dino experiment

[t4zalews]

Literally the best combatant against dinos are no lights. They survive in perfect water parameters and only use light to grow. I've wasted GFO and carbon on them to no avail. I will admit that the Ultra Algae X does have an impact on dinos as I could see them recede when I was dosing with the lights on for 4 hours.

The one thing I'm noticing now that dinos are gone is I have green algae again. Algae growing everywhere and it green. Then I thought about it, my whole time with dinos I never had green algae growing. It was always snotty brown. I would say its a step in the right direction.

Coral update...they took a pretty good beating. Very pale, no polyp extension, some showing signs of STN. I believe that if I would have just done 5 days from the start, they would have been fine. But when you dink around for so long, it really takes a tole on them. I've had too many things die while having dinos so its not a surprise. At least I can restock again

 

[yeldarbj]

It's great news. I hope the dinos stay gone for you. I did a 6 of 7 day lights out period about 6 months ago, and the tank looked much better for a couple weeks but they came back. Ultra Algae X was a temporary fix for me too, just slowed them down and killed some inverts. I agree that GFO and carbon don't have much impact on dinos. IMO, dinos can out compete anything to get what they need. Carbon is probably a good thing to have going just to absorb any of toxins that the dinos could release.

I've had some success using Dr Tim's Refresh treatment combined with lights out. After that, I used both Dr Tim's Waste Away and Eco Balance. It appears to have knocked back the dinos and to have established a better biological balance. I then put in a 25 watt Aqua UV sterilizer (which I know is counter to all the bacterial efforts from Dr Tim's products). I think the UV has really helped control the free floating dinos in the water column and significantly slowed their reproduction. Things are looking much better, and I too am seeing a green algae outbreak and coraline growth, both of which were non-existent while dinos had the upper hand. I have a few patches on the sand where the dinos are present to a lesser degree, but so far manageable.

My coral update...softies and LPS have never looked better, still struggling to keep a few sps from STN'ing. I had a total sps/chalice crash when starting the battle against the dinos last spring/summer.

 

[Herbie]

Just read through this whole thread........interesting.
I have a small dino problem that I am trying to nip in the bud. I dont even know where I got it ?
This is the first time in over 25 years in this hobby that I am dealing with dino's. Not fun. I thought dealing with bryopsis was tough.........thats was childs play compared to dino's ! Its amazing, you can literally watch the mucous strands of dino grow. I have been vacuuming all the growth I can see through a sock into a bucket, then returning the water back to the tank. I would say approx every 2-3 days. If I dont, it is strangling my sps frags, the larger colonies dont seem as bothered by it. Zoas start to become effected also if I dont vacumm often. They will just not open, then the dino's will start to grow on the closed polyp........then its all over if I dont clean them off! LPS dont seem to effected.
Its a tiring process to say the least. I figured by now it would subside a little..........this stuff is persistant! I dont have an all out plague yet, but at times the strands may grow to more the 6"-8" if I dont act on it. Mostly they are small 1/2" to 1" strands with lots of bubbles.
Even after its all vacuumed out, I can slowly watch all the live rock become covered with bubbles, then it starts.
I am loosing some margarita snails so far, but the astrea snails dont seem as effected. Hermits and emeralds are not effected. One lawnmower blenny is not effected directly by the dinos, but with the lack of other algea in the tank now due to the dino's, I am afraid he will be indirectly effected soon.
I do dose kalk already, and I am thinking of hooking up a fan to increase evaporation some, so I get a little higher alk/ph.


I have 2 questions that I didnt notice in the thread.
If I resort to trying H2o2, will it effect any cheato in the system.........must it be removed?
Also, where are you guys getting Marin Fauna Algae X ? Cant seem to find any online vendors that sell it in the US.

Thanks,
Herbie

 

[sahin]

I'm not seeing any and today was the first day of 8 hour halides/9 hour actinic. Past few days have been 7 hours halides/9 hour actinic from my experience with them, I'd see them by now.

Hey man its good that your are most likely clear of these Dinos. Report back in a couple of weeks.

