Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

[NCreefguy]

Anyone dosing or have other knowledge of this medication please try to comment on this.

Im on full day 4.5 right now. Ive been making personal notes here and there.

-About 24 hours into treatment there were some white tips here and there.
-About 48 hours into treatment there was a noticable effect on Bryopsis in many places in the tank
-Each following 24 hours have been about twice the noticable effect as to prior.

-There are a couple very low light/low flow areas in my tank where there has been almost zero effect!

Is light or high flow a key in the process? I am thinking about increasing my white light today. If its a key I should see the effects quickly.

I turned of my actinics and UV channels so my Bryopsis was getting less light. I hope you don't have some sort of immune species mixed in with your other Bryopsis. That would not be good. Hopefully it's just a little stronger version like the last few strands that I had and maybe take a bit longer to turn white.

 

[NCreefguy]

Thanks a lot haha. Currently placing my order now. Can I also assume were all taking out our carbon? I didn't see it specified anywhere and just wanted to be sure.

I took my carbon reactor offline during treatment. I thing some others have left theirs running and it still worked for them though.

 

[NCreefguy]

Hey, how's it all going, get on top of it yet, the photos of your acro looks like it showed positive signs,,,,

My tank is now Bryopsis free. It took a total of 11 days for there to be no sign of it left.

 

[Luis Figueroa]

My tank is now Bryopsis free. It took a total of 11 days for there to be no sign of it left.

You turned your lights down, is that part of the regiment or just what you wanted to do?

 

[NCreefguy]

You turned your lights down, is that part of the regiment or just what you wanted to do?

I turned off the UV and actinics because the earliest reports were that those may degrade the meds. Now it seems that this probably wasn't the case and the Bryopsis was dying no matter what people did.

 

[stevo01]

Im going to give it a couple days with my white lights running at 50%.

 

[Luis Figueroa]

Just got my order of flucon!! @stevo01 how much did you use on your tank?
I have a 30 cube with about 30-40 lbs of lr.
I was estimating about 20 gallons of actual water volume. Which should be 2 capsules.

 

[stevo01]

I dosed 2 capsules = 400mg as well, but I have 17 gallons of water. I have a 4.5 gallon canister filter on this tank, but also have about 50lbs of LR.

 

[mta_morrow]

Everything I've read and seen....only Bryopsis.

Has anybody actually tried it with gha and said it didn't work. Not being smart. Just really curious. Thank you!

 

[MartyF]

Anyone dosing or have other knowledge of this medication please try to comment on this.

Im on full day 4.5 right now. Ive been making personal notes here and there.

-About 24 hours into treatment there were some white tips here and there.
-About 48 hours into treatment there was a noticable effect on Bryopsis in many places in the tank
-Each following 24 hours have been about twice the noticable effect as to prior.

-There are a couple very low light/low flow areas in my tank where there has been almost zero effect!

Is light or high flow a key in the process? I am thinking about increasing my white light today. If its a key I should see the effects quickly.

Yes, I still have some pieces hanging on in low light, low flow areas too.

 

[KenO]

Has anybody actually tried it with gha and said it didn't work. Not being smart. Just really curious. Thank you!

NCreefguy said his turned a little white. Maybe he can give us an update.

 

[ksanfranfan]

Now about 71 hours into initial dosing.

70g 1800mg dose

These have been some of the main spots this tank with the highest concentrations of bryopsis. Roughly 3 days in now and there is definitely noticeable change.

 

[ksanfranfan]

71 hours into this tank as well.
29g biocube 600mg dose

3 days in after dosing this tank as well. Bryopsis is slowly but surely thinning and losing color.

 

[ksanfranfan]

Comparison photos of these same 2 spots since initial dosing in 71 hours. 70g tank

 

[ksanfranfan]

Comparison shots from 29g biocube 71 hours after initial dosing.

 

[NCreefguy]

NCreefguy said his turned a little white. Maybe he can give us an update.

Yeah my gha is still dying off and it's not due to low nutrients either,my tank has plenty. To start with it was mainly the most lighted areas that were turning white but now the low lit areas are as well.

Still have plenty of the brown nastys too...

 

[Luis Figueroa]

Yes, I still have some pieces hanging on in low light, low flow areas too.

Manual removal of it in these areas should help since it kills from the roots and open the plant to the medication. Kinda like stump removal to kill roots. Jmo

 

[KenO]

Yeah my gha is still dying off and it's not due to low nutrients either,my tank has plenty. To start with it was mainly the most lighted areas that were turning white but now the low lit areas are as well.

Still have plenty of the brown nastys too...

Are you going to hold off on the WC and see if the gha dies off?

