Fluconazole/Vibrant/dosing vs. hair algae!

[thrillreefer]

So here’s the setup: EVO 13.5 about 2 months old but I used old LR from a tank that had high phosphates in the past (and GHA) issues. Probably should have cooked it longer but, I didn’t. GHA and more feathery looking algae started within a few weeks (before any fish or feeding) and now is getting fierce. Corals are happy but it’s only a matter of time before they get bothered or overrun, and weekly changes aren’t cutting it.

I have one occelaris, fed about 1/10th frozen cube per day, RODI for topoffs and changes reads no phosphate (although TDS is creeping up so probably will get new filters and membrane soon). So my best guess is the rock is leaching phosphate and/or nitrate. Yes, I should just ditch it for clean rock, but it’s got good shapes and biodiversity and is all set up. Hard to aquascape such a silly small tank. Plus I’m stubborn. So I’m giving fluconazole a shot. Reef Flux is the brand I’m using. Maybe it’s partly an early tank phase, but given the super old rock, I went ahead and dosed it.

300 mg fluconazole into probably 12 gal of water so roughly 25 mg/gal. (The scientist in me cringes at this unit...) Ok, 6.6 mg/L. Much better. Kinda thought it would be fun to take pics and observations over the next 4 weeks or so as the fluconazole (hopefully) works it’s magic!

Here’s FTS at T-0 for baseline, after a 35% water change to remove some of the longest strings. EVO has stock light and pump for now, with floss and GFO in chamber 1, and a chaeto refugium mod in chamber 2. (Dosed 7/27 at 12AM)

There’s softer more typical GHA, some slightly tougher feathery stuff (probably Bryopsis) and very stiff wiry turf type algae, so I’m curious to see how they all fare! My understanding is chaeto and red gracilaria shouldn’t be bothered. Here goes!

 

[ileas]

trying this as well will update you. Waiting for it to come in the mail

 

[thrillreefer]

Cool, we can compare notes.

Algae looks about the same. Only observation is that I haven’t seen my green toadstool open since I treated. Could be coincidental, got a bit hot yesterday (82F) after the room AC got switched off...

 

[ileas]

yea i have think clumpy hair algae and vibrant isn't doing it anymore

 

[thrillreefer]

Bummer. BRS video makes it look so promising! Maybe I’ll have to try that next

 

[ileas]

Bummer. BRS video makes it look so promising! Maybe I’ll have to try that next

it worked for a lil bit but then the algae i had morphed sort of

 

[Lurchin]

yea i have think clumpy hair algae and vibrant isn't doing it anymore

I had thick GHA all over my rocks and back wall. I dosed Vibrant weekly for about 6-8 weeks in a 75 gal, and I am finally rid of all hair algae. Never thought it would completely clear up, my IME.

 

[thrillreefer]

The more I read about Vibrant, the more interested I become in trying it! But, I’m a week into the fluconazole treatment so I’ll give that a few more weeks.

1 week post dosing
GHA still growing strong and manual removal is not easier, maybe a bit more brownish and perhaps growth is a little slower than last week. But any effects have been subtle at best.

Finally made it to Love the Reef, great store! Picked up some clean up crew to help in the battle: some blue legs, a couple nassarius and a couple small turbos. Also grabbed a firefish that caught my kids’ eye. After some chasing by the clown, everybody has calmed down and firefish is eating, seems happy. Guess I’ll keep waiting and maybe pick up some Vibrant.

 

[Terry Martin]

my experience is that vibrant was useless; my only success is driving nutrients way down

 

[thrillreefer]

For sure it’s the most important strategy. But I’m doing that with water changes, filter floss, GFO and chaeto. So I’m just looking for that extra edge.

 

[thrillreefer]

Also if I do actually have Bryopsis, from what I’ve read, low nutrients usually aren’t that effective on their own once it gets established. So I’m really just hoping the GHA is collateral damage of the treatment.

 

[ileas]

just added mine in yesterday. I read on it you can double the dosage for faster results so i said the hell with it and used all 20 capsules

 

[thrillreefer]

just added mine in yesterday. I read on it you can double the dosage for faster results so i said the hell with it and used all 20 capsules

Hah. What size is your tank?

 

[ileas]

Hah. What size is your tank?

125 display with a 40 breeder sump so about 155 160 gals total

 

[thrillreefer]

Cool so ~25 mg/gal or 6.6 mg/L, similar dose to me. Good luck! Got a before photo?

 

[Chris A.]

I’ve used it before at 4x the recommended dose to treat bubble algae. I didn’t have to clean my glass the whole time I treated the tank. GHA and the green slime you see on the rocks disappeared in a weeks time for me.

 

[ileas]

Cool so ~25 mg/gal or 6.6 mg/L, similar dose to me. Good luck! Got a before photo?

ill take one yea. Most of it is stuck in the sand

 

[thrillreefer]

I’ve used it before at 4x the recommended dose to treat bubble algae. I didn’t have to clean my glass the whole time I treated the tank. GHA and the green slime you see on the rocks disappeared in a weeks time for me.

Ooh that’s interesting, I was wondering about dosage. I have plenty more so maybe I’ll double it for week 2.

 

[thrillreefer]

Alright, you inspired me! I doubled the dose to 50 mg/gal (13 mg/L). Also dropped the photoperiod to 8 hrs from 11 during the week. Tank gets some daylight this time of year.

Params:
1.025, 79F, ph 8.3, Alk 8.5, Ca 500 (probably not true), NO3 and PO4 not detected, with the caveat that all my tests are expired so who knows. Probably should get new kits or make up some standards to calibrate against.

 

[Lizbeli]

Interested in how this goes for you. Ill be starting an algae scrubber this week to fight algae in my display. My corals look good and are growing including a handful of acros. But this algae is so ugly. If my scrubber doesn’t work in the next couple months, ill be going with some sort of treatment like this.