Should I go straight in with Fluconazole?!?

[peterneish]

HI all,

I currently have a Waterbox 20 cube, with 2 clowns and quite a bit of hair algae. I don't have any corals inverts etc, as I'm currently involved in the long running battle to reduce nitrates (currently at 78 after months of tank neglect). They're coming down very slowly with 3 to 4, 5% water changes a week, but they're fueling green hair algae.

I can't used the likes of NoPoX as I don't run a skimmer, so what's the best approach?

Do I continue with the water changes and wait it out, hoping that once my nitrates are down to below ten that the algae will die back or I can add inverts to help address the issue, or do I go straight in with the likes of Reef Flux to kill the algae, whilst continuing with the water changes?

Thanks in advance.

P

 

[c4haskett]

From what little experience I do have, I would suggest to stay away from chemicals first. I would strongly suggest picking up a sea hare. Sea hare's are the goats of the sea lol. They would demolish all the hare algae you have within a week or so. Be sure to sell him back or trade him once he has eaten it all so it doesn't starve. I've had a sea hare twice and it has done an amazing job. Once the algae is eaten back to the rock, stock your tank with a bunch of turbo snails. They eat algae as well but they don't have the appetite a sea hare has.

 

[Reefer Matt]

HI all,

I currently have a Waterbox 20 cube, with 2 clowns and quite a bit of hair algae. I don't have any corals inverts etc, as I'm currently involved in the long running battle to reduce nitrates (currently at 78 after months of tank neglect). They're coming down very slowly with 3 to 4, 5% water changes a week, but they're fueling green hair algae.

I can't used the likes of NoPoX as I don't run a skimmer, so what's the best approach?

Do I continue with the water changes and wait it out, hoping that once my nitrates are down to below ten that the algae will die back or I can add inverts to help address the issue, or do I go straight in with the likes of Reef Flux to kill the algae, whilst continuing with the water changes?

Thanks in advance.

P

I would continue water changes, manually remove as much algae as possible, and add a cuc. A cuc is needed in most tanks, imo anyway.

 

[exnisstech]

I would continue water changes, manually remove as much algae as possible, and add a cuc. A cuc is needed in most tanks, imo anyway.

Agreed. Manual removal, cuc and work on nutrient reduction without adding an algaecide. Been there done that and while it helped short term the tank took a turn in another direction and I ended up with cyano.
I went back to the basics. I beefed up my cuc and started doing small water changes every other day or so vaccuming the cyano at that time. I started adding a small amount of micribactor 7 daily, only 1.5ml with total volume aprox 40g total and add a some DIY coral snow once in a while.
I don't have pics of the gha stage but this is how the tank looked after fluconazole treatment. No GHA but to be honest I'd rather have that than this. At least the GHA provided a place for pods and micro brittle stars to hide. I can't find any positive use for this nasty stuff and this isn't even at its worst.

And once I got they cyano under control

And the tank now 6 months later.
Patience is key

 

[Aaron75]

The only reason I would use flucanazole is for bryopsis. I don't have scientific evidence, just correlation and anecdotes, but I honestly believe flucanazole deeply disturbed my biological balance and has taken me months to recover from.

 

[Jason_MrFrags]

How long has this tank been up and running?

 

[peterneish]

How long has this tank been up and running?

For around 2 years, but I’m embarrassed to say that it has been seriously neglected for the last year with virtually no water changes until around 3 weeks ago. The only things that have survived are my clowns.

 

[peterneish]

Looks

Agreed. Manual removal, cuc and work on nutrient reduction without adding an algaecide. Been there done that and while it helped short term the tank took a turn in another direction and I ended up with cyano.
I went back to the basics. I beefed up my cuc and started doing small water changes every other day or so vaccuming the cyano at that time. I started adding a small amount of micribactor 7 daily, only 1.5ml with total volume aprox 40g total and add a some DIY coral snow once in a while.
I don't have pics of the gha stage but this is how the tank looked after fluconazole treatment. No GHA but to be honest I'd rather have that than this. At least the GHA provided a place for pods and micro brittle stars to hide. I can't find any positive use for this nasty stuff and this isn't even at its worst.

And once I got they cyano under control

And the tank now 6 months later.
Patience is key

looks fantastic now!!!