Hello guys
My name is Jose Mayo, MD, I live in Brazil and I am part of ReefClub, a good Brazilian site for marine aquarism. It was mine, in 2014, the first account of fluconazole's action on problematic marine algae, especially bryopsis and derbesia, which infested my marine tank. I also carried out the first research on the mechanism of action of fluconazole in these algae and developed the first protocols of treatments that proved to be effective. Since then I have sought to disseminate these observations as much as possible, for the pleasure of watching many aquarist colleagues solve their problems with difficult algae. Sincerely congratulations for the excellent work of disseminating your results on the use of fluconazole in the control of bryopsis and green hair algae; simply amazing!
Some years ago, more specifically in 2013 and still on the IPAq website, I started a long battle in a series of endless discussions about a personal observation during the treatment of a clown fish of mine that was with signs of fungus, and in an attempt of treatment I made use of some FLUCONAZOL capsules that I had at home, brand ZOLTEC, original mark of Pfizer lab, received from a propagandist, since in civil life I am a doctor.
As it had no hospital aquarium or quarantine, and since the fauna was limited to a couple of A. ocellaris, a Bodianus rufus, some pagurus and turbo snails, and some soft corals (kenias and anemones, basically), I simply dismantled the capsule of 150 mg of Zoltec / FLUCONAZOLE on the same display and I was observing the results.
Fish and other aquarium animals, including amphipods and copepods, felt nothing. The ocellaris fungus was controlled and ... something very strange happened; I cleaned the glass of the aquarium with the frequency of an enthusiastic beginner, and to my amazement, after applying FLUCONAZOL, the algae slimes of the glass simply did not accumulate and I came to realize that the stones and substrate, including some filamentous, also began to disappear ...
I reported the observation in the IPAq and began to research on the subject in order to understand why FLUCONAZOL had this effect and, not without some effort, I discovered that some PRIMITIVE ALGAE, among them Chlorophytes (glass algae), Derbésia , Bryopsis, Caulerpa, Codó, Halimeda and Ulva lactuca (sea lettuce), contained in their cell walls a structural lipid (fat) called ERGOSTEROL, also present in the cell walls of ALL FUNGI and which is precisely the target of attack of FLUCONAZOL , whose mechanism of action is, precisely, to block the enzymes that work in the elaboration of this lipid. Without ERGOSTEROL, the cell wall of the species containing it is weakened, and the organism, thus having diminished defenses, yields to the environment and dies. In ANIMALS IN GENERAL, from protozoan to whale, the predominant mebran lipid is CHOLESTEROL and that FLUCONAZOL does not block. The structural lipid of ZOOXANTHELAS is DINOSTEROL, which is also not blocked by FLUCONAZOL.
I also reported on these facts and discussed them (always in a good way), pretending that some would be enthusiastic, like me, and also try to experiment, since there was nothing in the aquaristic literature that referred to a drug that was CAPABLE OF AFFECTING ALGAE WITHOUT INTERFERING IN THE OTHER BIOTA OF THE AQUARIUM, being therefore REEF SAFE, and that could help the aquarists in the control of DIFFICULT ALGAE, if it were to confirm good results ... what you do now!
Keep up the good work!
Thank you all!
