Jestersix

Algae Identification and Solution?

B the Nano Reefer

B the Nano Reefer

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So, I had been running my nano without any live rock for 3+ years. The tank was home to two very large chalice colonies and a bunch of other corals. Other than a brief bout with GHA which was quickly dealt with by a single pithos (this was several months ago) I’ve never had any issues at all with nuisance algae in the tank.

The colonies have since been rehomed. Added some live rock (about 10lbs) that I had in a bucket for several months with a powerhead. Since the addition of the live rock, I’m starting to get some green algae, not GHA, maybe bryopsis on the rocks and sand? Looks like it could have hitch hiked on some snail shells. Would rather try to deal with this now while it’s light, than for it to become a more serious issue.

Any help with identification and a solution would be helpful. Sorry, not the greatest pics.

Current tank inhabitants are a pair of clowns, cleaner shrimp, fire/blood shrimp, couple peppermint shrimp, LPS, a couple clams, and assorted snails.
 

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Looks like the bryopsis I had.

Reef flux/fluconazole is your solution. I can give you a couple capsules at the swap, but i don’t have enough for a large tank.

Some claim that sea hares will eat it, but my experience is they’ll eat around it.
 
tribbitt said:
Looks like the bryopsis I had.

Reef flux/fluconazole is your solution. I can give you a couple capsules at the swap, but i don’t have enough for a large tank.

Some claim that sea hares will eat it, but my experience is they’ll eat around it.
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Thanks. Thought so. Happy to pay for a few capsules but you’re gonna have to walk me through how to do the treatment.

Any concerns with an in-tank treatment considering the livestock I have?

Any difference between reef flux and fluxrx?
 
B the Nano Reefer said:
Thanks. Thought so. Happy to pay for a few capsules but you’re gonna have to walk me through how to do the treatment.

Any concerns with an in-tank treatment considering the livestock I have?
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If you have desirable macroalgae, it may cause them to die or stop growing, but at the time I used it I didn't have any. Maybe other members can chime in with their experiences using flux, but I had minimal side effects
 
Arvin R said:
I've used reef flux a few times and have not had any coral loss any time. I just followed the directions on the packaging.
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Thanks. Ordered some, should be here this week. I don’t have much, so hopefully it’s successful at getting rid of this stuff before it gets worse, without impacting my torches and hammers

@tribbitt appreciate the offer of a few capsules nonetheless
 
FluxRX is the same active ingredient, fluconazole, and it's working great for me. It comes in a powder form rather than a capsule, which makes dosing small tanks a little easier IMO. No loss of any fish, corals, or inverts (I have shrimp and snails too - no deaths/weird behavior), just the bryopsis melting away. It's easy! I was trying to manage it the hard way (frequent manual plucking) and that was super ineffective for me - it just grows back even faster the next time. You are doing the right thing by identifying and treating it before it got as bad as my tank did.

Unfortunately I can also confirm that a sea hare will not touch the stuff :( Or at least, mine wouldn't. None of my cleaning crew like it.
 
Fluconazole treatment:

20 mg/gallon (1 200 mg capsule per 10 gallons)

Water change before treatment
Manually remove as much as possible

Remove from capsule
Pre-dissolve in water, add to tank or sump
(Some say add directly to high flow without pre-dissolving)
1-time dose

Skimmer off for 3 days
Carbon reactor off for 14 days
UV left on or off

I see you ordered some but I have extra if you need it and I’m local to you. Call me if you’d like to discuss more.

I’ve not had problems with it killing desirable macroalgae or other inhabitants.
 
JVU said:
Fluconazole treatment:

20 mg/gallon (1 200 mg capsule per 10 gallons)

Water change before treatment
Manually remove as much as possible

Remove from capsule
Pre-dissolve in water, add to tank or sump
(Some say add directly to high flow without pre-dissolving)
1-time dose

Skimmer off for 3 days
Carbon reactor off for 14 days
UV left on or off

I see you ordered some but I have extra if you need it and I’m local to you. Call me if you’d like to discuss more.

I’ve not had problems with it killing desirable macroalgae or other inhabitants.
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Super helpful and I appreciate the offer. No skimmer, reactor or UV so that part is easy. I’ll pull my bag of chemipure during the treatment.

Do you pre-dissolve? And are you pre-dissolving in a small cup of tank water?

