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Author Topic: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder  (Read 10566 times)

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Offline vickiwilson

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Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« on: February 09, 2017, 08:46:43 »
I read this thread last night: http://ohioreef.com/index.php?topic=20933.new#new  and all associated threads from it.

In a last ditch effort to save my tank from being torn down and me quitting the hobby (i'm at that point pretty much now); i'm going togive this treatment a try.

I'm still not sure what my tank has is bryopsis, but this stuff is tenacious and tricky; i've been manually removing it for months and the problem just seems to be getting worse.  It is compounded by a bubble algae issue, that was under control and almost completely eliminated, but when the algae started to take over the rocks it gave the bubble algae a nice place to hide and grow and also get completely out of control.  So 2 huge issues, one compounding the other.  Bubble algae i can handle, i've gotten rid of it before, i could do it again.  This green grassy crap is too much.

So, the tank is a 40g breeder with a 20g sump (half filled)
I run a skimmer
My light schedule was 8-6 but i decreased it to 10-5 i believe.  I also heightened my lights away from the tank as an added attempt to control the growth of the algae. 
I feed my 6 fish once a day on frozen food (LRS food); i was feeding twice but again, trying to put less nutrients into the tank.

I will order the meds today and start the trial as soon as they come in.

If i've got 50g roughly, i'd need to dose...1000 mg.

Here's the extent of the problem







Can anyone tell me if this is actually bryopsis or gha? 

Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2017, 09:25:36 »
looks like a mixture of both to me

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2017, 10:10:01 »
looks like a mixture of both to me

Awesome, of course its a mix of both :D

The meds have shipped!

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2017, 09:58:24 »
Meds have arrived!!

So let me just double check.

I'm dosing 1000mg to my tank.  Does it matter how much water i mix the powder with?

Turning the lights off for 1 days?  more?

Skimmer off for a week, carbon out for a week.  Then back on?  or longer?


Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2017, 10:37:12 »
I am on day 3 and my bryopsis is melting away.  turning white and crumbling, just like everyone else's.  Here is what I did

I left my lights on it's normal cycle.  no change.  I think the light helps the process.  Leave them on
I left my skimmer run, no change there.
I have turned off my carbon reactor
I left my GFO running

I believe the carbon removes medication, so I will leave that off for the duration of the medicating.
The GFO doesn't harm it, it will only help with the small spike in phosphates.

As for water amount, doesn't matter.  I used a cup of water and dissolved as much as I could.  Poured it in the front of a power head.  The water will remain cloudy for no more than an hour.  It will clear up and you won;t ever know you medicated the water.

It's still a crap shoot on whether the dosing is too much, or if all the reactors/skimmers need to be turned off or not.  people are trying different things to see what happens.  But I left everything on but Carbon and I haven't seen any negative effects.  Just takes time, now sit back and relax.  It's gotta go 10-14 days.

good luck!

Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2017, 10:40:42 »
I also read that some people are having luck with the green hair algae disappearing.  I don't have any, so I can't add to that discovery.

Some are also dosing Vibrant at the same time for the GHA, but from what I understand it causes a bad cyano breakout.  I am not using anything except this flucon, so far so good.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2017, 10:49:09 by crankbait09 »

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2017, 11:08:37 »
Great.  I'll start the process when i get home from work. 

I'll take out the carbon as i just have it in a bag, i don't have any kind of reactors. 

Are you manually removing the dead bryopsis?  I really don't want the valve on my main overflow to clog.

After 10-14 days then do a water change like normal?  Can i add new water during that time?  I don't dose anymore and have been relying on weekly water changes to keep levels stable.

Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2017, 11:23:58 »
I am not removing the bryopsis.  I don't have a lot, so it just crumbles and falls apart.  I don't ever see it once it does that.
Hopefully someone that has a lot can chime in on that.

After the 10-14 days comes and goes, your bry should be gone.....should be.  Once it is completely gone, you'll need to do the water change and get your carbon back in. If you can wait the 10-14 days before doing a water change, do so. 

If you're parameter levels start dropping drastically that starts to make you nervous, then you'd have no choice to do that water change.  Maybe if you do a small amount if needed, it might hold you over till treatment is done.  I normally do a water change every two weeks, so by the time my treatment is done, I should be on schedule for the next water change.

I am not experienced at this at all, I am only going by what I read on that other forum. I wasn't comfortable turning the skimmer and GFO off, so I tweaked that, hoping for the best :)

All my livestock and coral are all happy.  No one seems phased by this treatment.

Offline Lngliv3

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2017, 01:46:18 »
8 days in on my treatment and it's all gone and the gha is almost gone too !!!

Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2017, 07:36:43 »
awesome!!

I'm on day 5.  All the bryopsis I could see is gone.  It's starting to work on some other type of green algae.  Not sure what kind it is, but it's turning white.

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #10 on: February 15, 2017, 08:38:26 »
That's great Lngliv3!

I'm on day 3 and seeing no change so far.

Offline mtamorrow

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #11 on: February 15, 2017, 08:48:57 »
Im on day 13.  My GHA is virtually all but gone.  Whats left is totally gray and falling off in clumps now.  I have to keep removing it from my filter sock as I don't want it decaying and adding nutrients to the tank. 

