Dino's wiping out my reef tank

[bryanracing95]

Well it turns out that my suspected Brown Algae issue has been dinoflagellates all along. It is not a really heavy slime covering the rock and tank it is mainly on my sand bed and dusting here and there on the rock. This weekend it wiped out my school of blue green chromis, six line wrasse, diamond goby. I totally changed my filtration to a Magnavore Berliner 125 with a total berlin set up and filled the two fluidized reactors with carbon and phosgard. I tried the lights out method for 5 days with only actnics on and it seemed to help but now that the lights are on they are coming back. I am trying everything I can to get rid of these. Does anyone have any proven tactics as I am running out of options. My only tank survivors are all of my corals, convict goby, banded shrimp and sand sifter star, urchin is hanging on too

 

[HighlandReefer]

To Reef Central

Dinos are a real problem to control. I don't think there is an absolute cure-all for controlling them. Randy has written an article which suggests a popular method for hopefully achieving control:

Problem Dinoflagellates and pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

If this method does not work, and you are at Witt's-end, perhaps trying AlgaeFix may work. We have had a couple of hobbyists who have gained control of Dinos using it:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=15030757#post15030757

 

[Jk5]

We have tried only actinics during 14 days against a several infestation of cyano with good results...
No bad side effect with the corals...
Some corals look better in coloration and growth after 14 days with actinics...
I dont know the resuls against dinoflagellates...

There are "papers" saying to kill dinoflagellate trhougth photosyntesys inhibition are needed 8-10 days...
With only 5 days inhibition it is possible the regrowth of vegetative cells.



Dinoflagellates.

"The number of dead cells rose rapidly after
darkness (figure 2b). A maximum of 75% of the cells were
found to be deadâ€"according to the Sytox staining techniqueâ€"
after 5 days in darkness. Duplicate sub-cultures
from 3 day dark cultures resulted in regrowth of vegetative
cells, after a short lag period. By contrast, duplicate subcultures
from 8 day dark cultures produced no detectable
growth (increases in fluorescence) over a three week monitoring
period. The potential of dark cultures to regrow was
tested twice with the same results.
Over 9 days of darkness the number of bacteria in the cultures increased fourfold
from 100106 to 400106 bacteria cells ml1 (figure 2c),
and the increased bacterial numbers (presumably supported
by dinoflagellate lysis) was also noted in TEM and
light observations. All bacterial cells were rod-shaped
bacilli. Viruses were not observed. Cell protease levels
(LAP) increased fivefold to sixfold in darkness (figure 2d),
with the protease activity increase not apparent until 5 days"

source: http://www.uwm.edu/~berges/Publications/Franklin_Berges_2004.pdf

 

[Jk5]

This is the method we tried against a several pest of cyano...
I dont know if it might work against dinoflagellates...

http://translate.google.es/translat...thread.php?t=13241&sl=es&tl=en&hl=es&ie=UTF-8

"Regarding the action on the corals, I can say that in the 2 weeks that I have had under these circumstances, have not suffered anything - and always take these claims with the appropriate caution, but most have been developed, improved colors and healed wounds. Further, these startling results led me to establish another line of research about the benefits and detriments of the actinic light / trifósforo, also based on these studies. "

 

[bryanracing95]

I have been using algaeFix for 2 weeks now and it hasnt even put a dent in the growth. I have ordered Fauna Marin Algae X and am going to give it a try. I have heard all the horror stories but its either dinos wiping out my reef or the product so Im going to roll the dice. I have tried the actnic route, 5 days the growth slowed but as soon as I turned the halides on they are back with a vengance.

 

[Kimdive]

We bought a phosphate reactor after we found out our readings were high. After 3 weeks all dino's and hair algae were gone

 

[TamiW]

I had a lot of luck with leaving the tank dark every other day for about a month. I started out with two days of darkness, then went to the every other day schedule. The corals were fine with that schedule, but the dinoflagelletes would receed when the lights were out. And each time it came back, it was a little bit less than the time before.

 

[Kimdive]

We have a magnifica, so that wasn't really possible. What are your phosphate readings?

 

[AdamMillerDO]

I run a 75 gallon rimless reef ready display with a 20 gallon sump. I've been dealing with Dino's for a couple years. I can maintain control with very rigorous tank husbandry. However, I neglect it for work or travel the Dino's bloom. Driving me crazy. I had some success by adding a capful of CoralRX and 30mL Hydrogen Peroxide daily but as soon as I stopped they bloomed again. I don't think there is a fix. I am currently moving into a 40 gallon holding tank so that I can bleach mine and start over!!