 

[ksanfranfan]

So far observations that I've made over the last 71 hours,
- initial dose made both tanks cloudy for ~30 minutes.
-24 hours in and bryopsis was showing signs of stress. Leafy structure was starting g to develop a slight curl.
-all livestock was still showing all normal activity, no signs of stress. Nothing else affected.
-Phosphates all and nitrates were still at same levels.
- around 46 hours in bryopsis was showing even more signs of weakening. The distinct fern leaf structure was fading and most of the bryopsis was becoming stringy like and laying down more rather than standing upright towards the light. Color was fading from green and turning pale.
- all fish still maintaining their appetite and all corals,fish and inverts still showing good signs of health.
- Chaeto still remains intact and no signs of stress. Bubble algae doesn't seem to be affected.
- phosphates and nitrates still remain relatively the same, maybe a slight uptick but not very noticeable comparing to the charts.
- I've noticed pods in bryopsis in the 29g biocube. Not sure if they were there previously but there is a significant amount of pods moving about throughout the dying bryopsis.
- 71 hours into treatment and bryopsis is beginning to thin out significantly more compared to day 1 of treatment.
- 3 days into treatment and fish are still eating and showing strong signs of health as far as eating and being active. Corals and inverts still doing well also. Chaeto and bubble algae still appear the same as they were prior to treatment.

In my 70g tank my 14 year old female clown got an abrasion behind her head. Not sure if she was injured from being aggressive with another fish or if she cut herself on a coral or rock. She's had abrasions and cuts from time to time but it's something that I'll have to keep an eye on during treatment.

-I will not check phosphates and nitrates over the next couple of days since their hasn't been much change.
- my 29 biocube doesn't have a skimmer and on my 70g the skimmer is off during treatment.i pulled all gfo and GAC from both tanks. I have a filter sock on the 70g drain in the sump and filter flows in chamber 2 media basket on the 29g.
- last water change was 1-22-17, 3 days prior to treatment on both tanks.
- other than bryopsis and possibly other die off, any change in phoshates and nitrates can be attributed to all of these routine maintenance and water filtration methods.
- like others have reported, I have noticed that in some spots in both tanks with lower or little lighting that the decline in bryopsis is much slower. I might increase led light input in both tanks for a couple of days to see if it helps. Still undecided though at the moment.
- I also did not account for rock work or other displacement pieces when calculating dosage. So in my case I might be a little over the calculated guideline dosage amounts that was laid out. In the 70g setup I might be slightly over but I'm pretty sure I dosed more than what was recommended in the guidelines in this thread.
As I've already observed, there hasn't been any declines in any of the organisms in both tanks.
-last thing to add so far is that I have continued to monitor and supplement the main water parameters.
Pretty sure I've missed something here and there but staying observant may help in the future and can improve upon what we know so far about treating bryopsis with fluconazole.
Hope this wasn't too much info.

 

[Sabellafella]

So far observations that I've made over the last 71 hours,
- initial dose made both tanks cloudy for ~30 minutes.
-24 hours in and bryopsis was showing signs of stress. Leafy structure was starting g to develop a slight curl.
-all livestock was still showing all normal activity, no signs of stress. Nothing else affected.
-Phosphates all and nitrates were still at same levels.
- around 46 hours in bryopsis was showing even more signs of weakening. The distinct fern leaf structure was fading and most of the bryopsis was becoming stringy like and laying down more rather than standing upright towards the light. Color was fading from green and turning pale.
- all fish still maintaining their appetite and all corals,fish and inverts still showing good signs of health.
- Chaeto still remains intact and no signs of stress. Bubble algae doesn't seem to be affected.
- phosphates and nitrates still remain relatively the same, maybe a slight uptick but not very noticeable comparing to the charts.
- I've noticed pods in bryopsis in the 29g biocube. Not sure if they were there previously but there is a significant amount of pods moving about throughout the dying bryopsis.
- 71 hours into treatment and bryopsis is beginning to thin out significantly more compared to day 1 of treatment.
- 3 days into treatment and fish are still eating and showing strong signs of health as far as eating and being active. Corals and inverts still doing well also. Chaeto and bubble algae still appear the same as they were prior to treatment.

In my 70g tank my 14 year old female clown got an abrasion behind her head. Not sure if she was injured from being aggressive with another fish or if she cut herself on a coral or rock. She's had abrasions and cuts from time to time but it's something that I'll have to keep an eye on during treatment.

-I will not check phosphates and nitrates over the next couple of days since their hasn't been much change.
- my 29 biocube doesn't have a skimmer and on my 70g the skimmer is off during treatment.i pulled all gfo and GAC from both tanks. I have a filter sock on the 70g drain in the sump and filter flows in chamber 2 media basket on the 29g.
- last water change was 1-22-17, 3 days prior to treatment on both tanks.
- other than bryopsis and possibly other die off, any change in phoshates and nitrates can be attributed to all of these routine maintenance and water filtration methods.
- like others have reported, I have noticed that in some spots in both tanks with lower or little lighting that the decline in bryopsis is much slower. I might increase led light input in both tanks for a couple of days to see if it helps. Still undecided though at the moment.
- I also did not account for rock work or other displacement pieces when calculating dosage. So in my case I might be a little over the calculated guideline dosage amounts that was laid out. In the 70g setup I might be slightly over but I'm pretty sure I dosed more than what was recommended in the guidelines in this thread.
As I've already observed, there hasn't been any declines in any of the organisms in both tanks.
-last thing to add so far is that I have continued to monitor and supplement the main water parameters.
Pretty sure I've missed something here and there but staying observant may help in the future and can improve upon what we know so far about treating bryopsis with fluconazole.
Hope this wasn't too much info.

Wonderful observations! We're building info on the medicine, so need as much as we can get!