PorkchopExpress
New member
tisbe pods are stored in the fridge as well...tigger pods live in colder waters...both can be stored in the fridge, they just can't be frozen obviously
Dinoflagellates.
- Thread starter DNA
- Start date
Wow so much useful information!
Wow so much useful information!
After 5 days in and out of this thread and reading all but the hugely long ones this has been absolutely brilliant and helpful so thanks to everyone who has contributed! I have just joined as a result so be gentle with me lol!
I thought you might be interested in my story as briefly as possible! Restarted my little 180l tank after giving up two years prior as had too many other things to deal with. Was going to sell it but never got round to it so left it with water but no lights nothing just full of green. Yeah I know! Sorry it's a bit long but hopefully you will find it interesting.
Cleaned it all up and got everything working with the intention of selling but the bug got me again, to my amazement bristle worms and arthipods still alive! Nitrate at 300! Got that down to around 50 after adding bacteria and running everything. Few points where almost gave up, should I have removed old sand and such like.
No major issues and gradually adding stock both fish and soft corals. Only issue has been nitrate still high, around 25. Went for a hydra filter and down to around 10 but still getting cyano (or so I thought) on the sand, nothing horrendous just a bit in lower flow at the front of the tank. Added small PH onto sand and removed it using gravel cleaner and syphoning although in the end found scraping it up with a brine shrimp filter worked best as it seemed to just clump. The cyano seemed to appear after I put stronger grow lamp in the sump to try and get my meagre portion to grow, it doubled in size very quickly but then the cyano struck!
The link between cyano and dino's has been fascinating and interestingly it was after the cyano started to go that I noticed brown stringy stuff on my Kenya trees who I had recently moved after splitting the rock they were on. I thought they were just sloughing ( didn't have them before) Also had lots of white spider webs which always appeared after water changes, some were vermitid I think but also noticed that my red grape algae was covered in them and never really looked 'clean' despite blasting with PH or baster. I also had a bit of what I thought was hair algae growing on a couple of rocks and on the back of the tank so invested in a couple of Mexican turbos ( not knowing about dino's then)
I also noticed the white stringy stuff collecting on the powerheads again put it down to vermetids.
I also replaced my T5's with new Dsuny LED's at Christmas but had them on acclimatisation for a couple of weeks. Then after putting them on four seasons - bam that's when I noticed after two days bubbles formed on the rocks where the 'hair algea' was. I knew it wasn't bubble algae and the brown stringy bits also got worse so ended up doing some research leading me to believe it was indeed Dino's. It definitely clumped back together when I siphoned it out.
Had total blackout for 24hrs to see what would happen and yes it vanished but straight back after lights on even on acclimation mode again.
Trying to pinpoint an actual cause is really difficult as other things had happened. I had added some new corals and the Duncan looked like it had brown jelly so dipped it in iodine and has since been fine. I had been struggling to keep PH up and KH and calcium had dropped so had started using Calcium Marin.
I also decided to try using Coral Snow, which was supposed to help with cyano as well as coral growth, and had been dosing recommended dose for a week, I did wonder if this had caused the outbreak as well but couldn't find anything other than positives.
I had switched off the hydra filter and left it off by mistake for three days, water tested at 25 for nitrates, so clearly that didn't kill off my dino's. I did as a result and before I knew about water changes, do a water change just before it got worse.algea and cyano about 4 weeks before dyno outbreak.
I also seemed to have higher salt levels for some reason despite trying to keep it at 25 for a couple of water changes, somehow it always seemed to creep to 26. That is now at 25. Nitrate is also down to 5-10 after switching the hydra filter back on.
Started using filter socks(200 and 100) as before I had seen size of dinos. Put some rowaphos sponge into outlet filter for skimmer which was to help with
Putting the LED's on to the preset four seasons for those two days seemed like the most obvious but now not so sure as I think I have had a mild outbreak of dino's for longer than I realised.
I also added a new powerhead and had blasted the rocks a few times after I got the filter socks again just prior to the dino's getting worse!
As a result of all the info here I have limited lights to a few hours after I get in from work, have syphoned as much every day as I can see. Wiped glass with RO soaked floss and dipped the Kenya trees and a few others on coral frags in RO.
This interestingly turned out to be totally pointless as all back the next day! Also dipped the red grape last night and lo and behold, dino's albeit small are back although nothing like they were. So reckon as some have mentioned that as well.
