Micro dose of flucozanole

[PharmrJohn]

I've seen SO many examples over the decades where medications used in lesser concentrations lead to new dosing guidelines. Examples include estrogen concentrations of Birth Control in the 60s compared to now. Or dosing of Hydrochlorthiazide in the 90s compared to present. So seeing positive effects of Fluconazole at a lower concentrations does not surprise me at all. It just takes a few people to challenge the norm.

 

[RelaxingWithTheReef]

Over the past year I have been slowly loosing a battle with GHA in an Acro tank. Lawnmower, Turbos, Hermits, 3 Tuxedos, Astraea snails, etc, and nothing would touch it. Turns out it was also home to some Ostreopsis dinos, so everything was avoiding it.

I have used Flux Rx Fluconazole per the box instructions in the past with success (1cc/25 US Gal). But after three weeks or so, the corals typically start to show a little stress. I was concerned about the Acros in this tank, but the GHA got to a point where I was willing to give the microdose a shot.

Past experience tells me Fluconazole is removed by GAC, probably GFO, and is definitely destroyed by UV. If you are running any of this stuff, the treatment will not work!

Day 0 – Dose #1 0.15cc/50 gal (1/10 dose)
Day 3 – Dose #2 0.15cc/50 gal (1/10 dose)
Day 6 – GHA started to look a little shaggy, with lighter tips
Day 14 – Progress seemed to slow so dosed #3 0.15cc/50 gal (1/10 dose)
Day 21 – With natural disintegration and manual removal, 98% of GHA is gone

Pausing to see of the CUC will finish the job or if the tank will require an additional treatment. The great news is none of the corals showed any sign of stress.

There may be something to repeating small doses every few days. But there is no question about it, Fluconazole microdosing worked wonders for me!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I am still bryopsis free since starting this thread. Unfortunately I now have bubble and ulva algae after rehoming my rabbit fish. So I decided to try a 3x full dose of reef flux 3 days ago and my corals look the happiest they’ve been in a long time. I’ll keep everyone posted in a couple weeks with some before and after pics.

 

[Dburr1014]

Over the past year I have been slowly loosing a battle with GHA in an Acro tank. Lawnmower, Turbos, Hermits, 3 Tuxedos, Astraea snails, etc, and nothing would touch it. Turns out it was also home to some Ostreopsis dinos, so everything was avoiding it.

I have used Flux Rx Fluconazole per the box instructions in the past with success (1cc/25 US Gal). But after three weeks or so, the corals typically start to show a little stress. I was concerned about the Acros in this tank, but the GHA got to a point where I was willing to give the microdose a shot.

Past experience tells me Fluconazole is removed by GAC, probably GFO, and is definitely destroyed by UV. If you are running any of this stuff, the treatment will not work!

Day 0 – Dose #1 0.15cc/50 gal (1/10 dose)
Day 3 – Dose #2 0.15cc/50 gal (1/10 dose)
Day 6 – GHA started to look a little shaggy, with lighter tips
Day 14 – Progress seemed to slow so dosed #3 0.15cc/50 gal (1/10 dose)
Day 21 – With natural disintegration and manual removal, 98% of GHA is gone

Pausing to see of the CUC will finish the job or if the tank will require an additional treatment. The great news is none of the corals showed any sign of stress.

There may be something to repeating small doses every few days. But there is no question about it, Fluconazole microdosing worked wonders for me!

Thanks for posting this.
Great news!

 

[Mickey]

I am still bryopsis free since starting this thread. Unfortunately I now have bubble and ulva algae after rehoming my rabbit fish. So I decided to try a 3x full dose of reef flux 3 days ago and my corals look the happiest they’ve been in a long time. I’ll keep everyone posted in a couple weeks with some before and after pics.

Are you saying 3 times the recommended dose on the bottle? Or 3 times the microdose you started with at the beginning of the thread?

 

[Mickey]

Over the past year I have been slowly loosing a battle with GHA in an Acro tank. Lawnmower, Turbos, Hermits, 3 Tuxedos, Astraea snails, etc, and nothing would touch it. Turns out it was also home to some Ostreopsis dinos, so everything was avoiding it.

I have used Flux Rx Fluconazole per the box instructions in the past with success (1cc/25 US Gal). But after three weeks or so, the corals typically start to show a little stress. I was concerned about the Acros in this tank, but the GHA got to a point where I was willing to give the microdose a shot.

Past experience tells me Fluconazole is removed by GAC, probably GFO, and is definitely destroyed by UV. If you are running any of this stuff, the treatment will not work!

Day 0 – Dose #1 0.15cc/50 gal (1/10 dose)
Day 3 – Dose #2 0.15cc/50 gal (1/10 dose)
Day 6 – GHA started to look a little shaggy, with lighter tips
Day 14 – Progress seemed to slow so dosed #3 0.15cc/50 gal (1/10 dose)
Day 21 – With natural disintegration and manual removal, 98% of GHA is gone

Pausing to see of the CUC will finish the job or if the tank will require an additional treatment. The great news is none of the corals showed any sign of stress.

There may be something to repeating small doses every few days. But there is no question about it, Fluconazole microdosing worked wonders for me!

Great news! Thanks for posting. Hopefully I never need this again but if I do I may try this instead of the single small dose I did originally as it took quite a while to show any effect, whereas you seemed to see some at Day 6 after two small doses.

 

[Miami Reef]

No bryopsis from me. I had small patches here and there and microdosed reef flux 2 different times.

There was one remaining patch on the glass that I killed with hydroxide and kalkwasser. I haven’t had a single bryopsis in months! Very happy!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Are you saying 3 times the recommended dose on the bottle? Or 3 times the microdose you started with at the beginning of the thread?

