Fluconazole VS. Bryopsis Discussion Thread

[GoFish]

Another member (Thanks Dearth) posted a link to another forum discussing the use use of an Anti-Fungal fish medication called Fluconazole to kill Bryopsis algae. It has been an ugly battle for many years in the hobby, not won by many. People used to raise their Magnesium levels with Kent Tech-M to 1600 and higher, but since they must've changed their recipe it no longer seems to have an effect. I've tried it 4 times without success

Fluconazole comes with several different trade names and packaging. The gel capsules are not used in the treatment, they are emptied into tank water and dissolved the best you can (it won't completely dissolve apparently)
Heres an example of the medication.


And heres and example of what it can do to Bryopsis in 8 Days

Day 1.....Day 5....Day 8

The above tank was dosed with 20mg per 1 gallon of tank water (5mg/L). Only one time with no other changes to the tank. Theres a little bit more algae there in the last photo but this is a current treatment and should be completely gone in another day or 2. Another dosing rate has been mentioned @ 9mg/L with success as well but doesnt look like you need that much based on these photos ^^^

i don't know of any source in Canada that sells this product without a prescription, but hopefully one day and more time and tests are done that your local fish store may begin to carry it. It can be purchased currently online in the US and shipped here though. Personal experience anyways, no guarantees Canada Customs will continue to allow this...

Discuss if you must.
If you try it please share your results!
And please do your research first beyond this thread! This is a place to discuss, I'm not telling anyone they SHOULD try this. But if you have Bryopsis and would like to get rid of it, this looks very promising....amazing

[tang daddy]

Originally Posted by GoFish

Another member (Thanks Dearth) posted a link to another forum discussing the use use of an Anti-Fungal fish medication called Fluconazole to kill Bryopsis algae. It has been an ugly battle for many years in the hobby, not won by many. People used to raise their Magnesium levels with Kent Tech-M to 1600 and higher, but since they must've changed their recipe it no longer seems to have an effect. I've tried it 4 times without success

Fluconazole comes with several different trade names and packaging. The gel capsules are not used in the treatment, they are emptied into tank water and dissolved the best you can (it won't completely dissolve apparently)
Heres an example of the medication.


And heres and example of what it can do to Bryopsis in 8 Days

Day 1.....Day 5....Day 8

The above tank was dosed with 20mg per 1 gallon of tank water (5mg/L). Only one time with no other changes to the tank. Theres a little bit more algae there in the last photo but this is a current treatment and should be completely gone in another day or 2. Another dosing rate has been mentioned @ 9mg/L with success as well but doesnt look like you need that much based on these photos ^^^

i don't know of any source in Canada that sells this product without a prescription, but hopefully one day and more time and tests are done that your local fish store may begin to carry it. It can be purchased currently online in the US and shipped here though. Personal experience anyways, no guarantees Canada Customs will continue to allow this...

Discuss if you must.
If you try it please share your results!
And please do your research first beyond this thread! This is a place to discuss, I'm not telling anyone they SHOULD try this. But if you have Bryopsis and would like to get rid of it, this looks very promising....amazing

Is that just one dose and wait 8 days?

[GoFish]

Yes, one dose and no ill effects

[GoFish]

And for ease of reference. More info can be found here...
My battle with Bryopsis...


Example of successful treatment...
Day 1

Day 10

[Delphinus]

Simply astonishing. I'm definitely on board to try this on my own tank.

But I assume I have to rehome my chaeto first. I know there was some mention of maybe macros being safe in the linked-to threads but I don't recall seeing anything too definitive (I might have overlooked it and it's been a few days since I checked in on those threads, but honestly it stands to reason that if you're going after algae that "other algaes" might become collateral damage..).

[rockworm]

I am now at day 4 after dosing fluconazole and it has not affected the caulerpa that I have in my sump. It also does not affect the green algae film that grows on the glass. (bummer)

I posted a couple of pictures in the 'Interesting Read' thread: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...0&postcount=12

The bryopsis was white yesterday and today it is literally disintegrating. Vibrant and now fluconazole seem to be two significant products for our reef systems. The only unknown, at this point, is the long term effects on corals, fish and inverts.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Simply astonishing. I'm definitely on board to try this on my own tank.

But I assume I have to rehome my chaeto first. I know there was some mention of maybe macros being safe in the linked-to threads but I don't recall seeing anything too definitive (I might have overlooked it and it's been a few days since I checked in on those threads, but honestly it stands to reason that if you're going after algae that "other algaes" might become collateral damage..).

[kengeroo]

Started does this afternoon ... so far so good .. fish,coral,shrimp,starfish,nudis all okay. ..

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

[gregzz4]

Not meaning to derail this thread, but has anyone with a bryopsis/valonia issue tried raising nitrates?
I found by doing so the 'whatever' bacteria started consuming 'whatever' and my phosphates dropped ... to the point where I had to start over-feeding my fish to keep levels up enough for my corals.
I've since taken both my carbon and gfo reactors offline and still have nearly no algae - to the point where it's not worth my time to scrape the glass anymore.

I started with 0 NO3 and 0.09 PO4.
I dosed 5mls Seachem Nitrogen liquid for 3 days. NO3 rose too fast to 10. Then PO4 dropped to 0.03. Corals started some STN. Stopped dosing and waited a few days. On and on it went.
Finally found a balance and now test PO4 and NO3 weekly to adjust Nitrogen dosing - which has lately been only once a week instead of daily.

[GoFish]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Not meaning to derail this thread, but has anyone with a bryopsis/valonia issue tried raising nitrates?
I found by doing so the 'whatever' bacteria started consuming 'whatever' and my phosphates dropped ... to the point where I had to start over-feeding my fish to keep levels up enough for my corals.
I've since taken both my carbon and gfo reactors offline and still have nearly no algae - to the point where it's not worth my time to scrape the glass anymore.

I started with 0 NO3 and 0.09 PO4.
I dosed 5mls Seachem Nitrogen liquid for 3 days. NO3 rose too fast to 10. Then PO4 dropped to 0.03. Corals started some STN. Stopped dosing and waited a few days. On and on it went.
Finally found a balance and now test PO4 and NO3 weekly to adjust Nitrogen dosing - which has lately been only once a week instead of daily.

Hmmm good to know that higher NO3 can have an effect on algae. I would think over the years that someone would've noticed a relation to higher NO3 = no Bryopsis in 10 days.
I asked someone last week what kind of algae they had. The answer was "the devil".... after googling "devil algae" came up with nothing, turns out he was referring to Bryopsis, this stuff is nasty nate

Ever had it?

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by GoFish

Ever had it?

Ya, I had it clogging up my overflow in my previous tank. Wish I'd known about the NO3/PO4 relationship back then!