dino experiment

I am really thinking now that the different strains of Dino,s appearing in our tanks are effected by different treatments. That seems to be the only logical answer to how we are all having success with different treatments, while other treatments may not work for everyone.
Not only do we have to identify the dino probem, but also the strain of dinos now, lol. It would be cool to identify what treatment works on what strain for proper treatment. In talking with "Pants", he said there were only 2-3 different strains from all the samples he has scoped.

Herbie
 
I did the dumbest thing ever....

I put back in some equipment that was in the dino ridden tank without putting it in a bleach/vinegar bath and what do you know.....dino's came back within DAYS of putting it back in. CLEAN EVERYTHING THAT HAD DINOS. you would think weeks out of the tank would have killed them.
 
Kieth71 said:
How long did you end up dosing the algae x for?
Click to expand...

I did multiple dosing times. I had a total of 3 separate episodes. In between each I did a large water change and ran some carbon. The only one that worked was the last one that was only 3 dosing with lights off for 5 days
 
Feedback on tank losses is still beneficial from those who tried peroxide. was there any loss to pods or corals unintended at the 2: 10 dosing
 
as there are dozens of different species of dinos, it would be nice to have microscopic images of all your dinos while or before the eradication, as well as documentation which treatment worked /did not work. this could make treatment more easy in the future.
 
I will dose for the 4th time tonight..still no dinos coming back.I have a few small patches of hair algae that i am going to wait until i see them die before i stop dosing.Doing a water change will be the real test to see if they come back,I have also increased the light period bye one hour for whites and blues-Kieth
 
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Herbie said:
I am really thinking now that the different strains of Dino,s appearing in our tanks are effected by different treatments. That seems to be the only logical answer to how we are all having success with different treatments, while other treatments may not work for everyone.
Not only do we have to identify the dino probem, but also the strain of dinos now, lol. It would be cool to identify what treatment works on what strain for proper treatment. In talking with "Pants", he said there were only 2-3 different strains from all the samples he has scoped.

Herbie
Click to expand...

I completely agree. I had Pants identify my variety as Gambierdiscus toxicus, a particularly nasty strain. AlgaeX, H2O2, GFO, filter socks, lack of water changes, extended lights out, etc. had no long term effects. They always came back.

It appears that installing a UV has had a very strong impact on mine. I did lights out for a couple days prior to installing and continued with reduced daytime lighting - my theory was to try to get the dinos into the water column so the UV would have more impact. I also ran a diatom filter on multiple occasions for a few hours a day, using a maxijet to blow them off the sand and rock. It's able to filter out microscopic sized particles, including dinos. The dinos passed right through my felt filter socks.

The difference is now my rock pile is vastly improved and growing green algae and coralline algae, which I didn't have before. I still have a few spots on the rocks and sand where they persist. But at least now I feel like I may not have to restart the tank.

After reading the post regarding Cuprisorb, I tossed in a bag of it yesterday. I figure why not?
 
brandon429 said:
Feedback on tank losses is still beneficial from those who tried peroxide. was there any loss to pods or corals unintended at the 2: 10 dosing
Click to expand...

No tank losses, but I did get 2 rather large bristle stars in my filter socks. That has never happened before. They were alive and moving so I placed them in my sump. Pretty weird for them to float up to the overflow. Maybe the peroxide affected them somehow.
 
I did lights out Friday - Wed. and it took a huge chunk out of the dinos but I think I still have an issue. I did a shortened light cycle last night and will increase it slowly for the rest of the week.

If I have to do a round #2 what does everyone recommend?

Longer lights out etc?

Thanks.
 
Kafuda

in further brainstorm especially for these smaller systems its worked well in the past to hand remove the dinos via siphon before or during any treatments, so that these actions focus on preventing regrowth vs biomass removal. if its convenient how about siphoning it clean during the dark testing both to help out and to really check its impact, regrowth
 
Yes that is a good idea. I siphoned prior to lights out and yesterday when I moved it all back to the normal stand so I know that I am getting biomass removal. I will repeat it again tonight and will do another WC this weekend.

I have concentrated on removal (export) as much as possible hoping that I could get ahead of the game instead of playing catch up like I had been doing.

Before the lights out I saw less dinos and it now takes longer for the dinos to reach their levels (5 days vs. 3 days) of being an issue.
 
yep to stay in control of my tendencies I wait to recommend peroxide until all other methods dont work. but inside im like dose it, dose it harder, work that tank etc
 
Yeah I can see it now:

mullet.jpg
 
Ive been mixing a gallon of kalk and waiting 10 min then dosing half. I also got some aquavitro balance. I am winnning the battle. I got green algae to start growing on the glass again and let it go for 6 days. I just cleaned it today because my wife asked me to. Im not certain this was a good idea as I am trying to out compete the dinos. I also have been turkey basting, and moving a sieo power haed around to blow out the rock work. My cyano seems to be dying off as well. Im skimming wet and I have to clean the cup out 2 times per day. Also no water changes for the last 2 weeks. This seems to be working for me.

Salinity 1.024 (a bit low)
dkh 12.4
calcium 420
ph 8.4 ish crappy tetra test
po4 .05
 
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Ok, round 2 begins today. I bumped up the pH yesterday with a slurry of kalk. That brought up the pH to 8.4. I also dripped a gallon of saturated kalk overnight. The pH dropped back to 8.19. Today I have siphoned the sand and replaced my topoff water with saturated kalk. The sump fan has been turned on to increase evaporation. Hopefully this will get it up to the 8.4 mark. I also have a co2 scrubber hooked up to the intake on my skimmer. Earlier in the week I stopped dosing Zeostart3 which is the carbon food in the ZeoVit system. The tank has been wrapped for the blackout as well. Aiming for a 4 day period of darkness this time.
 
I did the Kalk stuff, and nothing worked for me.

I ordered the AlgaeX and it arrived last week.

Saturday I took down all water readings:

SG 1.025 (Refractameter)
Alk 7.88 (Hanna)
Calc 527 (Hanna)
Nitrate .25 (Salifert)
MG 1290 (Salifert)
Phos 0.00 (Hanna low range)
Temp 75.4 (Apex)
PH 8.24 (Apex)

I have two fish in the tank and feed just enough for them every few days.

My dino would recover the sand bed within 24 hours of a sweep into a sock. After a 5 day light out, it would take over the tank within 24 hours. I did the high PH for 5 days with a lights out. High Mg (over 1500), etc. Nothing worked, including Peroxide over 3 weeks.

On Saturday night, I used black construction paper and taped up the tank and shut off the AI SOL Blue's and removed the ATS from the tank that was doing no good... I dosed 15ML of the AlgaeX and will run the dose every 2 days for 3 cycles. The last 2 day cycle will be with lights on.

Peeking in the tank this afternoon, 80% of the dino is gone.

I have been battling this stuff for 8 months now. If this works, I will be ecstatic!

Good luck to everyone with this nasty stuff!
 
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