Urgent! Dinoflagellates

[emcmilla]

How do I get rid of them???

 

[3FordFamily]

Some things I have heard that help:

1) Reducing light (no light for a couple days helps) (Have done this)
2) Hydrogen Peroxide (I do this)
3) Tech M Magnesium (Kent Marine) (I do this)
4) UV Sterilizers (Just added)
5) Manually sucking it off rock as you do these things (DEFINITELY helps, I kept waiting for it to go away with all of this dosing-- it doesnt happen quickly thats for sure been battling for months. I moved and upgraded tanks and at same time sucked the stuff off the rock, it hasn't come back it's been about a week, still dosing)
6) Heavy skimming (I do this, skimming for 300 gallons on my 180)
7) Allegedly they can also feed on phosphates, so anything you do to remove phosphates can help. New RO unit membrane and filters, phosban reactors, etc.)

my .02

 

[emcmilla]

thank you. I'll try some of these things

 

[IanWR]

My battle with dinos was won by repeated 3 day blackouts (wrapped tank, covered top for complete dark, no peeking), reduced feeding, thorough cleaning of sand and rock, increased water changes (before and after the blackouts). Took a few months to see the last of them.

 

[Amphiprion]

There's also a substantial thread about them in the chemistry forum. Depending upon the kind you have, all of the above methods may work or not at all.

 

[emcmilla]

ok ill check out the thread

 

[slief]

Read this:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

 

[Relativity]

Two day black out in conjuntion with a one week treatment of algae x. Follow the directions and it will be gone

 

[inktomi]

I was able to get rid of dinos by nuking my tank with carbon dosing (sugar, in my case).. Don't nuke your tank like I did, but very careful carbon dosing might also work to slow them down. Combine that with removing them manually and you might get rid of them.

Good luck!! Getting dinos again is my worst nightmare.

 

[ewoolley]

I had them for a couple of months. I dosed hydrogen peroxide and started to use Kalk, did more water changes, used more go, blackouts, etc. One day they just started to disappear and were gone in a week. I'm not sure what if anything helped. If I had to guess it was the Kalk.

 

[fizzlefish]

I battled Dino for several months. I got close to getting rid of it a few times. I ended up starting a new tank because of this pest.(I honestly wanted to start over and downgrade anyway) Out of everything i tried which was basically everything i found online was Peroxide dosing combined with manual removal(the worst part on a large tank when you are shoulder deep in the water) and using only Antinic. I did the 3 days of darkness which killed i would say 80% of them and after manual removal of the rest took a week to come back but did come back. The 3 days of darkness killed 4 of my corals though so i wasnt going to do it again.