Dinoflagellates.

In a old tank I successfully used Diflucan to treat a bad out break of byropsis being dino is a type of algae could the Diflucan eliminate dinos?
 
I haven't read any reports by anyone who has tried fluconazole on dinoflagellates, not that I can remember, anyway, and search didn't turn up much. You could try it, but I wouldn't count on it working.
 
I'm now in control of my Ostreopsis dinoflagellate blooms.

This was accomplished with GFO being added or removed.
I had been having dinos in my reef tank for years.
First time this happened I took the GFO out and it took about two months for the dinos to vanish.
My findings got posted here, but people seemed to prefer to keep their heads in the sand.

Next time I added GFO in again I totally expected to have dinos showing up again and sure they did, but it took them around two months to get close to bloom levels.
I took the GFO out again and it took the same time for them to fade away. It's this delayed effect that makes it so difficult to spot GFO as a culprit.

The third event was a flash appearance when I let the fine dust from a freshly added GFO in the tank unfiltered.
I'ts so difficult to get repeated results so this certainly looks like a proper solution to dinoflagellate blooms in our reef tanks.

This result was not a shot in the dark, but years of hard work.
Somehow I think reefers will still prefer to ignore this solution and rather take shots in the dark at something else.
At the same time we need reefers to verify this result by trying it out on their dino blooms.

A study by Dana Riddle points out the iron in our GFO filtered reef tanks is mostly in suspended particulates and not dissolved.
Those particulates are bound to hit the bottom at some point just where our not so beloved dinos like to hang out.
This is why I think iron could be a major player..
 
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Thank you, DNA, for all your efforts to help hobbyists solve the problem of dinoflagellates. From what I've read, it's a very difficult problem to solve, because of the wide variation of treatments to combat the wide variation in dino species. I had some luck using UV for my outbreak.

To sum up what you've said in the last few posts, removing GFO from your system has shown to eliminate dinos. Awesome!

Would you care to give us bullet list of your favorite solutions? I, and many others would be eternally grateful! Thanks again!
 
That's interesting. Have you ever tried iron supplementation on its own, to see how that affects the system? I wonder what's actually happening.
 
bertoni said:
That's interesting. Have you ever tried iron supplementation on its own, to see how that affects the system? I wonder what's actually happening.
Click to expand...

No, but I might do the opposite and try aluminium based phosphate media, just to prove my point even further. Since I'm in control I don't see a good reason for further tests right now so there could be a long wait for it.

I also think we should open our eyes for the possibility that cyanobacteria blooms could have the same driving force.
 
FWIW, I rarely have used gfo but have spurred on dino/cyano out breaks by heavy over feeding.

Iron is necessary to their existence as it is with most all life. However, since most can benefit from photosynthesis iron plays an important part to the synthesis of chlorophyll. Deplete iron and you hinder their ability to do so. Keep in mind this also applies to other photosynthetic organisms in your tank like corals or anemones.

I do dose a diy iron citrate solution regularly for my ATS. Does not seem to effect my cyano/dino population which is not noticeable currently with the naked eye.
 
DNA said:
I'm now in control of my Ostreopsis dinoflagellate blooms.

This was accomplished with GFO being added or removed.
I had been having dinos in my reef tank for years.
First time this happened I took the GFO out and it took about two months for the dinos to vanish.
My findings got posted here, but people seemed to prefer to keep their heads in the sand.

Next time I added GFO in again I totally expected to have dinos showing up again and sure they did, but it took them around two months to get close to bloom levels.
I took the GFO out again and it took the same time for them to fade away. It's this delayed effect that makes it so difficult to spot GFO as a culprit.

The third event was a flash appearance when I let the fine dust from a freshly added GFO in the tank unfiltered.
I'ts so difficult to get repeated results so this certainly looks like a proper solution to dinoflagellate blooms in our reef tanks.

This result was not a shot in the dark, but years of hard work.
Somehow I think reefers will still prefer to ignore this solution and rather take shots in the dark at something else.
At the same time we need reefers to verify this result by trying it out on their dino blooms.

A study by Dana Riddle points out the iron in our GFO filtered reef tanks is mostly in suspended particulates and not dissolved.
Those particulates are bound to hit the bottom at some point just where our not so beloved dinos like to hang out.
This is why I think iron could be a major player..
Click to expand...


Well that may explain why I have dinos starting in my tank. I run GFO and recently started dosing Red Sea Coral Colors 4 supplement pack. Bottle "C" is Fe(iron) & complementary metals.

So did you restart your tank., installed UV and/or just eliminated the use of GFO to get rid of the dino?
 
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DNA I also thank you for all your efforts and hard work in helping us all control these beasts. I have read all or most of the posts here. If I am correct you feel that the presence of the dino's in the tank is primarily caused by iron in the GFO or in some other form.
I have been battling the dinos for some time. Never did the scope thing to see what type but they are. They don't show in the sandbed until lights have been on for a few hours being my main identifier. I have had mild success using DINOX and other chemical additives but they clear up and return soon after. I do not use GFO anymore. So what could be the source of iron fueling the dinos? Your thoughts are welcomed.
 
Scope view of my invaders.

Scope view of my invaders.

Anyone want to venture a guess on the species? I'm thinking Ostreopsis...

Great info in this thread BTW. Thank you!
 

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I'm poor at ids. Someone else might be able to help.

A culture of small animals might help in some way, although not directly. They could redirect the nutrient flow, though.
 
DNA said:
I'm now in control of my Ostreopsis dinoflagellate blooms.

This was accomplished with GFO being added or removed.
I had been having dinos in my reef tank for years.
First time this happened I took the GFO out and it took about two months for the dinos to vanish.
My findings got posted here, but people seemed to prefer to keep their heads in the sand.

Next time I added GFO in again I totally expected to have dinos showing up again and sure they did, but it took them around two months to get close to bloom levels.
I took the GFO out again and it took the same time for them to fade away. It's this delayed effect that makes it so difficult to spot GFO as a culprit.

The third event was a flash appearance when I let the fine dust from a freshly added GFO in the tank unfiltered.
I'ts so difficult to get repeated results so this certainly looks like a proper solution to dinoflagellate blooms in our reef tanks.

This result was not a shot in the dark, but years of hard work.
Somehow I think reefers will still prefer to ignore this solution and rather take shots in the dark at something else.
At the same time we need reefers to verify this result by trying it out on their dino blooms.

A study by Dana Riddle points out the iron in our GFO filtered reef tanks is mostly in suspended particulates and not dissolved.
Those particulates are bound to hit the bottom at some point just where our not so beloved dinos like to hang out.
This is why I think iron could be a major player..
Click to expand...


+1 for GFO causing an outbreak. Just starting my dino battle. My outbreak started one day after adding my GFO reactor which had been off-line for about 5 months. Was going on vacation so did a big water change and fired up my phosban reactor and BAM, the next day Dinopalooza Toronto 2019 was kicked off......
 
I see some people say that fresh water kills dinos instantly. Could a person remove their corals, fish etc...from the tank, then fill it full of fresh water? Maybe let the system run for a while so all of the pumps and skimmer get fully exposed.
 
You could try it. I don't know whether that would kill the cysts. If not, the infection might return quickly if there's an underlying issue.
 
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