Brown dinoflagellates in Sps tanks

[Jettareefer]

I've figure out what this brown slime stuff is I've never seen this before,my very sensitive corals are ticked I beleive the Dino's are why it's very minimal but I have noticed they seem to cling to my bird nest and red dragon. Anyone have any tips in getting rid of this killer stuff ?

 

[NeverlosT]

Well, I hope that it is cyano and not dinos. Dino's are much worse.

Cyano you just need to clean up the water, remove the nutrients, Dinos you need to do the same, but black the entire tank out for 2-3 days, run lots of carbon, skim wet, and hope that the issue is licked in one treatment.

A good hint that it is dinos and not cyano is with dinos your snails will be dying from eating them.

good luck

 

[Jettareefer]

I've had cayno many times throughout 10 years, trust me I wish it was. Its stringy and has bubbles connected to it the second I blow it off it comes right back within 10 minutes. To keep my head from exploding I've basting my corals to keep them from getting damaged 2 to 3 times a day. This weekend I'm reducing lights, stop doing water changes, skim heavy, mechanically filter out the dino's through a filter sock then dump the water back in the tank, and reduce feeding. Its really not bad just a little on the sand and few places on the rock. Its interesting you mentioned snails dying there's none in my tank due to my wrasse but my tomini tangs be eating it and is completely fine so I don't know apparently not all dino's are as toxic as others. This is really disappointing I just got this tank locked in and breaking down to quarantine my corals would be awful considering they're all incrusted on the rocks that's a 50% loss right there. Has anyone out there survived without losing all sps's?

I will post pictures as well.

 

[Jettareefer]

I dosed carbon and It only got worse fast I was reading the bacteria causes them to take off in some cases.

 

[Jim Z.]

Hi,

I'm waging war on dino's too. Measure your nitrate and phosphate. In my tank, nitrate is around 5ppm and phosphate is at .07. The phosphate level is too high in my tank so GFO in in use. With a GFO reactor in operation, the dino's are slowly dying out, presumably from reduced levels of phosphates. They are growing back at a slower rate than before GfO. Many dinoflagellate species are designed to survive in fairly low nutrient conditions. I believe that your plan will work, just be patient. Also, the nutrient ecology of a reef tank is complex. When things aren't quite right, less desirable algae tend to exploit these conditions. So get some tests done on your tank and post your results and this will certainly help you out...................Jim

 

[Realposition]

I had the same issue as you in my sps tank, I tried daily siphoning, black outs, lowering nutrients and every other thing people throw out there, lost 50% of my colonies. I broke down and bought a 40w Aqua uv sterilizer and it was literally cleared up in 2 days

 

[kevensquint]

Got rid of this same problem dosing hydrogen peroxide. Water changes make it worse cuz your replenishing silicates.

 

[Jettareefer]

I like the uv idea If you keep it stirred up you could kill the suspended Dino's,although what are the adverse affects on Sps and Uv?

 

[Jettareefer]

What's the sucess rate of dosing hydrogen peroxide? And what's the dosage? A lot of people aren't having any sucess from reading RC and other forums.

 

[Wills612]

I've had success keeping Dino in check running cuprisorb.

 

[Jettareefer]

Wills612:Who makes it?

 

[Wills612]

Seachem

 

[bills tank]

I had a problem with them in my sps tank as well and theywould kill the tips of my birdsnest from getting stuck tto them . I tried everything and nothing worked until a friend said to raise my ph a small amount and bam the next day the dinos were gone and five months now without any sign of return . I dont no if it was the ph being upped or if the dinos just packed up and decided to take thier talents to south beach but they r gone and my tank and birdsnest corals r happy again .

 

[kevensquint]

No side affect with UV, mine did nothing to stop my Dino outbreak though. The H2O2 did the trick. If I remeber it was 1ml/10 gallons at 3%, but google that to be sure, it was a while ago. It took a week to win the battle, no issues.

 

[Jettareefer]

Kevens: did you do a black out or just H202?

Willis612: I'll look into that thanks!

Bills tank: how high did you raise your ph ? And did you used kalk?

 

[kevensquint]

No blackout, just H2O2, I found out this idea by searches here in RC, many others have done this.

 

[Jettareefer]

Did your Sps stay happy during the treatment?

 

[swk]

I dosed 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gal of actual water volume. After 10 days it was cleared up and has yet to return 4-5 months later.

As others have said, no water changes during the treatment. A blackout at the beginning in conjunction with the h2o2 is a good place to start.

All corals, CUC, fish and shrimp showed no signs of stress during the course of treatment. My macroalgae took a little bit of a hit, but did survive.

This hasn't work for everyone and there are many different kinds of dinos, some of which are harder to conquer than others. Good luck with whatever route you choose

 

[Jettareefer]

You do that dosage daily ? Any particular way of introducing it to the tank?I have about 65 gallon so I would do 6.5 ml a day until its gone ?

 

[epon]

Had dinos as well and dose the 1ml per 10g into the overflow, ****es off the palys for about 5 mins and everything thing else doesnt flinch. Pretty much wipes them out. Been doing it once daily for months because I hate them so much and nothing important seems to mind. figure the actual water capacity after rock.