Glad you got rid of them at last. With those lighting hours the Dinos should have come back by now.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I have no green algae growing as of now. I had green and coraline growing. Lights out 3 days knocked out the green. You may be onto something with the lack of green algae growth. I got my phosphates so low the green was suffering. I was running gfo only to try to get rid of the cyano. I wound up getting dinos. im going to find some green algae and throw it in. lol. dinos.

 

[brandon429]

Just read through this whole thread........interesting.
I have a small dino problem that I am trying to nip in the bud. I dont even know where I got it ?
This is the first time in over 25 years in this hobby that I am dealing with dino's. Not fun. I thought dealing with bryopsis was tough.........thats was childs play compared to dino's ! Its amazing, you can literally watch the mucous strands of dino grow. I have been vacuuming all the growth I can see through a sock into a bucket, then returning the water back to the tank. I would say approx every 2-3 days. If I dont, it is strangling my sps frags, the larger colonies dont seem as bothered by it. Zoas start to become effected also if I dont vacumm often. They will just not open, then the dino's will start to grow on the closed polyp........then its all over if I dont clean them off! LPS dont seem to effected.
Its a tiring process to say the least. I figured by now it would subside a little..........this stuff is persistant! I dont have an all out plague yet, but at times the strands may grow to more the 6"-8" if I dont act on it. Mostly they are small 1/2" to 1" strands with lots of bubbles.
Even after its all vacuumed out, I can slowly watch all the live rock become covered with bubbles, then it starts.
I am loosing some margarita snails so far, but the astrea snails dont seem as effected. Hermits and emeralds are not effected. One lawnmower blenny is not effected directly by the dinos, but with the lack of other algea in the tank now due to the dino's, I am afraid he will be indirectly effected soon.
I do dose kalk already, and I am thinking of hooking up a fan to increase evaporation some, so I get a little higher alk/ph.


I have 2 questions that I didnt notice in the thread.
If I resort to trying H2o2, will it effect any cheato in the system.........must it be removed?
Also, where are you guys getting Marin Fauna Algae X ? Cant seem to find any online vendors that sell it in the US.

Thanks,
Herbie

we use peroxide to kill macros commonly so yes its possible the chaeto could die. how are you going to choose your dosage amounts and rate of application?

 

[Herbie]

we use peroxide to kill macros commonly so yes its possible the chaeto could die. how are you going to choose your dosage amounts and rate of application?

I was hoping to find Algea X , before I try h2o2. Seems like more people are getting better results with the X vs h202 from what I am seeing. If I try h202, isnt the standard accepted dosage 1ml per 10gal, per day. I would think the best results would be when the dinos are at their strongest........after a few hours of light later in the day.
In the meantime while I ponder this drastic step. I am going to ramp up my kalk reactor dosing, with a higher evaporation rate. Thinking about getting my magnesium up higher with Kent Tech M also.

Herbie

 

[brandon429]

sounds good I was going to recommend the same, wait till last to try the peroxide. it wont kill anything at that dose but it only works so so in that application method

as I recall lights out and aggressive removal plus a small ph bump worked well but you can see on these threads there are so many different ways, let us know and I'll commit what worked for you to memory for reposting next time

 

[t4zalews]

I bought it from barrier reef aquariums, I've heard cherry corals has it as well.

It's amazing how much green algae is growing. I don't think it has sunken in yet that I am dino free

 

[t4zalews]

proof is in the pudding:

Before:

Today (2.4.13) with light schedule on 10 hr actinic/9 hour halides:

 

[Herbie]

I bought it from barrier reef aquariums, I've heard cherry corals has it as well.

It's amazing how much green algae is growing. I don't think it has sunken in yet that I am dino free

Yea, Barrier Reef is the only place I have found it in the states. They are on the complete other end of the country for me, so it will likely take a week to ship. I am going to order some tonight.
In the meantime I am going to continue with manual removal via siphon, increase magnesium a bit, and put a fan on the tank to increase evaporation/increase kalk dosing.

I will take a few tank pictures tonight if anyone is interested to see what I am battling.

