (page 15) it can be seen that when fulvic acid was present during the adsorption on activated carbon other organic compounds was present after adsorption. Perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOA, and Fluconazole is observed to decrease much in concentration when AC was added and then the concentration appears to be under the detection limit."

The study is interesting because it contains, in addition to Fluconazole, the effects of adsorption of activated carbon on many other substances of interest for aquarism and also justifies the need to withdraw the activated charcoal when taking the treatment using fluconazole.

Best regards

Jose Mayo · Feb 24, 2018

reefn247 said:
16 day result... yay or nay?

At least for me, in the video the algae appear bleached. This is one of the signs that fluconazole is working, maybe it's just a matter of time before the result.

Regards

Charles4400 · Feb 24, 2018

Going to start using fluconazole, thanks for all the great info in this thread!

I have been using vibrant and see that its safe to use with fluconazole.

Q: how much vibrant is safe to use?
x2 doses per week,
x1 per week, or
x1 every other week?

Im currently using x2 per week and wondering if I should cut back while on fluconazole.

Thx

leahfiish · Feb 27, 2018

I will be treating my tank with reef Flux for the second time tomorrow. The first time it removed all the bryopsis algae but it came right back a month later. That was on December, I have since upgraded to a new tank and the bryopsis is now worse than ever. I have a 120 with about 100lbs of live rock and a 15g sump. How many capsules should I use? I'm leaning towards a heavier dose this time, I'm thinking 15? Also, would it be okay to do a water change a few days after I start the treatment, as long as I add enough capsules to the new water?
Finally, does anyone have any suggestions for non-fish cuc to eat the dieing bryopsis algae? I am adding 8 turbos, 10 cerith, and 5 nerite snails. And a pincushion urchin. I am thinking I'll probably need more but it's a start. Any luck with long spine urchins, emerald crabs, tiger conchs? It is a reef tank.
Back glass totally covered

As well as almost every rock surface in a thin layer that has gotten 3x worse in the past week

ocboat · Feb 27, 2018

I skimmed through this thread but didn't read all 247 pages and I was wondering if anyone has any issues with fluconazole in a tank with clams and anemones? I have several clams along with an 11 year old magnifica anemone and several gigantea and haddonis. Thanks.

anit77 · Feb 28, 2018

I didn't have a bad case, only had 3 or 4 spots that had patches of bryopsis in a 220. I'm at day 10 and there are no visible signs of it left anywhere. I have an anemone that has shown no effects what so ever. In fact none of my livestock have shown any adverse effects.

I've had my skimmer set to overflow the whole time and I'm getting some heavy foaming in the sump now between feedings. I gotta say I'm chomping at the bit to set it to start skimming again. The coral and everything else look great but I'm worried about a gha bloom after I do a water change. I run an ats, I cleaned it out completely and put it back online throughout the treatment. A couple days ago I started to see some growth on the canvas. It is growing very slowly but the gha is growing. I haven't tested for organics yet cause I'm afraid to see the results and start skimming right away.

I know I should go 14 days, but if there aren't any signs of bryopsis, how early would it be ok to start skimming again? Or should I just ignore the urge and let it run its coarse till Sunday?

NCreefguy · Feb 28, 2018

Charles4400 said:
Going to start using fluconazole, thanks for all the great info in this thread!

I have been using vibrant and see that its safe to use with fluconazole.

Q: how much vibrant is safe to use?
x2 doses per week,
x1 per week, or
x1 every other week?

Im currently using x2 per week and wondering if I should cut back while on fluconazole.

Thx

Some people used both at the same time.....
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-230#post-4333942

NCreefguy · Feb 28, 2018

leahfiish said:
I will be treating my tank with reef Flux for the second time tomorrow. The first time it removed all the bryopsis algae but it came right back a month later. That was on December, I have since upgraded to a new tank and the bryopsis is now worse than ever. I have a 120 with about 100lbs of live rock and a 15g sump. How many capsules should I use? I'm leaning towards a heavier dose this time, I'm thinking 15? Also, would it be okay to do a water change a few days after I start the treatment, as long as I add enough capsules to the new water?
Finally, does anyone have any suggestions for non-fish cuc to eat the dieing bryopsis algae? I am adding 8 turbos, 10 cerith, and 5 nerite snails. And a pincushion urchin. I am thinking I'll probably need more but it's a start. Any luck with long spine urchins, emerald crabs, tiger conchs? It is a reef tank.
Back glass totally covered
As well as almost every rock surface in a thin layer that has gotten 3x worse in the past week

