That's strange. I believe I have always left the skimmer off for the first three days, per the directions. Either way, I have done it a handful of times and always followed the directions with no negative side effects.
Yeah, it was really strange. I think this rock in my tank was treated with something. Not sure.
Check it out:
Fluconazole Tx
STARTED Fluconazole- 1 pill (200mg) per 10/G
10/11/22 0105- Start date
10/13/22 Not much visual change at 48 hrs. Some snails have brown dying algae on their shells.
Same observation at 56 hrs. Not much visual changes like I observed in the last tank. Although I did have much more light in the last tank which definitely played a role.
72 hrs later (10/14/22) 0105
Not much change other than what’s noted above. The longer GHA has turned brown. The Bryopsis is becoming slightly white/grey on the tips. Rock work appears slightly cleaner. Skimmer remains off. Will likely turn it back on this morning. Will keep the Carbon out until treatment is completed. Overall, much slower process this time due to less intense light. Alkalinity slowly climbing. Nutrients are fairly stable. I did ramp down a lot initially, but I’ve had to increase PO4 to keep it in the target range. Nitrate has come down slowly and did not elevate surprisingly. Corals, inverts, fish, sponge, pods, LPS, Acro’s, etc…all doing well. I have noticed a slight decrease in PE on a few Acro’s, but others do not seem to be effected.
10/15/22 Major decrease in PE. Bryopsis is starting to become lighter and some has already melted away. Corals look unhappy. No color loss, but definitely very little PE now. GHA also turning brown in several places.
10/16/22 Still very little PE. Some corals are becoming slightly pale. Algae continues to die and turn brown. Bryopsis and the longer GHA melts away first. The turf is more stubborn, but is turning brown in a lot of area’s. Some is still green. Alkalinity seems to have leveled out now. Nutrients starting to elevate due to the algae dying more rapidly now. I’ve needed to bump my PO4 down. NO3 may be next.
10/17/22 Algae on back glass and overflow box is completely dead. All Bryopsis patches are melted. Most of the Turf algae on bottom of tank is turning brown and 1/2 is dead. Several corals have lost color and are fading significantly. PE is gone. Corals honestly looking pretty bad. Some almost look dry. I’m a little nervous at this point, but I want all the algae dead.
10/19/22 RR Firecracker and a few other Acro’s are looking really pale. No PE. The Firecracker is pretty much white, but alive. All the Acro’s except for a few have browned-out pretty bad. I’m assuming because all of the dying algae. I’ve stayed on top of nutrient testing and ALK. Will be making water change water and getting carbon ready today. If any corals STN/RTN I will terminate treatment immediately. Honestly, it’s not looking good in there, but I want to kill as much algae as possible and prevent Bryopsis from coming back. That was the primary goal as it spreads like wild fire. Dino’s continue to enjoy the instability and have formed mats near the front glass. Nothing on the rocks, snails, or Wavemaker cords. pH remains high, with no changes. Nutrients are starting to stabilize and I’ve bumped my PO4 dose down by .08 ppm. Nitrate dose remains the same. For some reason NO3 never really elevated much.
10/20/22 1445 STOPPED Fluconazole- (Started Carbon) due to how horrible the Acro’s look. Zero PE. Most look very pale, dry, and almost like they’re about to STN/RTN. Will do a water change tonight. I do not see any Bryopsis left. Hopefully 9 days was enough to kill it all- everywhere. I think this treatment was more effective than the last (3 yrs ago), because I did keep the skimmer completely off for a full 3 days initially. The only algae still alive in the tank after 9 days is the turf algae on bottom (but that is getting really thin), and a few very small patches up top. 2300- Performed 20% Water Change (Red Sea Blue Bucket) 1.026 - temp 78. Corals still look like crap with no PE. Hopefully they don’t die in the morning.
10/21/22 Performed 10% water change. Corals look like crap.
10/22/22 Performed 20% water change. Corals look like crap.
10/23/22 Corals looking slightly better. PE is starting to peak out on a few Acro’s. Tank seems to have stabilized. Will wait 3 days and continue to flush the system. Then send ICP 48 hrs after last water change, and start loading the elements again. CAL tested at 370. Mag tested at 1200. Dosed up. Shocked they were that low. Last ICP had CAL at 436, and MAG at 1383.
10/24/22 Sadly lost the CC Voodoo Magic (RTN) this early am. Other corals looking better, but not by much. Will probably loose 5-6 more corals judging by how bad some look. We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks.
10/29/22 So far only the Voodoo Magic checked out which I have a backup for. Tank is has recovered and several corals regaining color. Of course Dino’s blew up due to the water change’s (I assume iron in the salt), and the destabilizing event of the water change itself, but I had no choice. UV back on at night and lighting reduced to 10 hrs with less white. Still not very hopeful for 3-4 corals. Hopefully they will make it. We will see.
11/1/22 Corals continue to look better. More color and PE. Haven’t lost any others.
11/02/22 Corals coloring up and even the 4 that were the most effected are looking a little better and starting to color up slightly. Haven’t lost any others.
11/04/22 PE keeps increasing. Colors come continue to get better. Even the 4 most effected are continuing to color up. Corrections were made and the tank is back to healthy.
11/05/22 It appears that the tank and corals have fully recovered. Color is still coming back on the 4 bad ones, but I’m confident I won’t have any other losses. So I only lost the Voodoo Magic during this event.
Should still be effective. 
