Getting ready to dose fluconazole - Anything else to prepare?

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I've been winning the war on GHA but bryopsis popped up and it's growing, and growing fast. So, I have been doing a bunch of reading on this topic. Everything from dosing twice to microdosing and everything in between.

So the obvious:
- Take the skimmer offline
- Shut UV off
- Shut Ozone down
- Remove refugium (do I toss it and start over when I am ready to fire it back up?)
- No water changes

What about dosing? I am reading a lot of threads about coral growth stopping, which causes alkalinity to sky rocket. I dose 2 part balling and I am thinking about backing my alkalinity dose up. Maybe cut it back by 60%.

Thoughts on cutting the dosing back and am I missing anything I should consider in preparation to put this chemical in my tank?

 

[Jedi1199]

I've been winning the war on GHA but bryopsis popped up and it's growing, and growing fast. So, I have been doing a bunch of reading on this topic. Everything from dosing twice to microdosing and everything in between.

So the obvious:
- Take the skimmer offline
- Shut UV off
- Shut Ozone down
- Remove refugium (do I toss it and start over when I am ready to fire it back up?)
- No water changes

What about dosing? I am reading a lot of threads about coral growth stopping, which causes alkalinity to sky rocket. I dose 2 part balling and I am thinking about backing my alkalinity dose up. Maybe cut it back by 60%.

Thoughts on cutting the dosing back and am I missing anything I should consider in preparation to put this chemical in my tank?

I have used that stuff a couple times and it does work well.

Looks like you are ready to go.

Do a large water change right before you start. I would say at least 30% because you wont do any water changes for at least 3 weeks while treatment is going.

Save a bucket full of that water to hold your macroalgae in. Drop in a pump to keep movement going. No need to add a light or heater.

When you are ready to dose, Measure the powder per the instructions on the box. If you are using FluxRx, there are 2 size spoons included in the box. Put the powder into a jar with a tight fitting lid, fill with tank water and shake vigorously. It will never dissolve fully so don't stress over that. When the lights are off for a couple hours and the fish are sleeping, pour the treatment directly into the DT. (Wait till after dark or the fish will try to eat the powder).

After treatment, feed as normal, normal lighting schedule ect... It will take about 2 or 3 weeks to really see results. Areas that are more shaded, may take longer to show results.

Hope this helps.. Good luck with your treatment.

 

[yanni]

I have used that stuff a couple times and it does work well.

Looks like you are ready to go.

Do a large water change right before you start. I would say at least 30% because you wont do any water changes for at least 3 weeks while treatment is going.

Save a bucket full of that water to hold your macroalgae in. Drop in a pump to keep movement going. No need to add a light or heater.

When you are ready to dose, Measure the powder per the instructions on the box. If you are using FluxRx, there are 2 size spoons included in the box. Put the powder into a jar with a tight fitting lid, fill with tank water and shake vigorously. It will never dissolve fully so don't stress over that. When the lights are off for a couple hours and the fish are sleeping, pour the treatment directly into the DT. (Wait till after dark or the fish will try to eat the powder).

After treatment, feed as normal, normal lighting schedule ect... It will take about 2 or 3 weeks to really see results. Areas that are more shaded, may take longer to show results.

Hope this helps.. Good luck with your treatment.

Second this. I also added extra GFO to consume the po4 that would be added back into the water as the GHA died off. Keep up on mechanical filtration (changing socks/floss/roller) as they can clog quickly while using it. Make sure carbon is removed as well.

I did a 2x recommended dose for GHA, nothing adversely affected. I'd always up the dose slightly. Its great stuff, good luck

Besides that, looks good!

 

[Jedi1199]

I forgot to add....

AFTER treatment is finished, do another 30% water change immediately. Bring the skimmer online. I would wait another week before bringing the rest back on. give it a week and then another 30% water change. After the second water change, You can bring all your equipment back online.

Keep in mind, this may not eradicate your issue completely. It will likely eliminate the majority of the issue, but don't freak out if you still have some left. You should be able to manually remove whatever large spots are left and then a good grazer or 2 should keep it in check after that.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

The only thing I do is mix the entire dose in a bottle of roti and slowly add it over several days (2-3). never seen an adverse effect to my alk or the nutrients when I do it that way. Initially I dumped the whole dose into the tank and saw bunch of burnt tips. If I dose slowly it, lets my tank adjust to the medication slowly and avoids any potential shock to the system imo.

I remove as much bryopsis by hand at least a day or two beforehand, this helps the light penetrate to the base, which starts growing very fast and soaks up more Fluconazole. Some people do not recommend this but it worked like a charm for me. (I would not however remove any bryopsis during the actual treatment.)

Also, you might want to dose it with a pipet directly into bryopsis, not necessary but always satisfying to see it turn white, and never dose it on top of acros, always into the sump if you can help it.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Lot's of great help from everyone, thank you. I am going to keep this as a long every couple day or so for searching reference for others. I have read about DKH swings as it relates to using fluconazole as a treatment, but I couldn't find or solicit information regarding what peoples experience was trying to compensated for lowered DKH uptake due to this treatment. I get it, it's a crapshoot to try and stay in front of it. But here is my experience.

Today is 9/18 and I started dosing on 9/14. Today is the first day I am starting to see any signs of effectiveness. This effectiveness is on the bryopsis in the tank, not the GHA (yet). The bryopsis is not as "flowy" as you can tell the extensions on the fern like leaves are thinning and don't have as much restriction to cause movement. Added to that, they have really lighted up on spots. I am going to have to research as I am not sure if I can put my skimmer back in service, I used this as a time to break it down and give it a good servicing... Thinking out loud here.

I am trying to prevent a stress related event by allowing my auto dosing to cause a spike caused by the treatment. I am guessing at when and how much to cut back, but I think I am treading water currently.

So as it relates to auto dosing and DKH, I think I am already showing evidence of my uptake slowing down. My dosing amount has been cut back 43% while my has increased within a tolerable margin, however, I would prefer to stay steady when treading water not slowly drifting upward...

More to come in a couple days.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Just a note to you that I recently dosed with Flux Rx and it did not go well. My clown came down with a bacterial infection that I had to treat in my hospital tank. My Goni and Duncan closed up so much I had to temporarily rehome them. Another coral bleached. Just be prepared!

 

[CoralB]

I agree with most of what others have suggested and would add to to just take the cup off your skimmer and let it overflow back into your tank/ sump to keep oxygen in the water . I also ran a air-stone . During treatment I dosed microbactor 7 every few days . After treatment I did a 25% water change followed up by 15% weekly while running carbon . I experienced no losses except for the bryopsis . After three weeks it totally eradicated the bryopsis and it hasn’t come back. Good luck

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

So I am now on day 12. I was able to get my DKH to stabilize with no big swing of more than .5 over the last 12 days. Bryopsis has been gone since day 5. GHA appears to literally just disappearing day by day. Treatment says up to 3 weeks, I think I am going to try and go the distance on a single dose. So 9 more days. But I am going to say that bryopsis is 100% gone, or that I can tell and GHA has to be 90% gone. I haven't turned on my GFO yet, my phosphate is at .09. I may turn it on tomorrow. Still haven't turned anything else on yet. Only the leathers appear to be cranky, everyone else, so far, might just be waiting their turns.