I decided to keep adding the coral snow but also used Reeflowers bacteria feeder while waiting for pods and phyto to arrive for two days now. Last night I noticed a lot of white string around the fish guard on the outlet, and on the power heads, like I have never seen before, also a lot of white 'stuff' on the rocks. Syphoned off as much as I could and cleaned the outlet last night.
I have also been adding Garlic to the fish food for three days just as a precaution for the fishes sake and wonder if this may have also helped, it would be interesting to see if it has any impact on Dino's under the microscope!
The UV arrived last night and had that on overnight. Today the water looks incredibly clear, just a few very long strands on some of the usual suspects but it seems to be getting less each day now. Fair bit of the white string on
the outlet, although nothing like it was yesterday. Tackling the hairy stuff remaining on the back of the tank as well as any left in the sump as pretty sure this is also Dinos. The phyto and pods should arrive tomorrow so hoping this will be the final nail in the coffin for the nasty wee beasties! Unfortunately I can't seem to get the pods mentioned here in the UK so just gone with what I can get. So far though I have been lucky as I spotted it really early before it got worse.
My philosophy as someone has already said is to tackle things slowly, I prefer to use patience and trying out the more natural methods first rather than add any chemicals. I had gone and got some Hydrogen Peroxide before I had read all the information but decided to try UV, phyto and pods first. So far so good and pleased I haven't had to go down the chemical route yet but will keep you posted!
Wow so much useful information!
After 5 days in and out of this thread and reading all but the hugely long ones this has been absolutely brilliant and helpful so thanks to everyone who has contributed! I have just joined as a result so be gentle with me lol!
I thought you might be interested in my story as briefly as possible! Restarted my little 180l tank after giving up two years prior as had too many other things to deal with. Was going to sell it but never got round to it so left it with water but no lights nothing just full of green. Yeah I know! Sorry it's a bit long but hopefully you will find it interesting.
Cleaned it all up and got everything working with the intention of selling but the bug got me again, to my amazement bristle worms and arthipods still alive! Nitrate at 300! Got that down to around 50 after adding bacteria and running everything. Few points where almost gave up, should I have removed old sand and such like.
No major issues and gradually adding stock both fish and soft corals. Only issue has been nitrate still high, around 25. Went for a hydra filter and down to around 10 but still getting cyano (or so I thought) on the sand, nothing horrendous just a bit in lower flow at the front of the tank. Added small PH onto sand and removed it using gravel cleaner and syphoning although in the end found scraping it up with a brine shrimp filter worked best as it seemed to just clump. The cyano seemed to appear after I put stronger grow lamp in the sump to try and get my meagre portion to grow, it doubled in size very quickly but then the cyano struck!
The link between cyano and dino's has been fascinating and interestingly it was after the cyano started to go that I noticed brown stringy stuff on my Kenya trees who I had recently moved after splitting the rock they were on. I thought they were just sloughing ( didn't have them before) Also had lots of white spider webs which always appeared after water changes, some were vermitid I think but also noticed that my red grape algae was covered in them and never really looked 'clean' despite blasting with PH or baster. I also had a bit of what I thought was hair algae growing on a couple of rocks and on the back of the tank so invested in a couple of Mexican turbos ( not knowing about dino's then)
I also noticed the white stringy stuff collecting on the powerheads again put it down to vermetids.
I also replaced my T5's with new Dsuny LED's at Christmas but had them on acclimatisation for a couple of weeks. Then after putting them on four seasons - bam that's when I noticed after two days bubbles formed on the rocks where the 'hair algea' was. I knew it wasn't bubble algae and the brown stringy bits also got worse so ended up doing some research leading me to believe it was indeed Dino's. It definitely clumped back together when I siphoned it out.
Had total blackout for 24hrs to see what would happen and yes it vanished but straight back after lights on even on acclimation mode again.
Trying to pinpoint an actual cause is really difficult as other things had happened. I had added some new corals and the Duncan looked like it had brown jelly so dipped it in iodine and has since been fine. I had been struggling to keep PH up and KH and calcium had dropped so had started using Calcium Marin.
I also decided to try using Coral Snow, which was supposed to help with cyano as well as coral growth, and had been dosing recommended dose for a week, I did wonder if this had caused the outbreak as well but couldn't find anything other than positives.
