Dinoflagellates.

[karimwassef]

That is a pain. I have two kits for Ca, Alk, NO3, PO4
I also have two separate batches for Mg from Salifert (3 months apart).

Paranoid much?

 

[Kurt03]

How often should we be replacing carbon being used to remove the toxins? Of course it's highly dependent on the die off. How much is everyone using?

Also was wondering how the sand bed transplant experiment went? I'm thinking of setting up another tank, with rock from my display, new sand seeded from display sand, let this reproduce for a while and slowly move my frags over after cleaning them off with a tooth brush and maybe some rodi water only on the plug? Then I can do an extended lights out if needed on the Dino tank.

 

[karimwassef]

Carbon only lasts for a couple of weeks. It's a temporary solution/pick-me-up.

 

[karimwassef]

Since this thread has some of the most experienced chemical/biological reef keepers I know, I thought I'd ask this here.

After my dinos, I have had a pretty solid tank with outrageous growth. I have an ATS, skimmer, chaeto farm, DSB, etc... All good except for a few isolated pockets of cyano here and there.

Then... this "black algae" started to show up. My fish won't eat it and it WON'T SHOW UP in my ATS. Only my urchins will eat it

It's slow growing, but it retards my encrusting coral growth since it prefers the coral/rock interface.

What is it? Pics and videos:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24516421#post24516421

Please help

 

[Kurt03]

Added a large cup of sand from my established display tank and a pod pack that was in the display for almost a week. Hopefully it helps...

 

[taricha]

Added a large cup of sand from my established display tank and a pod pack that was in the display for almost a week. Hopefully it helps...

You asked about the sand bed transplant, and it would totally have worked - if my dino infestation had lasted long enough. By the time my cultured algae sand had matured enough, the dinos had virtually collapsed.
I still wring out my dino scrubber filter floss with traces of ostreopsis dinos into the cultured sand tank and it never survives very long.
Under the scope I've checked the sand and seen ciliates with multiple ostis ingested. Pods aren't as transparent as ciliates, hard to say for certain visually if they've been munching ostis too.

But the cultured sand seems to have it's limits. I tried adding small amounts (a cup or so) of healthy very biodiverse sand into the dino battlefield and it holds its's own for only a short time before the dinos slowly reclaim the area.

Maybe like you said, your balance is more delicate and a cup here and there and a basket o' pods will tip the scales.

 

[Kurt03]

Any experiments done with dosing amino acids to help feed sps during a Dino infestation? Do Dino's seem to feed on Amino's also?

 

[Kurt03]

no mention of mollies lately? Did they not pan out as eaters of dinos? I need more poo in my 20qt so picked up a few from the lfs, they started picking at the dinos right away, or are they just picking at everything maybe? They seem to have stopped after being in the tank for an hour or so, ill continue to watch them though.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=838353
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1605433

Did no3/po4 tests today (RedSea low range)
NO3 = 0
PO4 = .06 i think?

Good sign as this is the first time i have had a po4 reading since dinos. Still 0 no3 though, so dosing some KNO3 to bump me up to ~1ppm over a couple days.

 

[karimwassef]

haven't talked or looked at brackish mollies

 

[Kurt03]

I'll cross my fingers then. In the least they will help with nutrients now and the algae after Dino's are done.

I'm now waiting on my 20 long to build up some micro fauna then will move some of my stressed coral from the Dino 20. I'm now trying to decide how long to wait. It's a 20 long tank, with 15 lbs or so of fresh sand, a couple large scoops of sand from my 3 year old display, and a large rock from the display. My thought is to move one of my more stressed corals first, toothbrush the frag plug, rinse, then place in the 20l where hopefully it can handle the rest of the Dino's. Would an iodine dip do anything for the Dino's on the plug? I need to get a microscope!

 

[Kurt03]

Is it my imagination that I see bubbles form on the Dino's right after feeding anything significant? Efficient little buggers.

Progress shot.. The consistency seems to have changed a little.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Been dealing with what I thought might be Dinos for the last month in a brand new BioCube 29. Tank is 2 months and 4 days old. Can someone confirm my fear? I siphoned what I could, ran it through a paper towel and in only 10 minutes, it was gathering back together. Next, I dumped the water in a bottle, shook it for 30 seconds and dumped the water through a coffee filter. It seems to have removed about half but 10 - 15 minutes and what was left was gathering again. I don't get the hour to hour growth that some people detail with Dinos, and it's definitely not a plague... on a scale of 1 to 10, i'd say it's a 2.

