Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

[stevo01]

3 weeks

 

[prsnlty]

I've read through a lot of the thread and see that removing carbon and GFO are suggested since they remove the medication. And that biopellets are ok to run. Anyone run Phosguard through the treatment? Or should it be removed as well?

Bio pellets is a bacteria source and don't see a problem. I also don't see a problem running gfo. It'll soak up po4 that's released but not the meds and Switzerland could not soak up the medication out of their lakes with carbon so I also don't see a problem with running carbon (JMO im not a scientist) The only thing I for sure would NOT run is the skimmer with the cup on it.

 

[jason_mazzy]

I am very curious about how the dosing was calculated. In humans we use half life which is roughly 30 hours in plasma levels. I'm curious if a multiple smaller dosing system would be more appropriate, but without knowing the mechanism of uptake in the algae I'm not sure if it's calculable.

Bio pellets is a bacteria source and don't see a problem. I also don't see a problem running gfo. It'll soak up po4 that's released but not the meds and Switzerland could not soak up the medication out of their lakes with carbon so I also don't see a problem with running carbon (JMO im not a scientist) The only thing I for sure would NOT run is the skimmer with the cup on it.

interesting. how did they ever remove it, or did they just wait for metabolite breakdown?

 

[prsnlty]

interesting. how did they ever remove it, or did they just wait for metabolite breakdown?

As far as that article went they didn't remove it. It was just one of the medications found but this one was not removed with a carbon source as some of the others were.

We can remove it through protein skimming... imagine the size skimmer they would need for a lake [emoji33]

 

[jason_mazzy]

Any research on the protein skimming? If it's negligible? if second dosing would maintain levels? I would like to run the skimmer while carbon dosing to reduce the giant nutrient spike.

 

[HmoneyReefOkc]

For what it's worth, I did the normal dosage, removed carbon and GFO, but I ran my skimmer the entire time and I am now completely briopsis free. Although prior to starting treatment I did a fair amount of manual removal it is all gone entirely now.

 

[prsnlty]

Any research on the protein skimming? If it's negligible? if second dosing would maintain levels? I would like to run the skimmer while carbon dosing to reduce the giant nutrient spike.

I turned my skimmer on at 8 days in. I am starting day 14 atm and do still have roots and very small patches left. It slowed down once the skimmer was taking up skimmate. I did not have a spike in no3 but did in po4. Once that was discovered I turned gfo on. It brought the po4 down quickly.

Everyone's tank is different and there are different varieties of bryopsis and green hair algae. Not everyone has the same amount per ratio of water volume. We are just trying to come up with some sort of set a base rules that work best for an "average" treatment. I have a 180g wv and had a TON of it. It works great and my system is 99% free of it.

 

[prsnlty]

Any research on the protein skimming? If it's negligible? if second dosing would maintain levels? I would like to run the skimmer while carbon dosing to reduce the giant nutrient spike.

I was dosing nopox and didn't have my cup on the skimmer but had it at the lowest setting so there was no overflow from it. I had no nutrient spike other than po4. Turning on the gfo took care of that Some people have had great success running their skimmer. In my case it slowed the treatment down when I turned it back on on day 8. I think you should at least leave it all for the first couple of days to give the algae a chance to soak up the medication from the water column.

 

[eatbreakfast]

@Humblefish , @melypr1985 , @4FordFamily , @eatbreakfast , @Randy Holmes-Farley , @JimWelsh and anyone feel free to add more experts to this request.

Please reference above to @Ru_dark and his kole tang. I think this is the first reported fish reaction to a single dose of Fluconazole @20mg per 10g while treating a tank for Bryopsis algae.

There has also been reports of negative effects to species of Euphyllia, as well concern for chaetomorpha and other macro algae's.

Thanks!

Antibiotics can affect O2 levels, tangs are a fish that require higher O2. There are also instances of some meds affecting tangs gills. If @Ru_dark 's tang had damaged gills from either collection or handling previously and it went unnoticed it could account for the quick affects to the kole tang.

Something else to consider: would it be possible to split the dose up and spread it out over an hr or two so that livestock can gradually get used to any drop in 02 rather than it suddenly happen?

 

[mta_morrow]

I've had mine out thus far. Now I'm thinking is want them back in to collect the die off.