3 times the recommended dose on the bottle

I did 12 pills

 

[Miami Reef]

3 times the recommended dose on the bottle

I did 12 pills

Oh wow. That’s macro dosing. That’s the antithesis of this thread. Weren’t you afraid of the standard dose of reef flux because of coral issues? You mentioned that you had coral problems with the standard dose, correct?

 

[Miami Reef]

I didn’t want to dose flucozanole bc I had issues with it in the past and had heard many sps horror stories associated with it.

This quote is from the first post in this thread.

Honestly, I’m not sold of using fluconazole for bubble algae. I think algae fix is more targeted for that, but it’s an algaecide and might cause harm to livestock.

I think pitho or emerald crabs are a better choice.

My favorite bubble algae solution is a foxface, but they aren’t reef safe for me (tried 4 times).

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

This quote is from the first post in this thread.

Honestly, I’m not sold of using fluconazole for bubble algae. I think algae fix is more targeted for that, but it’s an algaecide and might cause harm to livestock.

I think pitho or emerald crabs are a better choice.

My favorite bubble algae solution is a foxface, but they aren’t reef safe for me (tried 4 times).

I was but that was +5 years ago and I had used flux rx not reef flux. I’ve tried the emeralds and pithos and they helped very little if any at all. My tank is too small and packed for a Fox face or rabbit fish again. Thought I would try this before I rip the entire aqua scape out and hit everything with 12% h202 and a tooth brush.

 

[Miami Reef]

I was but that was +5 years ago and I had used flux rx not reef flux. I’ve tried the emeralds and pithos and they helped very little if any at all. My tank is too small and packed for a Fox face or rabbit fish again. Thought I would try this before I rip the entire aqua scape out and hit everything with 12% h202 and a tooth brush.

I totally get it. I also struggle with bubble algae. Let us know if you see any results with reef flux. I’m glad the corals are doing well.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Some of the ulva, gha and 5 year old rogue calerpa is starting to turn a whiteish color

 

[Reefahholic]

Some of the ulva, gha and 5 year old rogue calerpa is starting to turn a whiteish color

What are your current nutrient levels and where do you typically run at and that system?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

What are your current nutrient levels and where do you typically run at and that system?

I don’t know and don’t really care
They were 50/0.41 the last time I tested……back in March

 

[Reefahholic]

I don’t know and don’t really care
They were 50/0.41 the last time I tested……back in March

Well…perhaps that contributes to the algae growth? Maybe it’s time to implement a more proactive approach.

 

[Reefahholic]

If I’m too high I’m growing GHA, and all the other greens that are in the system from live rock etc. If I’m too low the tank just becomes a mess with different species of funky brown algae’s and slime that thrives in low nutrient environment. The glass also becomes a hot mess with brown biofilm and algae scrape doesn’t slide well. A lot of time the water will become cloudy or have a brown tint.

When you hit the middle ground, things do much better. The extreme of both ends is where the problems start for me, but I’d much rather be on the higher end than than the lower, and this all pertains more to phosphate, but I see better results running at a ratio of 50-200:1 with 100:1 being the sweet spot. Every system is different, but some tanks just do much better at higher P levels, and as they mature, you can run lower because more resources become available.

That Fluconazole treatment will get it all.

 

[Linden13]

I'm glad I found all this info Thanks to everyone. I have a 75 gal mixed reef that has slowly been getting more and more byopsis just wanted to share my experience so far. My po4 usually stays between 0.05 and 0.10 and nitrates are are around 0. I have been dosing neonitro to start raising it and switched to dosing ammonium bicarbonate to try and keep it off of 0. I have had byopsis growing in a few small patches on my rocks and on my weir for a couple months besides being ugly it is causing my water level to change in my tank and slowly cover more of my acros I would rip it out and about a week later it would grow back the same or worse I think the raising nitrates made it worse. I put in 0.20 cc of fluxrx 4 days ago. The day before I removed as much as could by hand and did a 5 gal water change I removed about 95% of my cheato and red ogo out of my sump I didn't know if the reefrx would kill it and spike my nitrates and also removed my skimmer cup. On day 3 it looked like the byopsis was less and today on day 4 it is almost all gone! I'm super surprised by how effective the microdose was already. So far today I put my skimmer cup back on and the cheato and red ogo I still have in my sump looks normal along with all my corals. I will update more later. Thanks again

 

[Dburr1014]

I'm glad I found all this info Thanks to everyone. I have a 75 gal mixed reef that has slowly been getting more and more byopsis just wanted to share my experience so far. My po4 usually stays between 0.05 and 0.10 and nitrates are are around 0. I have been dosing neonitro to start raising it and switched to dosing ammonium bicarbonate to try and keep it off of 0. I have had byopsis growing in a few small patches on my rocks and on my weir for a couple months besides being ugly it is causing my water level to change in my tank and slowly cover more of my acros I would rip it out and about a week later it would grow back the same or worse I think the raising nitrates made it worse. I put in 0.20 cc of fluxrx 4 days ago. The day before I removed as much as could by hand and did a 5 gal water change I removed about 95% of my cheato and red ogo out of my sump I didn't know if the reefrx would kill it and spike my nitrates and also removed my skimmer cup. On day 3 it looked like the byopsis was less and today on day 4 it is almost all gone! I'm super surprised by how effective the microdose was already. So far today I put my skimmer cup back on and the cheato and red ogo I still have in my sump looks normal along with all my corals. I will update more later. Thanks again

It works quicker on bryopsis than GHA for sure.
Keep us updated!

 

[Linden13]

I didn't have any good pictures of the all the byopsis before but I found this one from a few weeks ago. It would look worse this is severel days after removing as much as I could and the other is 5 days after adding the microdose. I dont see any in any other spots in the tank either