Fluconazole

[TanksJB]

I have used Flux Rx Fluconazole to treat stubborn hair algae in my tank with no effect. This is hair algae and not cheato or some kind of wiry algae. I used more than I probably needed since I was not sure how to account for the large amount of live rock I have, and yet after ten days it is healthy and growing.

I know this works on hair algae as I have read reports here and elsewhere that it does. I was wondering if there is something else that needs to take place when water is treated or do I need to use even more of the product. I am wondering if maybe there are only certain kinds of hair algae where this works, which doesn't make sense to my untrained mind.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions (water parameters are fine). I use ATI Lab for bi-monthly tests and Hanna for phosphate. Hanna mirrors ATI.

 

[Just John]

I was in the same situation and asked the same question. Someone responded that they did not have any effect until right at the end of the 2 week period. I had very little until starting a second round. Don't give up yet. Waiting sucks though.
Did you read that you can use twice the recommended strength? It was a while ago that I used it, but I think you can. Maybe someone else will chime in about that.

 

[TanksJB]

I was in the same situation and asked the same question. Someone responded that they did not have any effect until right at the end of the 2 week period. I had very little until starting a second round. Don't give up yet. Waiting sucks though.
Did you read that you can use twice the recommended strength? It was a while ago that I used it, but I think you can. Maybe someone else will chime in about that.

Thanks for the reply. It has been over ten days but not two weeks. I may try again and use even more. It doesn't seem to bother corals and fish in my tank.

 

[CK00020]

For me it takes 2 weeks to see progress, just dosed second round last night. I don’t want bryopsis back, last time I dosed flux I didn’t use enough and it came back.

 

[tnw50cal]

It helps if you increase the red, green and white light to make the GHA grow as that is when fluconazole kills it. I've treated as long as 8 weeks with no ill effects. Most of the time it grows back with time. I've found that the guy here who does the rip clean is "righter"(is that a word) and the rip clean is a better longer lasting fix.
Once the tank matures(years) the uglies go away.

 

[TanksJB]

For me it takes 2 weeks to see progress, just dosed second round last night. I don’t want bryopsis back, last time I dosed flux I didn’t use enough and it came back.

I think I will try again unless I hear contrary advice here. I have a 140 gallon tank with about 30 in the sump but lots of live rock. I dosed for 175 gallons of water. Next time I will dose for 200, which is the whole bottle.

 

[TanksJB]

It helps if you increase the red, green and white light to make the GHA grow as that is when fluconazole kills it. I've treated as long as 8 weeks with no ill effects. Most of the time it grows back with time. I've found that the guy here who does the rip clean is "righter"(is that a word) and the rip clean is a better longer lasting fix.
Once the tank matures(years) the uglies go away.

My tank is about 14 months old now. I have been looking for that maturity for sometime but I hear you really need about a year and a half or more so I am patient. There is not a lot of protein going in and I feel I have more than enough biological filter to handle everything. I just have soft corals and a few small fish. Although my water parameters suggest macro algae should grow it never has. My sump grows hair algae that I harvest. Also coralline algae will not grow. It may be because of the tank's lack of maturity but who knows. We will see I guess.

 

[outhouse]

First step is major water change, you can't kill it, if you keep feeding it. Fluconazole works great with major water changes.

 

[TanksJB]

First step is major water change, you can't kill it, if you keep feeding it. Fluconazole works great with major water changes.

Yes, I can bring phosphate down to Zero and nitrate down to zero and starve the tank. I know how to do that. Phosphate is at .04 or lower right now. Then the hair algae and cyno will grab all the nutrients that come in anyway. I can let the tank go dark for six months and keep the sump lit and that will do it as well. Water changes will not do any more than what I am doing already. It will eventually go away, but in the meantime I would like to get rid of hair algae in the display tank without having to remove all my coral.

 

[Just John]

Yes, I can bring phosphate down to Zero and nitrate down to zero and starve the tank. I know how to do that. Phosphate is at .04 or lower right now. Then the hair algae and cyno will grab all the nutrients that come in anyway. I can let the tank go dark for six months and keep the sump lit and that will do it as well. Water changes will not do any more than what I am doing already. It will eventually go away, but in the meantime I would like to get rid of hair algae in the display tank without having to remove all my coral.

If you ever seriously consider bringing phosphate and nitrate down to zero, don't do it. You may get an outbreak of dinos and that can be much, much worse than this algae. It may take hours, but the rip clean method is super helpful and can make the tank look like new. Get a couple beers and sit down in front of the game while you do it. Then treat if you want to get rid of whatever remains. Here is the rip clean master:

Calling @brandon429!

 

[outhouse]

I've beat gha multiple times using fluconazole. It does work good. Throw some vibrant while your at it and it will help accelerate removal. I use 30ml weekly and besides no algae of any kind, it keeps the glass clean.

 

[outhouse]

If you ever seriously consider bringing phosphate and nitrate down to zero, don't do it. You will get an outbreak of dinos and that can be much, much worse than this algae. It may take hours, but the rip clean method is super helpful and can make the tank look like new. Get a couple beers and sit down in front of the game while you do it. Then treat if you want to get rid of whatever remains. Here is the rip clean master:

Calling @brandon429!

Not true about dinos, that is something that happens to new tanks. I keep everything undetectable, 30 years never had dinos

 

[brandon429]

Most large tank owners will not do a rip clean till they’re properly motivated, it’s easier to sell to nano reefers

but here’s one

Help please... Stuck in an unbreakable cycle.