I left mine in the whole time. They collected a lot of die off.

 

[Milkmanskid]

A little update on mine. I said my emerald crab died. He didn't. Just molted. It's the first emerald I've owned so give me a break lol. I've only had shrimp who molts clear...sorry

 

[stevo01]

Antibiotics can affect O2 levels, tangs are a fish that require higher O2. There are also instances of some meds affecting tangs gills. If @Ru_dark 's tang had damaged gills from either collection or handling previously and it went unnoticed it could account for the quick affects to the kole tang.

Something else to consider: would it be possible to split the dose up and spread it out over an hr or two so that livestock can gradually get used to any drop in 02 rather than it suddenly happen?

Thank TJ, thats the kind feedback im looking for. You may have nailed it. Does anyone using Fluco here have an oxygen probe/meter on their system?

This is something to add to the FAQ's.

@Ru_dark was your kole tang or other fish breathing heavily when Fluconazole was introduced? Was the skimmer offline? What is there for flow/powerheads? Maybe when doing this treatment the addition of an airstone would be helpful.

 

[stevo01]

A little update on mine. I said my emerald crab died. He didn't. Just molted. It's the first emerald I've owned so give me a break lol. I've only had shrimp who molts clear...sorry

Lol, thanks for following up. You'd laugh at how many people think that the first time they see a molt.

 

[Ocean Lotion]

My clown fish spawned during my treatment of fluconazole and they look great and will be free swimming soon.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

My clown fish spawned during my treatment of fluconazole and they look great and will be free swimming soon.

And the eggs won't get any type of fungus. Another great benefit of flucanizole. Lol

 

[Ocho Cinco]

Did most people experience a cloudy tank during this treatment? My tank looked a lot more cloudy this morning and my anemone moved. I just put the filter sock back on. Trying to hold off on running my skimmer. Tested water, Phosphate: 0 NO3: 20

 

[Rick.45cal]

Has anyone dosed a tank with scolymia in it?

I have, my Scolymia didn't even notice the fluconazole

has anyone orderef from this site? Looks like the same?

https://www.fishlifeantibiotics.com/collections/frontpage/products/fluconazole-200mg

I ordered from both Payless and that site, that site is more expensive, they took a little longer too ship (not a long time by any means). It's the same exact capsules as what is from Payless, they are just in a bottle instead of blister packed.

Antibiotics can affect O2 levels, tangs are a fish that require higher O2. There are also instances of some meds affecting tangs gills. If @Ru_dark 's tang had damaged gills from either collection or handling previously and it went unnoticed it could account for the quick affects to the kole tang.

Something else to consider: would it be possible to split the dose up and spread it out over an hr or two so that livestock can gradually get used to any drop in 02 rather than it suddenly happen?

Thank TJ, thats the kind feedback im looking for. You may have nailed it. Does anyone using Fluco here have an oxygen probe/meter on their system?

This is something to add to the FAQ's..

Fluconazole is an anti-fungal. NOT an antibiotic. There is misinformation on the net that fluconazole is an antibiotic. It's an anti-fungal and your oxygen levels aren't going to be adversely affected. We all would have seen big dips in our pH during treatment due to increased CO2 and that simply hasn't happened.

 

[Rick.45cal]

@prsnlty I had some lingering root like looking things for nearly a week after all the other stuff had long disappeared. It never turned white, it did however gradually get skinnier and skinnier until one day it wasn't there anymore. Your tank looks great! It's an amazing change!

 

[prsnlty]

@prsnlty I had some lingering root like looking things for nearly a week after all the other stuff had long disappeared. It never turned white, it did however gradually get skinnier and skinnier until one day it wasn't there anymore. Your tank looks great! It's an amazing change!

Thank you Rick!! Im loving it [emoji7]

I've been looking over the tank this morning and decided I'm going to give it a week before I make up my mind to dose a second time. The cleanup crew seems to be doing a great job. I do have some lingering algae and I'm hoping that either disappears or the cleanup crew takes care of it. If it doesn't then I'll just treat the tank one more time in a week or two. On the bright side, now we have something that gets rid of all of this bryopsis and green hair algae! So I'm not too worried about it if it does come back LOL

 

[prsnlty]

Here's my final video