karimwassef
Active member
I don't think that's enough... Use UV or something else to kill them before the skimmer... Or use a large fine filter net. You need to break their critical mass long enough for other life to take their place.
Dinoflagellates.
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Quiet_Ivy
New member
UPdate.
bad:
Sucks to be me! 3 day blackout..actually made them *worse*. I see very suspicious brown stuff on my sandbed for the first time. Also there's some goo on a previously clean rock that needs attention. I think the blackouts are just providing a strong evolutionary pressure to go mixotrophic/non photosynthetic. The yellow haze didn't get knocked back at all.
good:
Sacrificial cowrie is still ok. (Got from someone who had a population explosion and thought they'd starve) Only been 5 days tho. Serpent star and hermit still hanging in there.
So tldr version..I've done all the inexpensive things. Reduced lights/blackouts, no filtration (except some carbon), overfeeding, using tap water for top offs (yes, really), adding skimmate from a tank with no dinos, dosing tiny amounts of ammonia, Phyto and pods have failed.
Spend close to 200$ on 6kg of live rock? I can't get real live sand. Spend about $30 on dinoX? It's a lot of money to spend on my empty tank that I can't even have animals in. I'm nearing the end of my patience I think. Brilliant ideas anyone?
blah,
Ivy
bad:
Sucks to be me! 3 day blackout..actually made them *worse*. I see very suspicious brown stuff on my sandbed for the first time. Also there's some goo on a previously clean rock that needs attention. I think the blackouts are just providing a strong evolutionary pressure to go mixotrophic/non photosynthetic. The yellow haze didn't get knocked back at all.
good:
Sacrificial cowrie is still ok. (Got from someone who had a population explosion and thought they'd starve) Only been 5 days tho. Serpent star and hermit still hanging in there.
So tldr version..I've done all the inexpensive things. Reduced lights/blackouts, no filtration (except some carbon), overfeeding, using tap water for top offs (yes, really), adding skimmate from a tank with no dinos, dosing tiny amounts of ammonia, Phyto and pods have failed.
Spend close to 200$ on 6kg of live rock? I can't get real live sand. Spend about $30 on dinoX? It's a lot of money to spend on my empty tank that I can't even have animals in. I'm nearing the end of my patience I think. Brilliant ideas anyone?
blah,
Ivy
Quiet_Ivy
New member
Most of the authors (Borneman, Calfo, Fenner) I've read on dinos say the bloom will burn itself out. That would be consistent with your toxin theory, and what happens in nature. Sure isn't happening in my tank though. Possibly 'burn out' doesn't happen until every living thing in there is dead and the nutrients are gone. Many natural dino blooms are seasonal- we may not have the cues, light or temp or whatever, that tells them to knock it off.
You lost fish that depend heavily/solely on pod population. Significant? Or were they just the smallest fish you had? I would have predicted worsening of dinos as the sand might have contained cysts.
Scraping and siphoning anything in my tank has been very dangerous; I've had animals die every time I got carried away with cleaning. You didn't have success with the recycled skimmate additions though, did you? I tried it on my tank and it made things much worse immediately.
The most frustrating thing is we just don't know if everyone on this thread is dealing with the same genus of dinos. Both of us seem to have more toxicity problems than 'usual' and measures others have had good success with aren't working. Do you know your dinos are Ostreopsis? I'm borrowing a scope Wed. with some luck I'll get some pics up for id.
Ivy on a rainy cold Labour day
mathman7728
New member
can ID this? found long string of this on one rock
can ID this? found long string of this on one rock
thank you!!!
i've attached a photo from a microscope
can ID this? found long string of this on one rock
thank you!!!
i've attached a photo from a microscope
Last edited:
I see what could be possibly 1 dino in that pic and I don't think it is, all I see is algae.
could be diatoms
Black out and reduced photo periods don't work.
Dinos love the sand so remove it, at least where the light shines on it.
Leave the skimmer, phos media off til green algae is growing on the glass.
Run a small amount of carbon.
10uM filter socks.
No water changes.
Run tank water through a 5uM sediment filter with a pump and change the filter every 5 days.
Keep dosing phyto.
Been awhile since I have posted any updates on my battle with dinos. Slow flow UV (57 watt aquaUV) did not kill them but does seem to help in controlling the populations. I have since tried dirty method no GFO, skimmer off for a period of time and then even tried dumping skim mate back in the tank as was suggested earlier in the thread and turning skimmer back off. Also utilize 3 day lights out periods as that knock them back for me and helps keep them in check. Have been feeding photo and have added pods as well. Tank does look better but has only been a week since the last lights out period and still have some dinos present especially on my (previously) large red dragon that I had to cut up due to stn/rtn.
