Treating GHA with Fluc

[Kenzie Jeanine]

I'm creating this thread to keep track of my progress using fluconazole to get rid of the green hair algae in my 24 gal cube.

I posted a different thread looking for help on this and was given two suggestions: use fluc or do a LOT of scrubbing. I live in an apartment and don't have a lot of space to work with, so I picked the option that seemed to suit my situation the best.

Here is my tank currently, before any treatment:

Some more info on the system:

I bought the tank off a friend who hadn't used it in quite awhile as far as I know, but I've had it running since late August. There's around 60 lbs of live rock and 2.5 inches of sand.
For flow, I use the stock pump and a Cobalt MJ-600.
The light is from Orbit Marine and I use the second pre-set option.
I dose Kent's essential elements mix every other water change. The corals are spot fed Coral Frenzy and the fish get a mix of bloodworms, mysis, and brine shrimp, which is done every other day.
The cuc is made up of a variety of snails, six hermit crabs, and two emerald crabs.
In terms of livestock, I have a sixline wrasse, a tailspot blenny, and a black ice ocellaris clown for fish; corals are a few types of zoas, paly, Kenya tree, mushroom, acan, and a bit of favia.

I took out all of my carbon and such before treatment, then used a cup of tank water and dissolved 600mg of fluc, which I poured into the intake portion for the stock pump. I'm going to try keeping the light off for a few days and change feeding to every three days instead of every other.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Excellent!
Ime , you might still want to consider hitting it with a toothbrush.
You’ll likely not see much change for the next week or two.

 

[Kenzie Jeanine]

Excellent!
Ime , you might still want to consider hitting it with a toothbrush.
You’ll likely not see much change for the next week or two.

I've been pulling chunks off every few days, so I'll probably do some of that, and maybe work the toothbrush in too!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I've been pulling chunks off every few days, so I'll probably do some of that, and maybe work the toothbrush in too!

If you knock it down, the snails and such will keep it down for ya.
And a funny side effect of the fluconazole , it makes the gha super tasty. The cuc devour it better and even some fish develop a taste for it.

If you have floss or socks , change em out after you scrub. It’ll help keep the nutrients down while the meds work.

 

[GoVols]

If you knock it down, the snails and such will keep it down for ya.
And a funny side effect of the fluconazole , it makes the gha super tasty. The cuc devour it better and even some fish develop a taste for it.

If you have floss or socks , change em out after you scrub. It’ll help keep the nutrients down while the meds work.

Salty,
Will the fluconazole change the color of GHA while it's dying off too?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Salty,
Will the fluconazole change the color of GHA while it's dying off too?

Sometimes yes.

 

[GoVols]

Sometimes yes.

Thank You!!!

 

[Ocean Lotion]

Also give your tank as much light as possible. As high of setting and run it 24 hrs a day. Additional light increases the rate of die off of the gha. Leave it in for at least a month or if you do a h2o chng retreat for the amount of water you replaced. Do not be surprised if you have to repeat the treatment 2 or 3 times as some of it may return in small spots. Fluconazole is fantastic. I fought gha for 4 years before I found fluconazole. Good luck.

 

[Kenzie Jeanine]

Also give your tank as much light as possible. As high of setting and run it 24 hrs a day. Additional light increases the rate of die off of the gha. Leave it in for at least a month or if you do a h2o chng retreat for the amount of water you replaced. Do not be surprised if you have to repeat the treatment 2 or 3 times as some of it may return in small spots. Fluconazole is fantastic. I fought gha for 4 years before I found fluconazole. Good luck.

I thought low light was the way to go so it can't photosynthesize?

 

[Kenzie Jeanine]

Day 3:

I was away for a few days for the holidays, which was incredibly nerve wracking because I was convinced that something would go horribly wrong and all the things that aren't gha would die; anxiety disorders are a lot of fun! Luckily, everyone looks happy and healthy. At first I thought that some progress might've been made, but looking at the pictures from today compared to Day 1 makes me doubt that.

What are thoughts on lights? I left them off while I was gone, but turned them back on today for the corals. Would I be better off continuing to not run the lights often because the algae could use them to photosynthesize, or am I incorrect on that?

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I don't give you 6 months in this hobby. After you're done with this little adventure your algae will come back full force and then you'll quit. You've got a very new, already neglected, nano tank, that you're now dosing with chemicals instead of doing things right and you barely have any fish or corals. Unless you address the root cause of this issue, this is just a temporary fix, if that. You need to put your lights on a simple timer and limit them to no more than 4-6 hours a day while dealing with this issue. Even then, they need to be on a timer and cannot be left on for more than 12 hours per day.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I thought low light was the way to go so it can't photosynthesize?

When it begins to photosyn , it sucks up the meds better.

IMO , don’t change anything. Just follow the treatment , more changes = less stability. So one thing at a time.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Day 3:

I was away for a few days for the holidays, which was incredibly nerve wracking because I was convinced that something would go horribly wrong and all the things that aren't gha would die; anxiety disorders are a lot of fun! Luckily, everyone looks happy and healthy. At first I thought that some progress might've been made, but looking at the pictures from today compared to Day 1 makes me doubt that.

What are thoughts on lights? I left them off while I was gone, but turned them back on today for the corals. Would I be better off continuing to not run the lights often because the algae could use them to photosynthesize, or am I incorrect on that?

Keep em running like normal. IMO.

