Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

[NCreefguy]

My first treatment I did for 15 days with 7x200mg capsules. I have a 65g. I ran the skimmer, but did not skim. Raised the collection cup so it would not. Also ran Phosguard only to help with the phosphates if there was ever an issue. That was the only chemical media left in. After 15 days. I used a small bag of carbon & Purigen. The GHA is completely gone. Bryopsis is back after a month in the exact spots as last time. Watch the video at 7:15 minutes in. You can see the bryopsis all along the top rocks very well. They are starting to turn whiter. This round I did the same thing. 7 capsules. Lift collection cup. Only Phosguard. Started treatment last Friday night. The video was done this past Friday afternoon.

It looks like bryopsis to me.
If you get a chance can you pull some of it out and put it on a white background like these pics.... https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-249#post-4551808

Hopefully @Jose Mayo can ID what species of Bryopsis you have so we can research it further. You may have a form of it that's easy to kill most of it but hard to completely wipe it out. Someone else in the thread had a form of it that reacted the same way. I'll look back through and see if theirs matched yours. It may end up being that you have to treat it like GHA and run the treatment for 4-6 weeks to make sure it kills all of the bryopsis cells but let's see what Jose says first.

 

[40B Knasty]

It looks like bryopsis to me.
If you get a chance can you pull some of it out and put it on a white background like these pics.... https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-249#post-4551808

Hopefully @Jose Mayo can ID what species of Bryopsis you have so we can research it further. You may have a form of it that's easy to kill most of it but hard to completely wipe it out. Someone else in the thread had a form of it that reacted the same way. I'll look back through and see if theirs matched yours. It may end up being that you have to treat it like GHA and run the treatment for 4-6 weeks to make sure it kills all of the bryopsis cells but let's see what Jose says first.

I can do that right now. Give me like 5 minutes. From the OP's post. Mine does not look like that. Mine is like a fern leaf.

 

[NCreefguy]

I can do that right now. Give me like 5 minutes. From the OP's post. Mine does not look like that. Mine is like a fern leaf.

Oh I know I just linked those pics as an example of a white background. Someone once asked me if they could use their wall as a background so I said "yeah I guess so but you could use a napkin or a plate so you don't get algae on your wall".

 

[40B Knasty]

@NCreefguy I tried to keep it wet so it could stay fanned out for a better picture.

 

[NCreefguy]

@NCreefguy I tried to keep it wet so it could stay fanned out for a better picture.

Thank you for the detailed pics. Let's see if @Jose Mayo can ID this when he get's back online. Some forms of GHA have fern like blades as well but if yours dies off quickly I would think that it's bryopsis.Most forms of GHA I've seen takes a bit longer to die but I could be wrong about yours.

 

[40B Knasty]

Thank you for the detailed pics. Let's see if @Jose Mayo can ID this when he get's back online. Some forms of GHA have fern like blades as well but if yours dies off quickly I would think that it's bryopsis.Most forms of GHA I've seen takes a bit longer to die but I could be wrong about yours.

It was gone for about a few weeks after the treatment. Then it came back in 2 or 3 weeks and it grew out very long. When I went to pull a sample for the pictures. I had to tug on the sucker pretty hard to get it off.

 

[NCreefguy]

It was gone for about a few weeks after the treatment. Then it came back in 2 or 3 weeks and it grew out very long. When I went to pull a sample for the pictures. I had to tug on the sucker pretty hard to get it off.

Yeah that's why it has me wondering if you have something different this time. I'm not sure if it's the same species but just grew longer and less of a fan or what.It's definitely different than your first pics from here.. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-228#post-4284897

We'll get it figured out though.

 

[40B Knasty]

Yeah that's why it has me wondering if you have something different this time. I'm not sure if it's the same species but just grew longer and less of a fan or what.It's definitely different than your first pics from here.. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing-fluconazole.285096/page-228#post-4284897

We'll get it figured out though.