It works slower on GHA than bryopsis as documented. And, it works faster on GHA that is well lit vs GHA that is in a darker area.

I added another full dose on day 10 as I still had some that was not showing signs of going away. Primarily in the shaded areas. in 3 days it is now all gray.

I plan on doing a 30% WC next Friday.

Going to put GFO back on line in a day or two just to make sure I don't get a spike.
It costs HOW much?!

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #12 on: February 15, 2017, 10:49:35 »
Glad its working out well for your tank.

Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #13 on: February 17, 2017, 09:50:15 »
Heres a question about this process.

From what I can see, my bryopsis is gone.  All of it.

Do I let it run the 10-14 day routine, or is it safe to stop it now since I don't see the bry anymore?

I'd like to do a water change and get back to my normal routine.  but certainly don't want ot have to do this again later, due to stopping prematurely

Offline mtamorrow

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #14 on: February 17, 2017, 10:06:24 »
Heres a question about this process.

From what I can see, my bryopsis is gone.  All of it.

Do I let it run the 10-14 day routine, or is it safe to stop it now since I don't see the bry anymore?

I'd like to do a water change and get back to my normal routine.  but certainly don't want ot have to do this again later, due to stopping prematurely
Personally, I would run it the full course to ensure all roots are gone. May be some you just can't see


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Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #15 on: February 17, 2017, 10:08:14 »
I'm on day 5 and am seeing no difference at all, nothing.  Maybe a bit more red clingy algae on the sand but nothing else. 

Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #16 on: February 17, 2017, 10:15:13 »
Vicki - even at day 5???  I wonder if you never had bryopsis mixed in all that GHA>  maybe?  GHA does take longer, but you are not seeing any white by day 5?  I'd let it go for 10-14 days.  Maybe there isn't bry in there as we thought.  Eventually the flucon will attack the GHA.  It'll take awhile though.

how many gallons is your system (including sump) and how much flucon did you dose?  Did you buy the capsules or the tablets?

mtamorrow - I was thinking the same thing.  Just want to get back to normal, so I can begin dosing alk :)
« Last Edit: February 17, 2017, 10:44:44 by crankbait09 »

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #17 on: February 17, 2017, 11:21:42 »
I'm on day 5 and am seeing no difference at all, nothing.  Maybe a bit more red clingy algae on the sand but nothing else. 

Did you possibly have something in the tank that removed the fluconazole such as carbon.

Offline mtamorrow

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #18 on: February 17, 2017, 13:19:14 »
I don't believe anyone stopped dosing. I haven't. Just no carbon. I pulled my skimmer cup the first few days but that's it. Everything else is my normal routine except no WC.


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Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #19 on: February 17, 2017, 13:26:30 »
I second that, sort of.  I only removed my Carbon.  Left skimmer and GFO running and my bryopsis disappeared.

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #20 on: February 17, 2017, 22:06:36 »
crankbait,  Day 5.  no change at all :(  Maybe it is all GHA.  my whole system is around 50g, i only half fill the 20g sump.  i got capsules which i emptied into water.  I dosed 1000mg.

Lazy, i took the bag of carbon out before i dosed, skimmer was off for 3 days too.  Lights were left on normal cycle.  Theres nothing else that could be messing with the meds. 

I have noticed that 2 nerites have died... which seems odd since no one else reported any snail death.  Everything else is fine though, fish are good (even broken jaw fish) and corals are good. 

If theres nothing happening at all by sunday i might do a little manual removal to help things along.

Offline Reef Tank 2.0

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #21 on: February 17, 2017, 23:48:33 »
hm....interesting.  For nothing to turn white, makes me think it's something other than bryopsis.
I think others were treating the GHA with vibrant in conjunction with flucon.  maybe try that as well?  Beware of the cyano outbreak though.

im on day 7 and my non bryopsis algae is starting to turn white.  so the flucon is doing something to it.

maybe someone else can chime in on this


Offline mtamorrow

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #22 on: February 18, 2017, 08:59:42 »
Hang in there. Don't manually remove as the fluconazole works it's way to the root. I didn't see significant progress on GHA until maybe bay 8 or 9. I then did a 2nd full dose on day 12. I'm on day 17 and mine is either gone or what's left is all white. I have done no manual removal. I'm taking off next Friday to do a 30% WC. that would be day 23 for me. GHA is taking longer than bryopsis so just be patient for


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Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #23 on: February 20, 2017, 20:01:59 »
day... something.  i am starting to see changes to the, what i assume is GHA, the edges are looking frayed and crispy.

i'll let it go until day 10-14, regardless of how much algae goes away.  I go out of the country for 5 days in about 2 weeks and would like a few was in before i go.  i can always do a second dose when i get back to finish off what's left over.  It'll give the tank a chance to rest before a further treatment.

Offline lazylivin

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Re: Trial treatment with fluconazole- 40g breeder
« Reply #24 on: February 20, 2017, 21:09:51 »
Sounds promising.

 

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