And also, IMO. Hit it with a toothbrush and pull as much out with mechanical (floss sponge etc ) as you can. Less alge =more meds, plus the dead alge will eventually add nutrients to the tank.

You did remove all the chem media like gfo and carbon yes?

Edit , also grab some snails turbos and ninja star snails , as the algae dies , it becomes quite tasty. Even my clowns started picking at it.

 

[Jose Mayo]

Fluconazole acts on the wall of algae, altering its integrity, and needs algae to be growing to act, so it seems to work best in good light conditions; after a few days, the algae begin to lose their color (by increasing cell wall permeability, hydrolysis and loss of cytoplasm). This process continues, from the growth shoots until the root, until the complete hydrolysis of the algae. Sometimes pruning of algae during treatment seems to help. At other times pruning seems to increase the time for the elimination of algae.

Best regards

 

[Kenzie Jeanine]

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I don't give you 6 months in this hobby. After you're done with this little adventure your algae will come back full force and then you'll quit. You've got a very new, already neglected, nano tank, that you're now dosing with chemicals instead of doing things right and you barely have any fish or corals. Unless you address the root cause of this issue, this is just a temporary fix, if that. You need to put your lights on a simple timer and limit them to no more than 4-6 hours a day while dealing with this issue. Even then, they need to be on a timer and cannot be left on for more than 12 hours per day.

Well thank you for not meaning to sound like a jerk, and I will try to not sound offended in my response. I have my lights, which if you read my original post in this thread is an orbit led, on a timed schedule that is currently 8 hours. The tank isn't neglected, I just had an issue get out of hand. When I asked in a different thread on how to treat this, the most popular response I got was to treat the algae this way, so I decided to take this route. Being rude like this is pointless and just scares people off from the hobby, which by the way I think I'll make it the one more month to get to six.

 

[Kenzie Jeanine]

Fluconazole acts on the wall of algae, altering its integrity, and needs algae to be growing to act, so it seems to work best in good light conditions; after a few days, the algae begin to lose their color (by increasing cell wall permeability, hydrolysis and loss of cytoplasm). This process continues, from the growth shoots until the root, until the complete hydrolysis of the algae. Sometimes pruning of algae during treatment seems to help. At other times pruning seems to increase the time for the elimination of algae.

Best regards

Thank you! I'll keep the light schedule going as it normally is.

 

[Kenzie Jeanine]

Keep em running like normal. IMO.

And also, IMO. Hit it with a toothbrush and pull as much out with mechanical (floss sponge etc ) as you can. Less alge =more meds, plus the dead alge will eventually add nutrients to the tank.

You did remove all the chem media like gfo and carbon yes?

Edit , also grab some snails turbos and ninja star snails , as the algae dies , it becomes quite tasty. Even my clowns started picking at it.

Alright, will do. I've been bit by bit pulling pieces out before I started the treatment, and will continue to do so with the added help of a toothbrush. I removed all the chemical media and put it in a little tupperware; how long should I wait before putting it back in? I have two turbo snails right now, as well as a few other types, and a tailspot blenny that has been munching away. Would you recommend adding more? It's only a 24 gal that's pretty full with rock and the two turbos have been knocking my corals around like crazy.

 

[VietExtender]

Alright, will do. I've been bit by bit pulling pieces out before I started the treatment, and will continue to do so with the added help of a toothbrush. I removed all the chemical media and put it in a little tupperware; how long should I wait before putting it back in? I have two turbo snails right now, as well as a few other types, and a tailspot blenny that has been munching away. Would you recommend adding more? It's only a 24 gal that's pretty full with rock and the two turbos have been knocking my corals around like crazy.

I wouldn’t add anything till after the treatment is done. When I did mine, it took about 7 days for the gha to start dying off. Around day 14 was when my rocks were clean. Just be patient and let the meds kick in. Add how much cuc you think you need after the treatment, depending on how much gha you might have left. I think increasing the lights helped as well.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Alright, will do. I've been bit by bit pulling pieces out before I started the treatment, and will continue to do so with the added help of a toothbrush. I removed all the chemical media and put it in a little tupperware; how long should I wait before putting it back in? I have two turbo snails right now, as well as a few other types, and a tailspot blenny that has been munching away. Would you recommend adding more? It's only a 24 gal that's pretty full with rock and the two turbos have been knocking my corals around like crazy.

I belive it’s 21 days for most. I think the meds are mostly gone before that. But that’s the basic time frame.

The turbans and ninja are bit less bull dozer , I also buy the smallest turbos I can find.
They did train me on how to glue frags better. Lol.

The tail spot should do very well for you though.

Oh and ind go ahead and Todd the old chem media. It’s just gonna get funky.

A fwiw. There are a dozen algaes that get called GHA, so the time frame and effectiveness of the med will vary. One of my gha died after 14 , one never did.
But it wiped out my bryopsis in 7.

 

[Ocean Lotion]

My 75 was infested with gha. It did take about 2 weeks to see it really start to die off. The gha in shaded areas was least affected by the treatment. If you read the entire massive fluconazole thread you will see that it is best killed off when well lit. The second time I treated as not all was killed off the first time I added extra lights pointing everywhere. No doubt light is part of the treatment.
No carbon
Lots of light
Figure a month before a water change if your tank will go that long w/o one.
Then see where you are at. If you will have to treat again do water changes, run carbon and get tank in tip top shape to do another treatment.
Watching gha algae die is one of the greatest parts of life!!!