I would try peroxide, but I have a lot of small sps frags that I dont want to lose.

Birdsnest SPS frags seem the most irratated by the dinos. I am assuming from all the fine polyp extention that birdsnest has.

Herbie

 

[Herbie]

BTW,
My dino infestation started when I added a sand bed to an already running and cycled tank. I used some Caribe Sea "ocean direct" sand. Its not supposed to have silicates.......but I am not sure now. Dinos happened litterally overnight after the sand bed. I am kicking my own azz right now. I had a beautiful BB reef tank, that was doing great. Just felt like I wanted to see some sand for a more natural look, and so my coris wrasse could bury at night.
Yea, talk about remorse............:headwally:

Herbie

 

[EddieJ]

Been battling these guys for the last 2 months.

http://youtu.be/vOu8rQVGvQE



Started dosing the peroxide last night. Plan on doing a 3 day blackout soon. I don't have the long strings, but bubbles coming from everywhere. They sure do raise the PH!

 

[Herbie]

Here are a few pics of my battle, before the war begins. Pics are not the best, but you get the idea. Full tank shots dont look too bad.........untill you zoom in :eek2:. I dont think anyone will deny that these are dinos.

Full tank shot........not bad.......from far away. :headwally:

close-up 1, pretty bad.

close-up 2, getting worse.....

Close up 3, still getting worse.......

close-up 4, yea its pretty bad..........:headwalls:

Everyone agree, these are dinos ?:eek2:

I did pick up some fresh peroxide tonight, and am itching to give it a try !!!

Herbie

 

[brandon429]

just for kicks you know how I would like to see it tested

take those bottom rocks out and dip them externally and rinse and put them back in main tank

dont remove dinos lets see what they do just overnite

Id like to see if new dinos colonize overnite or if they stay clear and for how long

its a non committal mode just to see whats up, harmless.

none of your corals are sensitive to 1:10 dilution in tank run I can tell by looking, the sps are the second toughest, you will not hurt them with a 1:10 run
the strongest are your zoanthids, near immune to it or any other dilution, and the weakest is that ric on the bottom but it will not die.


peroxide runs have been done in a thousand tanks just like this one, its just for dinos they didnt have the long term kills I had once guessed. this tank can actually take more than one mil per ten but it wouldnt be my primary mode, Id be doing lights out for a week straight with corals in a holding tank getting spot treatments.

by all means play around with anything you want to treat externally, but for whole tank dosing its not what I would do in this tank.

 

[Herbie]

just for kicks you know how I would like to see it tested

take those bottom rocks out and dip them externally and rinse and put them back in main tank

dont remove dinos lets see what they do just overnite

Id like to see if new dinos colonize overnite or if they stay clear and for how long

its a non committal mode just to see whats up, harmless.

O.K. I am up for a test run, and have brand new peroxide in hand.
That last pic is actually 1 rock cluster.
I took it out, submerged it in peroxide for approx 1 minute while trying not to brush any dino strands off. It was hard though, as the dinos were actually melting off the rock while in the peroxide, and bubbling.
I dripped it off, and set it back in the tank for the night. I did not dose the tank at all tonight.
I will post a picture tomorrow for evaluation :lmao:.

Oh yea, little nervous of treating the whole tank. Besides the corals and inverts. I have a pacific candy basslet in the tank that I would rather not loose. That and the coris wrasse in the pic.

Thanks,
Herbie

 

[brandon429]

No prob I like taking a safe route with your rare collections. in the very least you have repeated siphon removal, at least this invader doesnt have a strong holdfast. some would prefer this over a tankwide red brush algae invasion, worst case you are removing too often and hate the work but technically theres no reason to lose a tank from this stuff, there just might be daily chores until you beat it.

