Bryopsis help

HTXReefer · Jan 25, 2020

Pretty sure I have bryopsis and not GHA. The kicker is I have a Refugium full of caulerpa and a thriving pod population for my mandarin. Don’t really want to kill my fuge. I read that flucanazole( probably wrong spelling) kills off bryopsis and caulerpa. Is there anything else I can use that wouldn’t be detrimental to my macro algae?

W1ngz · Jan 25, 2020

Bryopsis is the cockroach of pest algae!
I don't like dumping cures into my tank for stuff, but I've done the flucanozole thing. Manually remove everything you can, and move your macros to a bucket with a bit of flow and a desk lamp or your fuge light for a couple of weeks to keep it alive.

They say two weeks, but many (me included) find the last hangers-on are still there. I did two doses of fluconazole, with the second after a water change at the 14 day mark for 7 more days, then a big water change and ran lots of activated carbon for 48 hours.

Don't get discouraged if even after 10-12 days, it seems to not be working. All of a sudden one day to the next, it will start to go white and melt away.

Zach W · Jan 25, 2020

Unfortunately fluconazole was the only thing that worked for my bryopsis after trying a multitude of different things. Like mentioned, remove your fuge for the dose period, and you can supplement with pods if you feel you need to for the mandarin

HTXReefer · Jan 25, 2020

That’s a good idea I never thought about. I don’t have too heavy of a bio load but is there anything I’ll need to do during the two week dosage period for nutrient export. Or do I just depend on water change?

W1ngz · Jan 25, 2020

Maybe cut back a little on feeding, but I wouldn't do too much else for fear of doing too much at once and risk destabilizing things more than needed.

Zach W · Jan 25, 2020

Also monitor phosphates. When your algae starts dying you might have a spike. You can use gfo during the treatment

Magellan · Jan 25, 2020

I’m currently dosing Fluc. I caught it early, so I’m hoping that one round will kill it off. I dosed Wednesday night, removed some dead algae already! my corals and fish seem completely unaffected.

motortrendz · Jan 25, 2020

You can pull your macro and put it in a bucket with a heater and a small powerhead and store it for the 2 weeks your dosing the fluconazole. I would also inspect the macro to make sure your not harboring any nusance algae within bc once you put it back your reintroducing it back into your system.

HTXReefer · Jan 25, 2020

Zach W said:
Also monitor phosphates. When your algae starts dying you might have a spike. You can use gfo during the treatment

Will definitely use the GFO if needed. I have a bra dual reactor I’ve been looking for a reason to use.

HTXReefer · Jan 25, 2020

Magellan said:
I’m currently dosing Fluc. I caught it early, so I’m hoping that one round will kill it off. I dosed Wednesday night, removed some dead algae already! my corals and fish seem completely unaffected.

That is good news. Luckily it’s isolated to a couple of spots and frag plugs right now. I picked up the Flucanazole today and will start it this evening