I had switched off the hydra filter and left it off by mistake for three days, water tested at 25 for nitrates, so clearly that didn't kill off my dino's. I did as a result and before I knew about water changes, do a water change just before it got worse.algea and cyano about 4 weeks before dyno outbreak.
I also seemed to have higher salt levels for some reason despite trying to keep it at 25 for a couple of water changes, somehow it always seemed to creep to 26. That is now at 25. Nitrate is also down to 5-10 after switching the hydra filter back on.
Started using filter socks(200 and 100) as before I had seen size of dinos. Put some rowaphos sponge into outlet filter for skimmer which was to help with
Putting the LED's on to the preset four seasons for those two days seemed like the most obvious but now not so sure as I think I have had a mild outbreak of dino's for longer than I realised.
I also added a new powerhead and had blasted the rocks a few times after I got the filter socks again just prior to the dino's getting worse!
As a result of all the info here I have limited lights to a few hours after I get in from work, have syphoned as much every day as I can see. Wiped glass with RO soaked floss and dipped the Kenya trees and a few others on coral frags in RO.
This interestingly turned out to be totally pointless as all back the next day! Also dipped the red grape last night and lo and behold, dino's albeit small are back although nothing like they were. So reckon as some have mentioned that as well.
I decided to keep adding the coral snow but also used Reeflowers bacteria feeder while waiting for pods and phyto to arrive for two days now. Last night I noticed a lot of white string around the fish guard on the outlet, and on the power heads, like I have never seen before, also a lot of white 'stuff' on the rocks. Syphoned off as much as I could and cleaned the outlet last night.
I have also been adding Garlic to the fish food for three days just as a precaution for the fishes sake and wonder if this may have also helped, it would be interesting to see if it has any impact on Dino's under the microscope!
The UV arrived last night and had that on overnight. Today the water looks incredibly clear, just a few very long strands on some of the usual suspects but it seems to be getting less each day now. Fair bit of the white string on
the outlet, although nothing like it was yesterday. Tackling the hairy stuff remaining on the back of the tank as well as any left in the sump as pretty sure this is also Dinos. The phyto and pods should arrive tomorrow so hoping this will be the final nail in the coffin for the nasty wee beasties! Unfortunately I can't seem to get the pods mentioned here in the UK so just gone with what I can get. So far though I have been lucky as I spotted it really early before it got worse.
My philosophy as someone has already said is to tackle things slowly, I prefer to use patience and trying out the more natural methods first rather than add any chemicals. I had gone and got some Hydrogen Peroxide before I had read all the information but decided to try UV, phyto and pods first. So far so good and pleased I haven't had to go down the chemical route yet but will keep you posted!
Ok, UV people, finally got around to taking the UV off my pond. It was 8 degrees in Chicago yesterday, I don't think pond will miss it. It's used. It's a Coralife Turbo Twist with a 9 watt bulb.
This (and raising ph) are about the only things I haven't tried yet. Can't see Dino's, but I'm convinced they're still there because of my crappy coral health. Plus I do see slight dustings that I remove from the glass.
So do you think it's powerful enough? How many gph should I pump through it? Will it raise my temperature? It worked perfectly for green water on my ~300 gallon pond.
This (and raising ph) are about the only things I haven't tried yet. Can't see Dino's, but I'm convinced they're still there because of my crappy coral health. Plus I do see slight dustings that I remove from the glass.
So do you think it's powerful enough? How many gph should I pump through it? Will it raise my temperature? It worked perfectly for green water on my ~300 gallon pond.
I think the same flow that was used for the pond likely will be fine for your saltwater tank. Is the UV unit rated for saltwater? Sorry, I've never used a UV unit, so I'm not familiar with them at all. The temperature in your tank might rise a bit, but it's unlikely to be a noticeable change.
25 Dfee, yes I know some contradictory goings on! Taking a sample into work tomorrow to get under the microscope. Nitrates went back down to 10 when I put the hydra filter back on. Still reduced lighting and UV been on for 3 nights now. Today when I got home from work even less to siphon out. I took some filter floss out to change today and thought I would ring it out into a see through container a/ to see if I did actually have some pods trapped in it and b/ to see if any dinos in it. The debris quickly formed into nice clumps and now some nice stringy bits are forming so got a nice little Dino culture going to take into work tomorrow. Snails are a bit more active but Kenya's still not happy but all other corals are looking good zoas looking bigger. The red grape has less covering and the sand only has two little bits of it now. Less in the sump as well now. Phytoplankton arrived today so added that now hopefully pods will come tomorrow. Salt has been a nice stable 25 for four or five days now. Still adding reeflowers bacteria feeder and coral snow. Water is looking the clearest it ever has.
dirtrider225
New member
Dinos are making me want to quit the hobby.
