Dinoflagellates.

i killed them again. did a multiple treatment approach similar to a cancer chemotherapy ;) what i did: silicarbon to remove silicates, lights out for 2 days and ramp them for 2 hours more every day, take out the sump from the circulation and install an intank skimmer, bring KH to 9, and dose a chemical from my lfs. after a week they were completely gone. now i will have to see if they come back, but last time i did this it killed them for over 2 years.

if anyone is willing to analyze the chemical i could send a sample, as the packaging does not state whats in there. i suspect some kind of antibiotic or herbizide. nothing else suffered, neither my sps, lps nor my rbta.

greetings martin
 
Sorry, but killed them agian doesn't say much. lights out and nutrient deprivation does little but push things down the road at best. Not trying to be rude just trying to keep this thread productive. :deadhorse: Would love to see more about this symbiotic thing. scubbers don't work, in fact I am of the opinion that mine taking nutrient to low for to long is what allowed this festering pool of crap to get a foot hold.
 
I discovered my return pump rusting and can't seem to kick the idea that this caused my Dino bloom. I only make this claim because my Dino issue started about two weeks after adding this pump. Been fighting my dinos since Jan but didn't discover the rust until a few days ago.

I am waiting for a replacement pump and have bought some cuprisorb with the idea that it will take out anything that pump was leaching into the tank. I am hoping for a miracle at this point....I am out of ideas. My last three things to try will be Ultra Algae X, uv, or red slime remover.

I know this isn't cyano but an lfs in my area says it has worked for many of his customers he services tanks with. His theory is that it kills the symbiotic bacteria of the Dino. His approach is to dose as directions state then once treatment is over dose beneficial bacteria.
 
Sorry, but killed them agian doesn't say much. lights out and nutrient deprivation does little but push things down the road at best. Not trying to be rude just trying to keep this thread productive. Would love to see more about this symbiotic thing. scubbers don't work, in fact I am of the opinion that mine taking nutrient to low for to long is what allowed this festering pool of crap to get a foot hold.
Click to expand...

well, killing might be the wrong word but the last time i did this, i was dino free for 2 years.

if a chemical unavailable and unknown to you is beating a dead horse, i cannot help you. others might be interested in this, so please keep your criticism and post your successful story of how you got rid of them, even for a while!
 
:wave:I should have read more carefully, I just saw saw the lights out and instantly thought, here we ago again... I will look into this silicate product and would love to know what your LFS gave you. I am getting to the point that anything is worth a shot. The nualgi product doesn't seam to help just in case someone was curious about that
 
After blowing the dinos off of the algae on the rocks I realized I've got much more of them than I thought since the surface area is greatly increased.

I guess I have to withdraw my comment from few days ago about introducing scrubbers and algae as competition since I have quite a bit of algae right now and blooming dinos at the same time.

The hope for a different outcome with a fresh start is also out of the window.
This time I have at least a long list of things I'm not even going to try.

---

Burnah. Your LFS chemical is much like Algea X.
They provide no information and insist in doing a ritual to help with the process.
Not identifying the dinos could also cause the treatment to be misleading to aquarists with different strains of dinos.
Next step would be to repeat your success story in other tanks or get your LFS to list all their customers that have used their chemical and see what they have to say.
After my experience with Algea X I think it's the extra measures that are providing the results, not the chemicals.

---
 
Is there a known relationship between high silicates and dinoflagellates? I only thought silicates were related to diatom blooms.
 
Diatoms and dinos on the sand look very similar and are often mistaken. I think it ends there.
With high silicates you get diatoms, but it's the daily disappearing act of the dinos that give them away.
 
Pants. You still taking samples? I believe I have them coming back in the corner of my tank. Could be cyano. At this point not sure.

This time I will run some experiments, if they are.
 
I don't understand it all that well, either. I'll have to look up the references, if I can find them. This issue has been discussed before. I might be able to find the relevant threads.
 
I assume they would need it for exoskeleton. That might go along with some observations that changing out RO components plays a role in breaking the cycle. If silicates are leaching out of DI resin or passing through all together, it could provide fuel for growth. I have also logged two KH crashes with sudden blooms. Keep in mind, we're talking about hundreds of species of dinos, not just ostreopsis. Basic anatomy can have a lot of variables.
 
Fwiw, I dosed sodium silicate to increase diatoms, in the hopes that the diatoms would help out compete the Dinos of nutrients. It worked pretty well, along with reduced photo period, and dosing biodigest, to also help out compete for nutrients. After a month of this, my Dino flagellate problem had been reduced significantly and I've resumed normal tank operations, with only a spot of Dino here and there. Definitely a manageable level now. I'm hoping with regular siphoning, I can keep it from blooming again now.
 
The cell wall for dinofalgellates is organic and mostly cellulose as best as I can ascertain not silicate. Some species are referred to as armored with thick celluose areas called theca but not an exctoskelton. A few studies suggest they dominate and diatoms wane when silicate is reduced by the later.
 
Many species of planktonic dino are mixotrophic and some even eat diatoms. In theory that could mean silicates could indirectly feed Dinos. But I doubt the presence of silicates is a real cause of them in reef tanks. Seems very unlikely.
 
I suspect waxing/ waning dinos may have something to do with organic C levels and certain momomers which unfortunately we can't measure in our tanks.

I haven't seen anything that suggest they eat silicate( an oxidant without any nutreints or food value I can understand); any reference on that would be helpful.
 
tmz said:
I suspect waxing/ waning dinos may have something to do with organic C levels and certain momomers which unfortunately we can't measure in our tanks.

I haven't seen anything that suggest they eat silicate( an oxidant without any nutreints or food value I can understand); any reference on that would be helpful.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't it something to figure that out? This could even be a potential cash cow for someone given how difficult problem dinos are.

As far as silicates, I did not say dinos eat silicates. I said they eat diatoms, which eat silicates.
 
157 posts.... Could I get the executive summary, how to rid the Dino? :). I've tried talking them to death' not working :(
 
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