check this out....i have dinoflagellates

[Serioussnaps]

Check this out...i have dinoflagellates
After moving my tank and letting it settle for 5 weeks I noticed a brown algae like growth which was unexplainable due NO3 being 0 and P04 being 0....i have great export...weekly 15% WC's, ASM G3 on a 55g, a refugium with chaeto growing very well, unbelievable amounts of flow etc..etc...etc...my feeding is very light and i use RO/DI...

I suspected i had silicates, knew it wasnt cyano or any common algae i have seen before so i researched.....

It started as a slight brown algae, that grew rust colored and formed air bubles in it and also started to form blood colored strings off of it...disgusting...anyways i basted it and toothbrushed it off the rock and the back wall daily only to see it come back with a vengeance...kept doing wc's and testing all results 0 and it kept coming....

did research today....undoubtedly DINOFLAGELLATES

WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THESE? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ERADICATE THEM? ANYONE ELSE GO THROUGHT THIS...I HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM

I am sure it is due to the tank move and some silicates in the water.....

Here is my plan: lights off for 3 days(they need light to live), no feeding of the fish......keep everything like skimmer cranked up....lots of carbon and polyfilters.....and i will begin dosing kalk again this week to keep the ph high and precipitate any phosphates(i think test kits for phosphates are highly inaccurate and hard to read)
by starving them of a photoperiod(there are no corals in the tank yet i sold all my others off prior to move and start an Acro tank)and with great exportation i think they will die off with no ill effects on the system(definitely not on my fish)

I also am ordering ROWA this week as a safety net even though i am testing out at 0's.

I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE ANY INPUT ON THIS SUBJECT FROM YOU IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING OR EVER DEALT WITH DINO'S

a big bummer after spending a couple grand getting the tank right for SPS and now this!

 

[Serioussnaps]

FUNNY THIS IS POSTED IN ANOTHER SIMILAR FORUMN AND ITS POPPING BUT IN HERE NO POSTS OH WELL ITS UNDER REEF DISCUSSION FOR THOSE INTERESTED

 

[Fitz]

Keep doing what you're doing-it'll take a while to get them under control. Dinos thrive on lots of organic waste, so heavy skimming, frequent water changes, etc. etc. are the rule for eliminating them once they start.

Like all things, though-don't treat the symptom, treat the cause. One of the things you should be doing is racking your brain to figure out where the organics are coming from-dying or dead livestock is the usual culprit, but too much detritus that's accumulated in rock crevices can certainly exacerbate the situation.

HTH-

Fitz

 

[Fitz]

By the way, change one big thing at at time-don't start adding 3 new filter medias, etc.-otherwise you won't know what worked and when. Keeping your photoperiod to a minimum might help but it won't eradicate dinoflagellates. Like I said, the only thing that will is removing organics from your water.

If you have a really tough time despite going balls out with water changes, etc., you can consider adding ozone. That will help because it'll help your skimmer pull more organics out of the water-

Fitz

 

[Jecco]

I fought the battle for a year. The only way I got rid of them was scrub everything in the tank in freshwater, run bleach through the main tank, and restart. They are a !@#$% to get rid of.

 

[KH971]

I got them myself and I am in the process of trying to get rid of them. I heard raising your tank PH helps.

 

[Jecco]

Be careful on how you raise your pH. If you're using Kalk make sure you clean you pumps regularly, because the Ca will precipitate and stop them up. It will cause them to explode. The good thing is the explosion will kill the dino's, the bad thing is it will kill everything in tank. As you can tell I speak from experience, thus the restart.
Your PO4 and NO3 are not showing up because the dino's are consuming it as fast as it is concieved.

 

[lhoy]

Whatever you do, DO NOT do water changes. If you truly have dinoflagellates, that only exacerbates the problem. You will know if you have dino's because your snails will die. If they are doing fine, you don't have dino's. The dino's will thrive off the nutrients added by the water change.

I move stuff from a 12 gallon to a 29 gallon (moves can trigger a dino problem). I lost every snail (be sure and removing dying ones as they add to the problem). I turned the lights off for 3 straight days, didn't feed anything, and added carbon for those three days. I also cranked up the flow with more powerheads and it worked. Not completely gone yet, but almost. I suspect I will lose at least one or two lps which were growing like crazy and dividing!!

Be sure and check out the book "Algae" available at Amazon. It is great for identifying and treating these problems.

Lee