Treating Turf Algae with Fluconazole

[Dlealrious]

Hi All
Has anyone treated Turf Algae with Fluco? If so how long did it take?
I only have a few very small patches but want to get rid of it before it possible takes over when im on holidays in a few months .
PO4 - O-4 on URL
No3 - .05

 

[Scorpius]

It won't kill it. I tried a triple dose of Fluconazole on turf algae. It will seriously knock it down though. Your best course of action is aggressive nutrient export to the point of killing coral. I think turf algae could survive hell itself. Good luck.

 

[THX1138CY]

Vibrant works.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Gha and gta also help with heavy physical removal. Will also help keep the nutrients locked up inside them reentering the water column feeding more algae growth.
I spot treated mine, scrubbed one rock one day another the next so wasnt as huge of a time investment at once.

 

[Dlealrious]

dang.. I never really had nutrients in my tank due to low bio load. I actually dose n03 just to get a reading. I do have a fuge which is 10% of total water volume to. Looks like peroxide squirting will need to continue:mad:

 

[Dlealrious]

Dam...I do run a fuge which is 10% of total water volume. I have a low bio load too. Maybe over feeding. Is po4 more than n03 the contributes to growth? Even icp showed .02 p04. This was before it started spreading more.

 

[Dlealrious]

Vibrant works.

Really.. did you have any side affects? My tank is sps dominant. Had a fellow reefer have a bad experience with it

 

[THX1138CY]

Really.. did you have any side affects? My tank is sps dominant. Had a fellow reefer have a bad experience with it

I prefer to think of Vibrant as a Strategic Nuke for Algae. It will kill ALL of it, including film algae. Dieing Algae dumps nutrients back into the water column, so expect a spike in NO4/PO4. Follow the instructions and test frequently during this treatment, have enough water prepared to do a 100% water change during this die off. Pull all your macro algae put it in a bucket off to the side for at least a 2 weeks after dosing, when film algae reappears add your macro back. Vibrant works, but if you don't prep for the side effects bad things happen, it can trigger a cascade if you are not ready for it.

 

[Jose Mayo]

Hi All
Has anyone treated Turf Algae with Fluco? If so how long did it take?
I only have a few very small patches but want to get rid of it before it possible takes over when im on holidays in a few months .
PO4 - O-4 on URL
No3 - .05

Try to first make a positive identification of the algae; "turf algae" is usually a mixture of filamentous algae and, depending on the dominant species, may be sensitive or may not be sensitive to fluconazole.

Some photos could help ...

Regards

 

[Dlealrious]

Will dive the go pro in and take a snap thanks

 

[Dlealrious]

Here are some pics of algae on frag plugs. Looks the same as stuff growing in the tank.

he tank

 

[Jose Mayo]

I'm sorry, but these pictures are not helping. It is not being possible to look at the details. Maybe if you could tear off some larger filaments and put them in a white dish with a little water, it would allow for a better evaluation.

Regards

 

[Arringar]

Here are some pics of algae on frag plugs. Looks the same as stuff growing in the tank.

he tank

That last pic looks like bryopsis to me. I treated this same species with fluconazole and it worked well.

 

[Sallstrom]

IMO treating the whole tank with a medicine just to get rid of some algae sounds scary..
I would add more grazers instead. Urchins, hermit crabs, Ctenochaetus tangs, rabbitfish etc.

/ David

 

[Dlealrious]

I'm sorry, but these pictures are not helping. It is not being possible to look at the details. Maybe if you could tear off some larger filaments and put them in a white dish with a little water, it would allow for a better evaluation.

Regards

Cool will scrape off some from frag plug. Don't have any long enough to pull.

 

[Dlealrious]

Cool will scrape off some from frag plug. Don't have any long enough to pull.

That actually makes me feel better. At least I can kill that;Woot

 

[Scorpius]

Fluconazole is a nice tool in the ol' reefing tool bag, but it fails to address some of the underlying conditions for an algae bloom. Get you system nutrients lowered and then hit it with Fluconazole and you should get some good results.

 

[Dlealrious]

IMO treating the whole tank with a medicine just to get rid of some algae sounds scary..
I would add more grazers instead. Urchins, hermit crabs, Ctenochaetus tangs, rabbitfish etc.

/ David

Put some more hermits in too. They seem to be going an ok job. Have a mag fox face but he doesn't doesn't seem to touch it. Though it's growing nooks he probably can't get to as he is a bit big

 

[Dlealrious]

Ok here are some pics of the algae i scraped off plugs. was alot harder than expected to get a pic

0

 

[Claire Austin]

I've used fluconazole with good results getting rid of bryopsis. Dosed the tank, 50% water change in 7 days scrubbing dying algae off rocks, dosed again. Algae was gone by the next week. However, I lost some really nice sponges, too, not realizing they were photosynthetic. I would have put them in a separate container for a month until the fluconazole was diluted by a couple more water changes.