I hope you do, have bookmarked this thread to see how it is in 3 mos. truly if it was my tank I would catch the fish and corals and qt them in a cycled, bb tank with holding racks and lighting and heating for temporary external treatment, mainly just rinsing with clean saltwater.

the main tank gets lights out for 8 ish days, taped plastic around the tank lights out no cheating, after a total siphon removal of all the dinos. lights out to slow regrowth, not remove the initial mass. thats how I see your worst case scenario.

would peroxide directly the plugs and bases of your QT corals, all non living surfaces. fish may not mind staying in a dark tank for 8 days but it seems frightful, to the point a qt tank on normal schedule seems less harsh if you could ever catch him. if he blocks you from using an extended dark treatment this will be tricky.

will tell you this, no reef fish ever tested here at our diltutions showed sensitivity, none. at least we brainstormed some non chemical approaches.

 

[SweetTang]

Just read through this whole thread........interesting.
I have a small dino problem that I am trying to nip in the bud. I dont even know where I got it ?
This is the first time in over 25 years in this hobby that I am dealing with dino's. Not fun. I thought dealing with bryopsis was tough.........thats was childs play compared to dino's ! Its amazing, you can literally watch the mucous strands of dino grow. I have been vacuuming all the growth I can see through a sock into a bucket, then returning the water back to the tank. I would say approx every 2-3 days. If I dont, it is strangling my sps frags, the larger colonies dont seem as bothered by it. Zoas start to become effected also if I dont vacumm often. They will just not open, then the dino's will start to grow on the closed polyp........then its all over if I dont clean them off! LPS dont seem to effected.
Its a tiring process to say the least. I figured by now it would subside a little..........this stuff is persistant! I dont have an all out plague yet, but at times the strands may grow to more the 6"-8" if I dont act on it. Mostly they are small 1/2" to 1" strands with lots of bubbles.
Even after its all vacuumed out, I can slowly watch all the live rock become covered with bubbles, then it starts.
I am loosing some margarita snails so far, but the astrea snails dont seem as effected. Hermits and emeralds are not effected. One lawnmower blenny is not effected directly by the dinos, but with the lack of other algea in the tank now due to the dino's, I am afraid he will be indirectly effected soon.
I do dose kalk already, and I am thinking of hooking up a fan to increase evaporation some, so I get a little higher alk/ph.


I have 2 questions that I didnt notice in the thread.
If I resort to trying H2o2, will it effect any cheato in the system.........must it be removed?
Also, where are you guys getting Marin Fauna Algae X ? Cant seem to find any online vendors that sell it in the US.

Thanks,
Herbie

I recently beat an outbreak with h202. I dosed the recommended 1mL/10gal a day. I used the theory of dosing early in the morning, before the lights come on. I figured I would dose it when the Dinos were at their weakest. After about 6 days of dosing, I had no signs of them. I went ahead and dosed for an additional 4 days just to make sure. It has been a week and I still have no signs of them :dance:. The only effect that the peroxide had on my tank is that it made my Zoas mad for about 10 minutes, as others have noted. No noticeable effects on my nem, clam, sps, lps, or any fish. It also had no negative effects on my Chaeto...still growing like a weed!

It seems like there is several different strands of this stuff, and different cures work for different people. After trying Lights out for 3 days, adding a GFO reactor, increasing water movement, and manual removal to no avail....a $.99 bottle of peroxide worked for me. Hopefully you will be as lucky and find a quick/cheap solution.

Hit is hard with a combonation of things til you beat it.....your fish and corals will thank you!:thumbsup:

 

[brandon429]

very nice testimony gracias. I like to point out worst case scenarios and then posts like that make it look great yay lol

I still use it in my tank too, only its 35% not this watered down 3% stuff heh

when everyones tank adapts to 3% and it doesnt work anymore at least there will be an upgraded percentage left for us all heh

 

[SweetTang]

Where do you get the 35% stuff? I am sure mine will grow immune to the 3% and I will need to up my ammunition in the future....

I do consider myself lucky that the h2o2 worked for me....as I have read the challenges throughout this thread of people having to break their tank down. I still wish I knew the underlying cause of it. My tank was fine and then the dino's all of the sudden started popping up. The only change that I found was that my SG dropped to 1.022, which I believe caused my Mag to drop to about 1200. I am still not sure how it got to that level....but could this have triggered the algae?