ReefDreamz
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190 gallon 8 month old mixed reef system. Pretty common story, I had some Bryopsis that was spreading despite manual removal and a fair amount of GHA (confirmed Derbesia with a microscope). After getting tired of manual removal, reducing nutrients to 0.03 PO4 and 3.5 NO3 for weeks which did nothing to the algae, and trying a Dolabella Sea Hare which ignored the GHA and died after 3 weeks I decided to try Fluconazole. I used the Reef Flux variety. Before treating I manually removed as much algae as possible, cleaned the screen on my algae scrubber very well, did a 25% water change, took my skimmer cup off but left the skimmer on, took out my carbon reactor, and turned off my UV and ozone generator. I then dosed the tank with the recommended dose, 1 capsule for every 10 gallons of tank water.
After 3 days the bryopsis began to die and was totally gone by day 5. On day 7 I noticed two of my favias, one micromussa, and one chalice began to die back with white skeleton showing around the edges. The micromussa was totally dead by day 9.
On day 12 the GHA was alive and well with no discernable change but two more micromussa frags began to recede.
I had originally planned to do a 3 week treatment but with corals dying I cut it short and on day 14 I did a 30% water change, added my carbon reactor back, put the skimmer cup back on the skimmer, and turned on my UV and ozone generator.
On day 14 the GHA looked identical to day 1, no change, no die-off but I think it did grow slower than normal during the treatment, hard to say for sure. My algae scrubber did grow algae during the treatment period but at a much lower rate than normal. The suffering chalice, favia's, and micromussa's are still partially alive but not recovering yet. I have a ton of euphyllia, a bunch of other LPS, and some SPS and none seem to have been affected by the treatment yet, apart from the ones I mentioned.
On day 14 pre-water change my PO4 was 0.1 and NO3 was 5.4 so nutrients did go up during the treatment (from 0.03 PO4 and 3.5 NO3) but not by a lot. I did notice a small decrease in alk consumption during the treatment but kept a close eye on it and adjusted accordingly. I never observed an alk spike.
Just putting my experience out there for others as a data point for those thinking of trying Fluconazole for GHA. Others have reportedly had success with treating GHA with Fluconazole but I didn't.
After 3 days the bryopsis began to die and was totally gone by day 5. On day 7 I noticed two of my favias, one micromussa, and one chalice began to die back with white skeleton showing around the edges. The micromussa was totally dead by day 9.
On day 12 the GHA was alive and well with no discernable change but two more micromussa frags began to recede.
I had originally planned to do a 3 week treatment but with corals dying I cut it short and on day 14 I did a 30% water change, added my carbon reactor back, put the skimmer cup back on the skimmer, and turned on my UV and ozone generator.
On day 14 the GHA looked identical to day 1, no change, no die-off but I think it did grow slower than normal during the treatment, hard to say for sure. My algae scrubber did grow algae during the treatment period but at a much lower rate than normal. The suffering chalice, favia's, and micromussa's are still partially alive but not recovering yet. I have a ton of euphyllia, a bunch of other LPS, and some SPS and none seem to have been affected by the treatment yet, apart from the ones I mentioned.
On day 14 pre-water change my PO4 was 0.1 and NO3 was 5.4 so nutrients did go up during the treatment (from 0.03 PO4 and 3.5 NO3) but not by a lot. I did notice a small decrease in alk consumption during the treatment but kept a close eye on it and adjusted accordingly. I never observed an alk spike.
Just putting my experience out there for others as a data point for those thinking of trying Fluconazole for GHA. Others have reportedly had success with treating GHA with Fluconazole but I didn't.
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