peiloy3196
New member
So its been an all out war for me with Bryopsis. Kent worked the first time. After a couple of months the Bryopsis returned. This time the kent did nothing. I got all the way up to 3000 with my mag and held it for weeks. All that it killed was my snails. Since then I have thrown everything at it. Low nutrients (To the point of my SPS's starting to bleach), high salinity, manual removal, Hydrogen Peroxide dosing in the tank, Hydrogen Peroxide Spot dosing in tank, Hydrogen Peroxide Kalk Slurry spot dosing. Nothing phased it and I now had a SW Planted Aquarium. This stuff was everywhere, covered all rock, sand, powerheads, returns and overflow. As a last effort I pulled every rock and sprayed with straight 9% hydrogen peroxide. It all died off and I thought that I won the battle. Two weeks later it came back on all of the rock and sand. I was ready to break down and then read about Fluconazole on another website. I figure what do I have to lose at this point and followed the instructions. Experiences that I found online were limited to a handful of websites in another language which I ran a google translator to understand. Well I am on the last day of the treatment and all Bryopsis has disappeared with no losses of fish or SPS. The true test is to see if it comes back. I don't know if everyone will have the same results that I have had as there is soo little information about it. So if you are going to try please know that there is a risk! I also don't know if it will work long term, but I will update later on.
So this is the method that I used: Fluconazole is a fungus medication and I used a generic named Forcan. On the websites I found two different dosages. One was 9mg/Liter and the other was 150 mg per 30 Liters. As there was so little documentation I erred on the side of caution and used the lower amount of 150 mg per 30 Liters. From what I read it works by blocking the synthesis of ergosterol as explained by Jose Mayo on the websites that I found who I think was the originator of this method. I don't even know what ergosterol is lol, so if anyone who understands this can chime in it would be helpful.
Day 1: I removed all activated Carbon. Removed GFO. Removed my skimmer cup, but kept the skimmer running to keep the water oxygenated. My lights consist of a Super Actinic Reef BML Strip, Four Sets of T5's (2 X Actinic, 1 X Coral Plus, 1 X Blue Plus), and Three 250 W MH Radiums. What I read is that the UV spectrum could break down the medication so I shut off all Led's and T5's. The only lighting I ran for the 15 Days was my Radiums for Six Hours a Day. I dont have a UV but from what I understand if you do it should be shut off. With the dosage of 150 mg / 30 Liters my 250 Gallon system worked out to 32 150mg Tablets. Now the 250 Gallon is not tank and sump volume but rather what I calculated my water volume to be after I catered for rock and sand displacement. I opened each capsule and put the contents of all 32 into a cup. I then mixed this with RO water to dissolve and pored into my sump. I monitored for any adverse reactions with my fish and coral but there were none. Truth be told my SPS had already taken a beating from all the Hydrogen Peroxide and Low Nutrients so I am not sure if they could have looked any worse.
Days 2-4: I did not notice much change but the Bryopsis also was not growing anymore. I also noticed that my tangs and Angels were more interested in picking at the rocks.
Days 5-14: The bryopsis started thinning out. It lost its feathery appearance and became single strands that were light green. I am not sure if they disappeared on their own at this point or were eaten by my fish which as the time went on picked more and more at the rocks. I also had reduced my feeding during the whole 15 Day period feeding every other day. Over this period I actually noticed my SPS starting to rebound, but I imagine that will be a long path to recovery.
Day 15: With all bryopsis gone in the main tank and noticing a few strands in the overflow I did a 20% water change and cleaned out my overflow sterilizing it with Hydrogen Peroxide. I turned back on my carbon and GFO. I also turned back on my T5's and LED's but only have them at 10% (My T5's are dimmable). I will be ramping them back up to full intensity over time as I do not want to light shock the SPS.
Things to Note:
1) I just finished this treatment, so only time will tell if the Bryopsis will return.
2) My Magnesium and Salinity were still high (2900 and 1.029) from previous Bryopsis eradication attempts so I don't know if that helped.
3) A few weeks before this treatment I pulled all rock and sprayed with 9% peroxide which knocked the Bryopsis all the way back. At the time of starting the treatment the Bryopsis was growing back in all areas but was still very short compared to the long flowing mass that it was previous to spraying.
I am not sure if my experience with this will help anyone but I am putting it here in case it can. If you are going to try please know is there is little information out there so it could be a risk.
So this is the method that I used: Fluconazole is a fungus medication and I used a generic named Forcan. On the websites I found two different dosages. One was 9mg/Liter and the other was 150 mg per 30 Liters. As there was so little documentation I erred on the side of caution and used the lower amount of 150 mg per 30 Liters. From what I read it works by blocking the synthesis of ergosterol as explained by Jose Mayo on the websites that I found who I think was the originator of this method. I don't even know what ergosterol is lol, so if anyone who understands this can chime in it would be helpful.
Day 1: I removed all activated Carbon. Removed GFO. Removed my skimmer cup, but kept the skimmer running to keep the water oxygenated. My lights consist of a Super Actinic Reef BML Strip, Four Sets of T5's (2 X Actinic, 1 X Coral Plus, 1 X Blue Plus), and Three 250 W MH Radiums. What I read is that the UV spectrum could break down the medication so I shut off all Led's and T5's. The only lighting I ran for the 15 Days was my Radiums for Six Hours a Day. I dont have a UV but from what I understand if you do it should be shut off. With the dosage of 150 mg / 30 Liters my 250 Gallon system worked out to 32 150mg Tablets. Now the 250 Gallon is not tank and sump volume but rather what I calculated my water volume to be after I catered for rock and sand displacement. I opened each capsule and put the contents of all 32 into a cup. I then mixed this with RO water to dissolve and pored into my sump. I monitored for any adverse reactions with my fish and coral but there were none. Truth be told my SPS had already taken a beating from all the Hydrogen Peroxide and Low Nutrients so I am not sure if they could have looked any worse.
Days 2-4: I did not notice much change but the Bryopsis also was not growing anymore. I also noticed that my tangs and Angels were more interested in picking at the rocks.
Days 5-14: The bryopsis started thinning out. It lost its feathery appearance and became single strands that were light green. I am not sure if they disappeared on their own at this point or were eaten by my fish which as the time went on picked more and more at the rocks. I also had reduced my feeding during the whole 15 Day period feeding every other day. Over this period I actually noticed my SPS starting to rebound, but I imagine that will be a long path to recovery.
Day 15: With all bryopsis gone in the main tank and noticing a few strands in the overflow I did a 20% water change and cleaned out my overflow sterilizing it with Hydrogen Peroxide. I turned back on my carbon and GFO. I also turned back on my T5's and LED's but only have them at 10% (My T5's are dimmable). I will be ramping them back up to full intensity over time as I do not want to light shock the SPS.
Things to Note:
1) I just finished this treatment, so only time will tell if the Bryopsis will return.
2) My Magnesium and Salinity were still high (2900 and 1.029) from previous Bryopsis eradication attempts so I don't know if that helped.
3) A few weeks before this treatment I pulled all rock and sprayed with 9% peroxide which knocked the Bryopsis all the way back. At the time of starting the treatment the Bryopsis was growing back in all areas but was still very short compared to the long flowing mass that it was previous to spraying.
I am not sure if my experience with this will help anyone but I am putting it here in case it can. If you are going to try please know is there is little information out there so it could be a risk.
