Dinoflagellates.

[joti26]

Make of this what you will.

Make of this what you will.

I borrowed a microscope from work to carry out my little experiment with Garlic. I had added garlic to my fish food as suspected my coral goby wasn't looking too healthy. I noticed a reduction of dinos at the same time although any number of other factors could be at play. However, thinking of the medicinal benefits of garlic I ran my experiment today.

I used two identical 'wet' slides. One for the control to make sure they weren't dying due to temperature.

Checked both slides for moving Dino's to one slide I added a small amount of crushed garlic. Within seconds all had stopped moving!

I repeated this three times, on the third time I did try and add the garlic and view at the same time, the Dino's became very active, even those that weren't moving at all. Then within seconds all movement stopped! The controls being in the slide for the exact amount of time were still moving! Even after 20 minutes of finishing my experiment. Other organisms although not many of them all survived some worm like ones, some with legs and some other odd shape translucent things.

My conclusion then is they don't like garlic!
Now wondering how much garlic I can safely add to the tank!

 

[jason2459]

Now to see if they were killed or stunned.

 

[joti26]

Now to see if they were killed or stunned.

Lol! I actually did wonder that myself so removed garlic added fresh tank water without any other Dino's but nope still no sign of life

 

[Billybatz9]

Lol! I actually did wonder that myself so removed garlic added fresh tank water without any other Dino's but nope still no sign of life

when you get the dosage of garlic down, let me know

 

[joti26]

when you get the dosage of garlic down, let me know

I've just ordered some Kent Marine Garlic Extreme just to see what happens. Mind you I have hardly any left now, mostly in the sump and I had spotted it early so it never got too bad, fingers crossed now.

 

[REEF DIVA]

Beating Dinoflagellates

Beating Dinoflagellates

I run 80 watts of UV continuous on my reef. I change the bulbs every 8 months. UV won't put a dent into dinoflagellates. I wish it would work but it won't. Biodiversity won't work either. I have very strong biodiversity in my reef system. I even had a very large stag colony that was 14 years old and about 2 feet wide. I have about 5 different types of zenia everywhere that I harvest constantly, etc. I am not trying to brag. This reef was set up in 1995 and I have had 3 partial (almost complete) crashes. I get the dinoflagellate after the crashes and it is a real drag. I am still looking for that magic bullet. But I haven't found one.

 

[karimwassef]

how fast do you push water through the UV?

 

[mannyhernz]

Post some pics

They have consumed my tank now.
Trying dirty method see how that goes.
Has anybody tried dosing nitrates?
Like we do with sps? Tree stump remover etc...wonder if that would help??

 

[karimwassef]

manny - what have you tried?

 

[bertoni]

Tree stump remover often (maybe always) contains potassium nitrate. I'm not sure what good it would do in a system in that condition, which already has a lot of fixed nitrogen available.

 

[REEF DIVA]

I was asked what is my flow rate through my 80 watt UV? I suspect my flow rate is only about 400 gallons an hour which should give me a very high kill rate with that low a flow.

 

[mannyhernz]

manny - what have you tried?

Ive just started the dirty method recently..but havent done anything else other than tank maintenance.
Gfo carbon..no water changes.
Also have a small aquafuge f ull of chaeto

 

[Billybatz9]

I'm on day 3 of dirty method and tank seems to be worse with dinos. I'm starting to actually see the bubbles forming now when I never use to.

 

[Billybatz9]

I left lights on longer than normal and dinos aren't on sand bed anymore, only on rocks. Any idea on if we leave lights on longer than normal, if this does anything? Phytoplankton needs 12 hours on and 12 hours off. What if we don't let dinos sleep? Stupid question, but hey, you never knowww

 

[Dans85]

I left lights on longer than normal and dinos aren't on sand bed anymore, only on rocks. Any idea on if we leave lights on longer than normal, if this does anything? Phytoplankton needs 12 hours on and 12 hours off. What if we don't let dinos sleep? Stupid question, but hey, you never knowww

I accidentally tried something similar. I have a HOB fuge and I was leaving the light on 24/7. The light I was using was shining very dim in to the tank during lights out and it made them worse for me. When I replaced the light with one that shined in from the back side the dinoflagellates would go free floating and would eventually take hold in the sump leaving the DT clear.

 

[Billybatz9]

Ive just started the dirty method recently..but havent done anything else other than tank maintenance.
Gfo carbon..no water changes.
Also have a small aquafuge f ull of chaeto

I don't think you should be running gfo or carbon if you are doing dirty method. I could be mistaken though

 

[karimwassef]

I was asked what is my flow rate through my 80 watt UV? I suspect my flow rate is only about 400 gallons an hour which should give me a very high kill rate with that low a flow.

I run at 200gph. I think it makes a difference to go slower and run lights out and a wet skimmer to export. It worked for me.

 

[tastyfish]

There's a lot of experienced reefers here looking for the "miracle cure". Guys, ask yourself: When has there EVER been a miracle cure in this hobby?

Dinoflagellates are one of the oldest family of organisms on earth. They are motile, tough little buggers. You need to simultaneously change multiple factors to make the environment totally hostile for their survival.

Miracle cures in bottles do not exist and will not remove the underlying cause.

 

[justthewife]

I don't think anyone is really looking for a miracle cure. A miracle, maybe, miracle cure, no. Everyone is just very frustrated in dealing with this prehistoric organism. In my case, we have done everything since last April to get them to back off. It was getting very frustrating. I believe we had our outbreak due to a change from crushed coral to sand. Even thought we did it very slowly and carefully, it still reaked havoc on the tank. In my opinion it is more a matter of keeping them at bay than getting rid of them. I am starting to wonder if a species are actually present in all tanks (actually they are, the good kind anyway, live in corals) and with a wrong mix of circumstances they just get out of hand. So anything anyone can do to keep them under control is a plus for the health of the tank and knowledge to other reefers . I am sure everyone here will agree there is always an underlying cause, but sometimes finding it when you are doing everything right and things are still going bad is very hard and frustrating. Just like any illness.

 

[PorkchopExpress]

Reef Diva - since you have UV, and a particularly strong one, i would also suggest you do a 3 day blackout...force the dinos into the water column, that will give you the best chances of pushing the dinos into the UV which won't kill them all but will strongly inhibit their ability to reproduce...that is, afterall, the primary function of a UV sterilizer...of course at 400gph on an 80w it should be strong enough to actually kill them

here is a chart of max flow rates for a given UV sterilizer wattage...i would aim for under that number:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1168

manny - same advice for you...do a 3 day blackout to kick them back a bit...right now your tank is infested with dinos and it'll take a lot more work for the other algaes to take a foothold with the dinos covering your rocks and tank...do the 3 day and then continue feeding heavy whilst dosing zooplankton and phytoplankton...if you're NO3 limited, then yes dose some but otherwise you can get the extra nitrates by feeding heavy and maybe even introducing more fish...if you're PO4 limited, NeoPhos can raise it up...take the skimmer offline