Here's what gathered after the water was poured through a paper towel.

Same water through a coffee filter.

Based on what i've been reading this last hour or two, it seems the blame rests on low biodiversity, low nutrients and water too clean. I had a decent amount of pods the first month but I struggle to find any on the glass now. I do weekly 5 gallon water changes with freshly mixed IO. I recently added a skimmer and started running GFO. I have an InTank Media Basket with filter floss (changed every 3 days), Purigen, ROX carbon and GFO. I have an AI Prime that I run for 8 hours a day (10 if you count the 1 hour ramp each way). No coral yet, though I was very excited to add my first piece this weekend. Not sure if I should even bother right now...

EDIT: It might be hard to tell in the pic, but the Dinos eventually settled on the bottom and up the side of the glass. This happened again the second time, neither stayed suspended for long. Not sure if that says anything about Ostreopsis vs Amphidinium.

 

[Kurt03]

Any animals in the tank? Sounds like you lowered the phosphate to low with the gfo since you didn't have much input. No idea on the picture but others will chime in. If you don't have anything in the tank just do a lights out for several days or weeks, build the bio diversity in the dark.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Any animals in the tank? Sounds like you lowered the phosphate to low with the gfo since you didn't have much input. No idea on the picture but others will chime in. If you don't have anything in the tank just do a lights out for several days or weeks, build the bio diversity in the dark.

Three fish: a tiny Ocellaris Clown, a Bangaii and a Tailspot Blenny. I also have 5x Trochus snails and 1x Super Tongan Nassarius. I don't know what happened. My Dad and I both bought live rock from the same store, and he's got pineapple sponges, spirorbid worms, feather dusters, amphipods, copepods, ball anenomes... you name it. I have about 5 Copepods, lol. I know I have amphipods because I see the molts floating around but i've never seen one in this tank. I don't get it, but it probably has something to do with why i'm where I am currently.

 

[ben01]

I have been a battling a massive plague of O. ovata for months now. I ided them under a microscope. I may finally be winning thanks to this thread.

I was running a fairly low nutrient system by having only three small fish in a 65 gallon tank and giving them minimal, but adequate, feeding. My NO3 and phosphate were always measured at zero or very near it. When the dinos hit they covered everything, even my zoas and gorgonians closed up.

After reading this thread a few months ago I decided to start over feeding my tank with frozen food. The dinos actually receded some and mostly covered the rocks, not the livestock, but were still pretty heavy. My bristle worm population exploded along with thousands of brittle stars. A couple months ago I also started dosing Sodium Silicate to kickstart some diatoms into competition but that doesn't seem to have done much. About a week ago I put in a small amount of new live rock from the LFS. Today I noticed that the amount of dino "coverage" is the smallest it has been in months!

With a sample size of one and no control this is hardly a scientific experiment but I think the live rock addition my have really helped. Now I just hope the dinos don't make a comeback.

 

[DNA]

__________________
BioCube 29 - AI Prime

Another perfect tank size for a bio bomb.
It's been more like years than months since it was brought up first.

 

[Kurt03]

Another perfect tank size for a bio bomb.
It's been more like years than months since it was brought up first.

by bio bomb you are talking about loading the tank with coral right? Just how much coral are you thinking? I have a handful of frags, mostly sps, in my 20 that has dinos, they dont seem to be doing much besides keeping them off there tissue. But maybe the dinos would be worse if they weren't there..

 

[StrangeDejavu]

Another perfect tank size for a bio bomb.
It's been more like years than months since it was brought up first.

Can you explain what bio bomb means? Sorry, i'm still new and learning my way around.

 

[Kurt03]

I think it is using a large amount of coral to biologically fight the Dino's but I haven't seen details on how much coral or what kinds, hence my post above.

 

[StrangeDejavu]

I think it is using a large amount of coral to biologically fight the Dino's but I haven't seen details on how much coral or what kinds, hence my post above.

Hopefully we can get an answer soon because i'm ready to develop a plan of attack before it gets too bad. I'm thinking about doing a final water change and remove as much as I can see, add fresh carbon and black out for 3 days, maybe 7, i'm not sure yet. I don't have coral yet so now's the time to do an extended blackout if necessary. I shut off the skimmer last night so the tank can get dirty. I'm also feeding twice a day. Thinking about also dosing MB7 and phyto during the blackout like another member mentioned a few pages back. Maybe copepods too, I don't know. I'm ready to act now though, before things get out of control.