When the lights come on. I will turkey baster the cyanobacteria that is collecting on whatever it is that I have and post an in tank picture. Some of the fern like leafing maybe have gotten ripped or crushed off when I was tugging it out. This way we can see if it is the same species.
Good eyes though. It might not be.

 

[Jose Mayo]

Thank you for the detailed pics. Let's see if @Jose Mayo can ID this when he get's back online. Some forms of GHA have fern like blades as well but if yours dies off quickly I would think that it's bryopsis.Most forms of GHA I've seen takes a bit longer to die but I could be wrong about yours.

So ... for the first photos (in this path: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing -fluconazole.285096 / page-228 # post-4284897), there is no doubt that it was of Bryopsis plumosa, for their presentation.

In these other photos I am in doubt; there may be a mixture of Bryopsis corticulans (Bryopsis from California) and Cladophora sp. The latter is quite resistant to treatment and would be one indication to keep Fluconazole in the exchange water for a longer time.

Regards

 

[NCreefguy]

So ... for the first photos (in this path: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/b...sing -fluconazole.285096 / page-228 # post-4284897), there is no doubt that it was of Bryopsis plumosa, for their presentation.

In these other photos I am in doubt; there may be a mixture of Bryopsis corticulans (Bryopsis from California) and Cladophora sp. The latter is quite resistant to treatment and would be one indication to keep Fluconazole in the exchange water for a longer time.

Regards

Yeah that's what I'm wondering about with serveral different tanks that people actually have a form of Cladophora instead of Bryopsis. They look so much like each other it's easy to confuse the two.

 

[Jose Mayo]

Yeah that's what I'm wondering about with serveral different tanks that people actually have a form of Cladophora instead of Bryopsis. They look so much like each other it's easy to confuse the two.

Yes, they look very similar ...

An easy way to clarify, whether it is Bryopsis or not, is to look at the structure of a stalk in a microscope ... Bryopsidaceae (including Bryopsis, Derbesia, etc ...) do not present true cell divisions, Cladophoraceae (including Cladophora, Chaetomorpha, etc ...) have true cell divisions:

Bryopsis sp

Derbesia sp

Cladophora sp

Regards

 

[40B Knasty]

So I was going to take a picture for ID'ing my issue with an I tank picture, but whatever I have is to far along the treatment that taking a picture would leave nothing, but more questions. It has wilted away a lot since yesterday. When I went turkey baster the cyanobacteria that was on the algae. That algae would just fall off in its weakened state.
How long would you two suggest keeping the treatment in the tank?
Should I do a water change after 2 weeks, add a bag of ROX.08 Carbon, and pull the medication out for a day. Then kind of add a whole new fresh start of a 2nd treatment of 7 pills then run that for another two weeks. Then do the same thing but not add anymore pills

 

[Jose Mayo]

So I was going to take a picture for ID'ing my issue with an I tank picture, but whatever I have is to far along the treatment that taking a picture would leave nothing, but more questions. It has wilted away a lot since yesterday. When I went turkey baster the cyanobacteria that was on the algae. That algae would just fall off in its weakened state.
How long would you two suggest keeping the treatment in the tank?
Should I do a water change after 2 weeks, add a bag of ROX.08 Carbon, and pull the medication out for a day. Then kind of add a whole new fresh start of a 2nd treatment of 7 pills then run that for another two weeks. Then do the same thing but not add anymore pills

I would not run the activated carbon, just make water changes and keep the same concentration of fluconazole from the first dosage (20 mg / gallon) in the exchange water. It would not use Phosguard, as there are indications that fluconazole may adsorb on some aluminum oxides, but would run GFO to keep phosphates controlled. I would keep nitrate levels under surveillance and think about a water change, as long as they exceed 20 ppm, and I would try to keep the treatment for at least six weeks, if it was Cladophora sp.