You probably won't need more than 10-12 capsules but 15 won't hurt anything. Jose said they were using a larger dose than I used and still had no ill effects. I wouldn't change the water so soon after dosing unless your nutrients are just way too high. If you do though yes definitely replace the meds. I would make sure that you run the treatment a little longer this time to make sure and kill all of the bryopsis cells.

leahfiish · Feb 28, 2018

NCreefguy said:
You probably won't need more than 10-12 capsules but 15 won't hurt anything. Jose said they were using a larger dose than I used and still had no ill effects. I wouldn't change the water so soon after dosing unless your nutrients are just way too high. If you do though yes definitely replace the meds. I would make sure that you run the treatment a little longer this time to make sure and kill all of the bryopsis cells.

How longwould you recommend?

NCreefguy · Feb 28, 2018

leahfiish said:
How longwould you recommend?

I would run it for 3-4 weeks just to make sure this time. You can also run a low dose after the treatment to keep GHA from returning. Take a look at this post.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-246#post-4476547

NCreefguy · Feb 28, 2018

ocboat said:
I skimmed through this thread but didn't read all 247 pages and I was wondering if anyone has any issues with fluconazole in a tank with clams and anemones? I have several clams along with an 11 year old magnifica anemone and several gigantea and haddonis. Thanks.

I know several people right now that have both without any problems. You can check back on this post though if you would like. I think just one person that I can remember said his clam had problems but wasn't sure if it was the meds or not.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-179#post-3709429

NCreefguy · Feb 28, 2018

anit77 said:
I didn't have a bad case, only had 3 or 4 spots that had patches of bryopsis in a 220. I'm at day 10 and there are no visible signs of it left anywhere. I have an anemone that has shown no effects what so ever. In fact none of my livestock have shown any adverse effects.

I've had my skimmer set to overflow the whole time and I'm getting some heavy foaming in the sump now between feedings. I gotta say I'm chomping at the bit to set it to start skimming again. The coral and everything else look great but I'm worried about a gha bloom after I do a water change. I run an ats, I cleaned it out completely and put it back online throughout the treatment. A couple days ago I started to see some growth on the canvas. It is growing very slowly but the gha is growing. I haven't tested for organics yet cause I'm afraid to see the results and start skimming right away.

I know I should go 14 days, but if there aren't any signs of bryopsis, how early would it be ok to start skimming again? Or should I just ignore the urge and let it run its coarse till Sunday?

I would let the treatment run for another week or so just to make sure it kills all of the bryopsis cells. You can also go ahead and start skimming again now.If after your next water change you're worried about GHA then just run a 10-20% dose of flucon every month to keep it away.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-246#post-4476547

Ligershark · Feb 28, 2018

ocboat said:
I skimmed through this thread but didn't read all 247 pages and I was wondering if anyone has any issues with fluconazole in a tank with clams and anemones? I have several clams along with an 11 year old magnifica anemone and several gigantea and haddonis. Thanks.

my bta were fine. idk about clams.

anit77 · Mar 1, 2018

NCreefguy said:
I would let the treatment run for another week or so just to make sure it kills all of the bryopsis cells. You can also go ahead and start skimming again now.If after your next water change you're worried about GHA then just run a 10-20% dose of flucon every month to keep it away.

Thanks for the info. I couldn't help myself this morning. The entire sump, a standard 120, was covered in a thick layer of foam bubbles when I went down too check on things. Not good for air gas exchange... So I dialed down the skimmer so it starts skimming real dry.

I will say I have liked how nice and clean the glass has been throughout the treatment. Even though the sump was covered in foam this morning the DT water was crystal clear this was made more noticeable with the clean glass. I have been dosing h2o2 too so that probably helped as well. I'm planning on doing a 17% water change on Saturday, so depending on how much the skimmer pulls out there will still be a good bit left in the system.