Fluconazole for treating bubble algae

[Shufflepig]

Have a 125 gallon water volume mixed reef. Several acro colonies, several acro frags, a dozen euphyllia including torches hammers and frogspawn, many other sps and lps plus a few softies and zoas. Have become overrun with bubble algae. Manual removal has not worked. Nor did a fox face. Reluctantly have decided to try fluconazole (Flux Rx) at 80 mg/gallon. Added it today. Will post updates on affect on bubble algae as well as any negative reactions of corals.

 

[Reefin Aint Easy]

Have a 125 gallon water volume mixed reef. Several acro colonies, several acro frags, a dozen euphyllia including torches hammers and frogspawn, many other sps and lps plus a few softies and zoas. Have become overrun with bubble algae. Manual removal has not worked. Nor did a fox face. Reluctantly have decided to try fluconazole (Flux Rx) at 80 mg/gallon. Added it today. Will post updates on affect on bubble algae as well as any negative reactions of corals.

My experience with Fluconazole was it eliminated hair algae and Bryopsis, but did not eliminate the bubble algae. I only did 1 dose of it too for what its worth. I'm curious to see your outcome.

 

[moz71]

Exact Same here as reef ain’t easy!

 

[moz71]

Reluctantly, I used vibrant to get rid of all my bubble algae. I know that is not a popular method these days on R2R

 

[Sean Clark]

I have had great results with fluconazole for hair algae twice before and devastating results once. No experience with bubble algae but I figured I would share my fluconazole experience.

 

[Reefin Aint Easy]

Vibrant isn't a bad thing to use if you know what you're buying/using. The whole Vibrant thing is only an issue right now if they in fact didn't disclose what's actually in the ingredients. Other than that, it's possibly just another algicide on the market. For what its worth, Vibrant does alleviate bubble algae pretty well.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For bubble, flux not very effective. What I have done and prefer is utilizing emerald crabs although I do not trust at least the males are your best bet for this few.
Rabbitfish also eat these, general the one and two spot rabbit.
For manual removal, avoid the bubble itself and use any narrow, long and sharp object to rip the algae out with. A screwdriver is probably the most commonly used tool but you want to ensure that you have ripped out the entire plant structure. Like a weed, Bubble Algae needs the entire structure to be removed in order to prevent it from growing back.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Vibrant isn't a bad thing to use if you know what you're buying/using. The whole Vibrant thing is only an issue right now if they in fact didn't disclose what's actually in the ingredients. Other than that, it's possibly just another algicide on the market. For what its worth, Vibrant does alleviate bubble algae pretty well.

I had a tank with very challenging bubble algae. I did use Vibrant and first time, did well. Second treatment, only knocked a few,
I call it hit and miss and I believe if a person applies vibrant and turn off at least the white lights for a few days, bubble will be defeated

 

[Shufflepig]

My experience with Fluconazole was it eliminated hair algae and Bryopsis, but did not eliminate the bubble algae. I only did 1 dose of it too for what its worth. I'm curious to see your outcome.

Did you use it at 4X the recommended dose?

 

[Shufflepig]

I have had great results with fluconazole for hair algae twice before and devastating results once. No experience with bubble algae but I figured I would share my fluconazole experience.

I’m slightly concerned about using it at 4X the dose but the bubble algae has taken over and I had to try something radical. What were your devastating results?

 

[Shufflepig]

For bubble, flux not very effective. What I have done and prefer is utilizing emerald crabs although I do not trust at least the males are your best bet for this few.
Rabbitfish also eat these, general the one and two spot rabbit.
For manual removal, avoid the bubble itself and use any narrow, long and sharp object to rip the algae out with. A screwdriver is probably the most commonly used tool but you want to ensure that you have ripped out the entire plant structure. Like a weed, Bubble Algae needs the entire structure to be removed in order to prevent it from growing back.

Have you ever tried the Fluconazole at 4X the dose?

 

[Sean Clark]

I’m slightly concerned about using it at 4X the dose but the bubble algae has taken over and I had to try something radical. What were your devastating results?

All three of my fluconazole treatments were on my 430L mixed reef tank.

First dose was with Reeflux dosed as instructed. Took a while but worked. No losses.

Second time I used BlueLife Reef Flux rx as instructed. Worked as expected based on my prior experience. No losses.

Third time I used BlueLife Reef Flux rx dosed as instructed and I lost over half of my coral in a week. The only sps that survived we enceusting montipora. Also the GHA survived. This could be because once my sps started melting I started water changes.

I don't have specific dates but those treatments were each about a year apart.

I know this is all anecdotal.

 

[Reefin Aint Easy]

Did you use it at 4X the recommended dose?

Nope, I just did the normal dose.

 

[Shufflepig]

Nope, I just did the normal dose.

There’s a thread that says 4X dose is necessary for bubble algae. I’ll see how it works and hopefully it doesn’t kill my coral.

 

[vetteguy53081]

There’s a thread that says 4X dose is necessary for bubble algae. I’ll see how it works and hopefully it doesn’t kill my coral.

Flux CAN be overdosed. Stick with 1 capsule for every 10 gallons of tank water and turn skimmer off for 48-72 hours. I personally dont trust this stuff although in many cases it did work

 

[Shufflepig]

Flux CAN be overdosed. Stick with 1 capsule for every 10 gallons of tank water and turn skimmer off for 48-72 hours. I personally dont trust this stuff although in many cases it did work

Recommended dose is 20mg/gallon. I put 80mg/gallon in the tank this morning. I am actually using the Flux Rx product which is a powder. I’ll certainly post updates on this thread with results and affects on coral.

 

[Fishguywc]

I had pretty bad bubble.. tried manual, and UV for several weeks and kept coming back.. I read that lots of people had success with Vibrant so I figured I’d add that to the mix.. I will say it made a really big difference and now. I’m almost bubble free. I’m still dosing a Maintenance amount and removing any I see manually. There were no negative effects on my corals that I noticed (mixed reef)

 

[Jeeperz]

I didn't have bubble bad, but here and there in two tanks. H2o2 worked great. I still get one that pops up here and there but I get on it asap. Odd thing is one tank they turn clear and disappear almost overnight, the other tank would take a couple application before they died off

 

[Shufflepig]

48 hours into the 4X Fluconazole dose. No noticeable affect on any of the corals thus far. Little bit of hair algae that was present is turning from green to a brownish color. Bubble algae appears unaffected thus far. Not expecting much change in bubble algae this early, just happy the corals are all still doing well.

 

[JMetaxas]

Works well for Bryopsis, but not bubble algae. In fact, I think it made the bubble algae worse in my tank.