Is there a way to definitively tell dino's and cyano apart without the use of a microscope. I had been battleing what I thought was cyano for about six months, but I now think it is dino's. Researching through this forum, I found a post that said if you blow water on cyano, it either stays put or lifts off in sheets; but if you blow water on dino's, it basically disintegrates into the water. Is this a true and foolproof test???
Dino vs Cyano Definitive Test???
- Thread starter balto777
- Start date
brandon429
Well-known member
With pics, we tend to get it right
Post us a full tank shot
Post us a full tank shot
Here are some pics:
FTS
Close up
Another close up
There are bubbles, but there are no telltale strings reaching for the sky. In addition, it falls off in sheets and stay stuck together on the surface. This infestation started when I lost my Vortech for about six months, and as a result had very little flow.
FTS
Close up
Another close up
There are bubbles, but there are no telltale strings reaching for the sky. In addition, it falls off in sheets and stay stuck together on the surface. This infestation started when I lost my Vortech for about six months, and as a result had very little flow.
Uncle Salty 05
New member
Those are dinos - not cyano.
xCry0x
Active member
Well my hair algae was covered in cyano which made the hair algae clump and hold bubbles while being all brown and nasty and looking like dinos.. except it was not dinos.
You said this all happened when you lost your vortech and had low flow - go get some koralia's and get flow going again.
From that middle picture it looks like you have a huge wad of cyano on the bottom left against the glass. I would venture a guess that with 0 flow in your tank cyano is growing rampant and with 0 flow nutrients are accumulating all over the tank and fueling algae from hell.
It took about 6-7 months but after adding a GFO reactor, increasing flow with an mp10 and being diligent about not over feeding my tank is spotless.
Google brown hair algae - that covered in cyano looked like a bubbly snotty mess for me but went away with phosphate removal which doesn;t work with dinos.
You said this all happened when you lost your vortech and had low flow - go get some koralia's and get flow going again.
From that middle picture it looks like you have a huge wad of cyano on the bottom left against the glass. I would venture a guess that with 0 flow in your tank cyano is growing rampant and with 0 flow nutrients are accumulating all over the tank and fueling algae from hell.
It took about 6-7 months but after adding a GFO reactor, increasing flow with an mp10 and being diligent about not over feeding my tank is spotless.
Google brown hair algae - that covered in cyano looked like a bubbly snotty mess for me but went away with phosphate removal which doesn;t work with dinos.
Thanks for all the replies. I just put my two clownfish into my new tank setup, but decided to ditch all the corals - just in case. They really weren't that great anyway. Although I will miss my six year old brain. I have already unloaded two (with full disclosure) on a local reef club forum. I suppose the other two will go rather quickly, too.
Upon further inve3stigation, I am still not 100% sure what I had. I definitely notices some cyano, but also stuff that definitely looked like dino's. I figure that I had a mix of both. It would also make sense why all my snails died (long ago) and my tuxedo urchin died (not too long ago).
xCry0x - When I took the rocks out of the old aquarium, I tried scrubbing some of the stuff off, but it really wouldn't come off. This kind of goes into your theory of hair algea covered in other types of algea.
The truth is that there really needs to be some form of definitive test for this, so we can know for sure what we are dealing with.
Upon further inve3stigation, I am still not 100% sure what I had. I definitely notices some cyano, but also stuff that definitely looked like dino's. I figure that I had a mix of both. It would also make sense why all my snails died (long ago) and my tuxedo urchin died (not too long ago).
xCry0x - When I took the rocks out of the old aquarium, I tried scrubbing some of the stuff off, but it really wouldn't come off. This kind of goes into your theory of hair algea covered in other types of algea.
The truth is that there really needs to be some form of definitive test for this, so we can know for sure what we are dealing with.
Sucks you got rid of the brain, it looks pretty cool.It may not be definitive, but a good test is to shut off all flow in the tank, even the return line. Using a powerhead, blow off all the rocks and sand, wherever you are seeing dinos. Wait about 10-15 minutes. If you see long strings appear floating around the tank or attached to rock or coral, then you probably have dinos.
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