When is it recommended to do the first water change post-treatment? And is it necessary to run carbon at some point post-treatment to get this stuff out of the water eventually?
 
B the Nano Reefer said:
Thanks. Ordered some, should be here this week. I don’t have much, so hopefully it’s successful at getting rid of this stuff before it gets worse, without impacting my torches and hammers

@tribbitt appreciate the offer of a few capsules nonetheless
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I have a couple extra like I said, but it's pretty potent, with a nano I don't think you'll need it if you ordered some for yourself.

I opened the little capsule, put it in a little sealed container and shook it to emulsify with tank water before adding. That way it doesn't float on the surface

You will need carbon or water changes to remove it. The bryopsis will turn white and melt away, once that happened for me I waited an extra week and then water change + carbon

Just because it felt incomplete (and because of the fenbenzadole rec in another post) I feel obligated to say that the research is incomplete on this (and many other) additive(s). Anecdotally it's safe, one of Reef Beef's expert guests talked about these additives (specifically mentioned flux a few times) saying that they have wide-ranging effects on a plethora of organisms, pretty much saying "it's not great for many living things". Flux in particular was designed for killing fungus by ruining their cell walls, but it also works on other organisms, one of which is bryopsis.
 
B the Nano Reefer said:
Super helpful and I appreciate the offer. No skimmer, reactor or UV so that part is easy. I’ll pull my bag of chemipure during the treatment.

Do you pre-dissolve? And are you pre-dissolving in a small cup of tank water?

When is it recommended to do the first water change post-treatment? And is it necessary to run carbon at some point post-treatment to get this stuff out of the water eventually?
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I pre-dissolve it as much as I can. It doesn’t dissolve very easily so after a few rounds of tank water, stirring, adding in, more tank water, I dump the rest in.

Instructions say to do a water change and add back carbon (if using) after 14 days. Carbon is thought to remove it, but I’ve not seen that actually demonstrated. I don’t think there’s a downside to not actively removing it, it’ll be water-changed out or break down eventually.
 
One other personal experience to add is that it can take 2 to 3 weeks to see the bryopsis die off. I've also heard of cases where multiple treatments were needed depending on how bad of an outbreak. Manually removal before hand of as much as possible definitely helps with the effectiveness.
 
Arvin R said:
One other personal experience to add is that it can take 2 to 3 weeks to see the bryopsis die off. I've also heard of cases where multiple treatments were needed depending on how bad of an outbreak. Manually removal before hand of as much as possible definitely helps with the effectiveness.
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Thanks @JVU

@Arvin R , I’m barely seeing the beginning of this stuff popping up. Enough where I can tell untreated it’ll likely get outta hand, but not enough where manual removal would really be possible since it’s so short and sparse. Hopefully one treatment can do the trick
 
JVU said:
I pre-dissolve it as much as I can. It doesn’t dissolve very easily so after a few rounds of tank water, stirring, adding in, more tank water, I dump the rest in.

Instructions say to do a water change and add back carbon (if using) after 14 days. Carbon is thought to remove it, but I’ve not seen that actually demonstrated. I don’t think there’s a downside to not actively removing it, it’ll be water-changed out or break down eventually.
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What's your take on the medical implications of fenbenzadole being used in aquariums and eventually getting dumped into a drain? I ask in relationship to similar to the use of Cipro and antibiotics.

Eg is it dangerous to do a smaller dose, building resistant things in the aquarium? Are we building super bugs and screwing up the medical industry?

With antibiotics I have a vague understanding of the concerns with being cavalier about it, for both the tank and us humans. I'm not clear if fenbenzadole has any similar things we should consider.

My experience is it works well against some forms of algae. I've always done the recommended dose, and a subsequent _top-off_ dose. I've had success even when I forgot to remove my bag of carbon from my frag tank, so I also am unclear if carbon actually does anything to it.

I've had no major noticeable negatives, and in fact I've seen gonis take off after using it. Much higher extension. I'm not sure how to say why, outside of the possibility there might have been some algae on the goni that got killed off. I have had chaeto issues correlated with use of it though, so be mindful of that.

The instructions say stop collecting skimmate, remove carbon, don't water change, might affect macros, blah blah. Pretty much saying all the stuff we use for nutrient removal is temporarily disabled AND you're then adding more nutrients by killing algae. Important to be aware of that and watch out if things go sideways.
 
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