Hello. My reef is about 3.5 years old and it's been about 1.5 years since i upgraded to a 125 gallon setup. Since then, i have not been able to control the aquarium at all and the understanding i once thought i had about nutrients and chemistry is seemingly meaningless now. My rock is 100%...

www.reef2reef.com

even if fluc kills algae, in a tank this size all the dying mass gets you cyano and dinos till summer. A rip cleaned tank looks like a gem come summer


tradeoff invasions aren’t rare for fluc and vibrant initial algae kills, they’re common to the tune of 60% likely and equally sustained. Then you buy and dose chemi clean, that mass translocates into dinos, then phosphate boosting for dinos gets you back to gha lots of times, see their respective threads. It doesn’t matter if one or two people have success the predictive elements from the fluc and vibrant threads are the expected outcome.


the largest home tank here /17foot reef really did have fluc fix his tank and at that size, there was no other choice. He didn’t get a tradeoff invasion his was a good run.

 

[outhouse]

Most large tank owners will not do a rip clean till they’re properly motivated, it’s easier to sell to nano reefers

but here’s one

Help please... Stuck in an unbreakable cycle.

Hello. My reef is about 3.5 years old and it's been about 1.5 years since i upgraded to a 125 gallon setup. Since then, i have not been able to control the aquarium at all and the understanding i once thought i had about nutrients and chemistry is seemingly meaningless now. My rock is 100%...

www.reef2reef.com

even if fluc kills algae, in a tank this size all the dying mass gets you cyano and dinos till summer. A rip cleaned tank looks like a gem come summer

Not true. I just did my 210g tank which has an old sand bed past its prime. Fluconazole and vibrant and now tank is perfect. It needs the sand bed stirred up. 100g monthly water changes in a 300g system, using a little gfo and carbon. Large Water changes are key to using any meds in a tank

 

[CK00020]

I’ll have to agree here a rip clean would help but my bryopsis comes back, I have to flux it. Been dosing vibrant also. Tank is looking great, measurable phos and no dinos.

 

[outhouse]

I’ll have to agree here a rip clean would help

It never hurts to clean up trapped detritus in a sand bed, but the sand bed and cleaning live rock is not going to address an issue with nitrate and phos reduction if your feeding more than your addressing the issue with water changes and or GFO and or chaeto and or planted sump or algae scrubber.

All I can say, is ive done all these things in the past, vibrant makes this all a game changer. Now water changes and a little gfo and tank is the best its ever been. In the past it was easy to hold on to a 2 or 3 year streak of no algae, but it always found its way back. My sand bed is now 7 years old and crusted over on surface from calcification. This is the point where it always needs attention, and for the first time using vibrant, my tank is glowing its so clean.

 

[TanksJB]

Most large tank owners will not do a rip clean till they’re properly motivated, it’s easier to sell to nano reefers

but here’s one

Help please... Stuck in an unbreakable cycle.

Hello. My reef is about 3.5 years old and it's been about 1.5 years since i upgraded to a 125 gallon setup. Since then, i have not been able to control the aquarium at all and the understanding i once thought i had about nutrients and chemistry is seemingly meaningless now. My rock is 100%...

www.reef2reef.com

even if fluc kills algae, in a tank this size all the dying mass gets you cyano and dinos till summer. A rip cleaned tank looks like a gem come summer


tradeoff invasions aren’t rare for fluc and vibrant initial algae kills, they’re common to the tune of 60% likely and equally sustained. Then you buy and dose chemi clean, that mass translocates into dinos, then phosphate boosting for dinos gets you back to gha lots of times, see their respective threads. It doesn’t matter if one or two people have success the predictive elements from the fluc and vibrant threads are the expected outcome.


the largest home tank here /17foot reef really did have fluc fix his tank and at that size, there was no other choice. He didn’t get a tradeoff invasion his was a good run.

Thanks Brandon, what you say is why I don't want to get nutrients down to zero. One option I am contemplating is to remove my coral to the sump and put the tank into dark until it is gone. I really believe that once the hair algae is gone in the main display tank it will not come back. I keep thinking I am about at that stage where other things will out compete it. I dose trace elements and use ATI Lab testing about every two months. I will read the threads you suggest. Your advice is always helpful and I have learned a lot in the last year or so from you and others.

 

[brandon429]

Outhouse I gotta see example work you did for others though


exclude personal eval post an outbound work thread on it


evaluations change so markedly when dealing in outbound collections of work that it becomes the only reliable perspective


too much bias in the self presented outcome I’ve seen. Not that it didn’t work, but just because someone heard Picasso speak on painting didnt make them a painter, some just have skills.

what’s most copyable by the masses is what’s best advised to the masses. Stirring up an old tank sandbed can get you harmed, by infection, a terrible thread exists on page two in the fish disease forum, 265 reef. That’s patently dangerous we can see.<—- impacts of independent reports


the pics are so bad I dont want to link it here, hunt down 265 reef if you want to see pain

 

[brandon429]

in that way, hands on reefing is dangerous compared to dosing for change and getting lucky. One way gets you a perfectly fixed reef but you risk handling scrapes and infection, and one other way removes personal risk but fixes your tank 5% of the time: source for ratio, the nuisance algae forum. People post the outcomes of hands off events all days long, they weren’t fixed.

 

[outhouse]

Zoes are dangerous and I've seen the infection threads at RC. I've been around as long as Paul.