ICP test with fluconazole?

[ronsonb]

Was wondering if there is any harm in sending in my first ICP test while running fluconazole. I’m leaning towards just waiting but figured I would ask.

Reef is almost a year old (2 clowns, a tomini, 4 anthias 1 goby and various inverts) started with dry rock and got a wicked hair algae outbreak I’ve been battling for a good part of 4-5 months. Got my nutrients under control using “Donovan Nitrate Destroyer” and actually have phosphate on a doser… it was always getting close to bottoming out. (Hoping that stops after the algae is gone)

I tried snails/sea hare/manual removal. The snails and sea hare don’t touch the hair algae for some reason (I’ve watched them go right over it) and the daily battle of scrubbing and sucking it out was getting real old. The treatment is working well I’m on day 6 and finally my manual labor is working and it’s 75% better than it was!

I ordered the ICP test to see if anything is out of wack because some snails keep dying… idk if they’re starving because they don’t eat the algae or if there is something odd in the tank. I recently realized I used metal hose clamps that were rusting so figure Id rule out metals, although I’ve read threads here where people say doesn’t matter. I digress. Thanks for the input.

 

[ronsonb]

This picture I just found shows a rebound of the algae after a few days I worked and couldn’t suck it out and you can see my slug friend, and the dead turbo.

Just absurd how resilient this stuff is. Not to mention the chaeto that made its way into the display that also nothing wants any part of ugh haha

But I’m making some solid progress now that I invested in the Versas and can keep everything stable, and have the nutrients under control I’m hoping to overcome this setback.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If the ICP test comes back with truly excessive metals (not just the red flags that some ICP companies like to show for slight deviations from their own preferences), that will be useful in this scenario.

It actually is not that common (IMO) for folks to discover what ails their tank by ICP, but like many sorts of medical tests, they are good at ruling out possibilities.