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My corals are dying. I hate this. Seriously this is making me want to get out of the hobby. Why are my euphillia and zoas all dying while my acros and birdsnest are fine? Is it because of the extra carbon im running to get rid of the dino toxin? or is it the dinos them selves? is it low nutrients?
The fish are fine..
The clean up crew is fine..
the ricordias are fine..
Thoughts? What can i do to atleast get my euphillia doing okay again?
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My corals are dying. I hate this. Seriously this is making me want to get out of the hobby. Why are my euphillia and zoas all dying while my acros and birdsnest are fine? Is it because of the extra carbon im running to get rid of the dino toxin? or is it the dinos them selves? is it low nutrients?
The fish are fine..
The clean up crew is fine..
the ricordias are fine..
Thoughts? What can i do to atleast get my euphillia doing okay again?
seamonster124
New member
My tank looked exactly like yours and they were all gone within 48 hours of me attacking them.
Have you read up on the dirty method?
Have you read up on the dirty method?
dirtrider225
New member
All I understand about the dirty method is extra feeding. But I don't understand how that solves the issue, nonetheless I am feeding rods reef frenzy, mysis cubes, nls pellets, dosing reef energy A+B and feeding 2 capfulls of marine snow. This is WAY more nutrients than I've ever put in the tank.
Do I kill the skimmer?
Or carbon reactor?
I don't think I have any microfauna left.. is this gonna be an issue?
And the cremdelecrem, I'm leaving tonight for 8 days.
Do I kill the skimmer?
Or carbon reactor?
I don't think I have any microfauna left.. is this gonna be an issue?
And the cremdelecrem, I'm leaving tonight for 8 days.
jason2459
Well-known member
Not everyone's tank will react the same or as quickly even if following exactly what you did. I did nothing more then I normally do to maintain my system to make it beneficial for the things I want to live but it still took several months to cycle through the Dinos.
Sorry, I'm not saying to not try what you've done but I'm afraid people struggling with this for a long time that are already discouraged will become more so with the focus on your system only taking 48 hours to get rid of it.
dirtrider225
New member
Really at this point I would be ecstatic if I could get my coral to stop dying. If I could figure that out then getting rid of the dinos would be the next step
Fish Keeper82
New member
I saw drastic coral health improvement after 2 days lights out with UV sterilizer. Zoas that had not opened up in a month because dinos were on them are now happy. The zoas lost some color since they were miserable for a month. A hammer was not openining much but after 2 days lights out with UV they fully extended the following lighting period. I think raising the nitrates from using the dirty method helped with this also. I turned off my skimmer 4 days ago as well. I now have macro algae growing on the rocks again.
I have some pictures i will post on the up comming days if Dinos continues to receed.
I tried everything for months (other than chemicals like dino-x) and finally beat it quickly using the dirty method. No water changes for one month, no cleaning glass except the front pane, adjusted skimmer to barely skim, feed heavily, and dosed KNO3 a couple of times in the beginning to raise Nitrates to 2-3 ppm. All dinos gone in 2 or 3 weeks and have yet to return. Back to weekly 10% water changes, skimmer adjusted back to normal and slowly removing the algae off side and back panes.
Took my sample into work which I had got off the floss in the sump and definitely Dino's absolutely full of them but all dead apart from one very small translucent microbe about ten times smaller. So have borrowed scope over the weekend to investigate further. Pods arrived today so will add those tonight. However, almost all gone from the sand just a few strands on softies and the red grape so feeling hopeful! Not sure whether to ditch the floss in the sump now for a while as well, it is between the refugium and return pump to stop bits of cheapo etc from clogging the pump but seems to be a real collecting place for the little sods! The second sample I took from just the water didn't have anything in it though.
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Reef Ruler
New member
Not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing yet, but as the dinos have faded, Cyano has started to show up. Still haven't done a water change. I'm kind of tempted to see what happens if I let it play out....but I also want to change the water. Dinos are way too complicated to deal with.
Billybatz9
New member
What kind of corals do you keep?