So now I am getting ready to close on a house and do not have a good place for an 8 foot tank. I am going to use this move as an opportunity to do a reset. Am in the process of ordering a custom tank and stand. Plan to use all new live rock and sand from TBS so I don't just move dinos to the new tank and will have plenty of microfauna. I do want to keep my corals and fish. Any suggestions on ways to prevent dinos from hitching a ride into the new tank on my corals? I will have to move a few pieces of rock over that my few remaining larger corals are heavily encrusted on. Thanks in advance.
So now I am getting ready to close on a house and do not have a good place for an 8 foot tank. I am going to use this move as an opportunity to do a reset. Am in the process of ordering a custom tank and stand. Plan to use all new live rock and sand from TBS so I don't just move dinos to the new tank and will have plenty of microfauna. I do want to keep my corals and fish. Any suggestions on ways to prevent dinos from hitching a ride into the new tank on my corals? I will have to move a few pieces of rock over that my few remaining larger corals are heavily encrusted on. Thanks in advance.
karimwassef
Active member
They will transfer. The only place your rock and corals can survive is a well established mature tank. Start a new tank with the rock you have and they will have a clean slate... And be back more powerful than ever.
Quiet_Ivy
New member
That looks a whole lot like coral zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium iirc). Have you been annoying your corals?
Link (can't get this to paste in, sorry): Zooxanthellae
Poking through planktonnet (fun for the whole family
it also looks a bit like a Lepidodinium aka Gymnodinium spp. Here's a pic:
Anyway does look like a dinoflagellate..
hth a bit,
Ivy
Quiet_Ivy
New member
Doing all that except the 5 micron filter and sand removal. I wish I had green algae on the glass. Or anywhere. Got cyano in a few places, and dinos. Not sure how I'd even set up a 5 micron sediment filter, it would clog instantaneously, but I will look into it. I think I have some 10uM socks around, previously had them overnight on the return nozzles. They sure clogged up quickly.
thanks,
Ivy
Quiet_Ivy
New member
Congrats on the new house! One of my favourite quotes is that 3 moves equals a house fire.
I don't have any advice on moving corals, except that I'd do a dip to the max tolerance of the coral. You might try Bayer insecticide dips; I haven't tried it myself but I read that it kills pretty much everything and is tolerated well by corals. TBS seem like a great company; if they shipped up here to Canadia I'd have used their rock.hth
Ivy
I hope this isn't veering off topic here, but since so many of you have them - can I get a recommendation on where to get a good scope? My notes (probably from talking w pants) tell me 4 or 10 objective and 40x magnification but a quality lens is most important. Any brand suggestions? I'm not sure how I would assess the lens. TIA.
karimwassef
Active member
I'll share a personal ally - urchins. The cheapest ones you can find. Get a bunch.
I've never had one die and they eat up cyano, diatoms, algae and bacterial growths. They're pretty indiscriminate and they shift the tide of war.
Well, they did for me anyway.
I've never had one die and they eat up cyano, diatoms, algae and bacterial growths. They're pretty indiscriminate and they shift the tide of war.
Well, they did for me anyway.
Billybatz9
New member
I want to take sandbed out to reduce dinoflagellates, but how do I do that with a pistol shrimp?
Billybatz9
New member
Does anyone else have the same problem as me....
Dealing with dinoflagellates and still buying corals? LOL
Dealing with dinoflagellates and still buying corals? LOL
Billybatz9
New member
Girlfriends tank has dinoflagellates thanks to yours truly But since it's a new tank, we will be experimenting with hair algae.
Hair algae has started to form on her sandbed (new tank process). Will let it grow out and see if it outcompetes the dinos. If it does, I will be taking some and putting it in my tank.
But since it's a new tank, we will be experimenting with hair algae. Hair algae has started to form on her sandbed (new tank process). Will let it grow out and see if it outcompetes the dinos. If it does, I will be taking some and putting it in my tank.
Congrats on the new house! One of my favourite quotes is that 3 moves equals a house fire.
hth
Ivy
Thanks Ivy, I appreciate it.
I was thinking of dipping everything, but wasn't sure what might be effective on dinos.
I was also thinking about spaying any exposed rock that corals are attached to with hydrogen peroxide.
Billybatz9
New member
Anyone have dino-x left over? I would like to buy the bottle of dino-x if you have some left. PM me. Maybe it will work on my kind. I am desperate. lol
mathman7728
New member
my corals seem really happy...good growth, some with good color others with OK color others more brown that i like to see.
interesting that there are different views on what that photo represents....is there someplace/someone that is the expert on IDing this stuff?
interesting that there are different views on what that photo represents....is there someplace/someone that is the expert on IDing this stuff?