Regards

 

[NCreefguy]

I would not run the activated carbon, just make water changes and keep the same concentration of fluconazole from the first dosage (20 mg / gallon) in the exchange water. It would not use Phosguard, as there are indications that fluconazole may adsorb on some aluminum oxides, but would run GFO to keep phosphates controlled. I would keep nitrate levels under surveillance and think about a water change, as long as they exceed 20 ppm, and I would try to keep the treatment for at least six weeks, if it was Cladophora sp.

Regards

I wasn't aware that Phosguard would pull out Fluconazole. We've always said to stop using carbon,chemipure and purigen but even then we don't know how much these really effected fluconazole. I'll make a note of stopping phosguard now as well.

 

[40B Knasty]

I would not run the activated carbon, just make water changes and keep the same concentration of fluconazole from the first dosage (20 mg / gallon) in the exchange water. It would not use Phosguard, as there are indications that fluconazole may adsorb on some aluminum oxides, but would run GFO to keep phosphates controlled. I would keep nitrate levels under surveillance and think about a water change, as long as they exceed 20 ppm, and I would try to keep the treatment for at least six weeks, if it was Cladophora sp.

Regards

I haven't had over 5ppm of nitrates in a year. It usually stays around 1ppm the most. I will remove the Phosguard now that has been in the tank for a week and 2 days. Do a 10g water change after Friday night to add back in some of the Mag, Alk, and Calcium that my corals use. Then add back in one 200mg capsule for the 10g I have take out. Repeat for the next 4 weeks after that. This will equal the 6 weeks you recommend keeping the tank medicated. Also keeping all the other levels stable.

 

[40B Knasty]

I wasn't aware that Phosguard would pull out Fluconazole. We've always said to stop using carbon,chemipure and purigen but even then we don't know how much these really effected fluconazole. I'll make a note of stopping phosguard now as well.

Yes, I was under the same impression. Oh well this is a cure that is not set in stone, but a solution that has a great success rate judging from the poles of 274 at 46.8% success rate and only a 36 & 6.1% rate of no success. That is 310 people total making this treatment a success rate of 88%. That is great odds for success!
Thanks for the help @NCreefguy @Jose Mayo

 

[Jose Mayo]

I wasn't aware that Phosguard would pull out Fluconazole. We've always said to stop using carbon,chemipure and purigen but even then we don't know how much these really effected fluconazole. I'll make a note of stopping phosguard now as well.

There are studies that show that Fluconazole is able to prevent corrosion of aluminum in acid medium, there is no testing in alkaline medium, but if it is able to prevent corrosion is because it can be attached to the surface of aluminum, so I suspect that media aluminum can adsorb Fluconazole.

Fluconazole as an inhibitor for aluminium corrosion in 0.1 M HCl

Regards

 

[NCreefguy]

There are studies that show that Fluconazole is able to prevent corrosion of aluminum in acid medium, there is no testing in alkaline medium, but if it is able to prevent corrosion is because it can be attached to the surface of aluminum, so I suspect that media aluminum can adsorb Fluconazole.

Fluconazole as an inhibitor for aluminium corrosion in 0.1 M HCl

Regards

This is why it's great to have you here @Jose Mayo

 

[Jose Mayo]

This is why it's great to have you here @Jose Mayo

You've done a great job here.

If I can, and whatever I can, I'll help.

Best regards

 

[lbacha]

So I just started treating for bryopsis a couple days ago using reef flux.

Here is a pic of the algae I normally get in my display with bryopsis is saw for the first time last week. I didn't take a picture when I first saw it so this is after 2 days of treatment. You can already see it turning white. My emerald crabs keep the other algae in check so I normally don't worry about t but we will see if the reef flux has any effect on it

you can see the head of my tweezers for size reference

My tank is total about 20g
Sps dominant in the main display
Softies and lps plus a lot of Xenia in a display fuge
Cheato in a second fuge container

Alk - 9.5
Ph - 8.25-8.32
Cal - 450
Mag - 1450
No3 - 1-3ppm
PO4 - .02-.05ppm
Sal - 35
Temp - 78.5-79