A dinos life

[Back where it all began]

I may have missed this, but any data to suggest how long dinos live outside the tank. For instance, every time I use my salinity monitor or glass cleaner, etc, am I at risk of reintroducing the Dino back into the tank. Same for any other component related to its function.

 

[Retro Reefer]

not sure about Dino’s living outside of tank but I thoroughly rinse and air dry anything that goes into my tank after using.

 

[ScottB]

Anecdotally -- on microscope slides -- they continue living until the water on the slide dries.

As to worry about reintroduction, I would not worry. Because they will never leave your tank. They will always lurk there, waiting for you to screw up (run too clean) so that they can take over again.

To my eye right now, my tanks are free of ostreopsis dinos. But to my microscope, not so much.

As to cross contamination, again I don't worry. You either have an environment where they can thrive or you don't.

 

[Back where it all began]

I understand. What you've said makes sense. Thanks

 

[ScottB]

I understand. What you've said makes sense. Thanks

I have a little more familiarity with dinos than I would like, that's for sure. Keep this doc someplace safe in case of an outbreak. It was produced by our resident dino ID expert @taricha . Whenever he contradicts something I say, go with what he says.

 

[Back where it all began]

I have a little more familiarity with dinos than I would like, that's for sure. Keep this doc someplace safe in case of an outbreak. It was produced by our resident dino ID expert @taricha . Whenever he contradicts something I say, go with what he says.

Thank-you for your time. Do you know what type of treatments he recommends? I'm doing h2o2 and aggressive net cleaning but nothing else.

 

[saltyhog]

The last time I asked taricha about H2O2 he wasn't too keen on it. It's a random oxidizer and may do more damage to the dinos competition than it does the dinos themselves. If you know what kind of dinos you have it help with how to treat them.

Ostreopsis is very sensitive to UV since it goes in to the water column at night. A good UV and a reduction in lighting schedule to encourage them in to the water column usually helps quickly. Amphidinium....UV doesn't help at all.

Things that seem to have helped all types include 1. elevating NO3 to 5 or above, PO4 to 0.07 or above. 2. dosing silicates to encourage a competing diatom bloom 3. increasing biodiversity/adding bacterial supplements. 4. manual removal

If you get a microscopic picture of your dinos it would help. Post it in the nuisance algae forum and tag taricha.

 

[saltyhog]

I also agree with @ScottB. I have come to the opinion that they are already in almost all tanks, they just need the right conditions to flourish.

 

[ScottB]

So your next question might be "what microscope should I buy?"

This is the one I bought, but I had to buy a phone cradle separately to get decent video. You can get anything that does 400X or better, but I recommend one that comes with a decent phone cradle. Checks reviews for that functionality.



Once you get the video into youtube then post link under Nuisance Algae forum and we will ID it and suggest treatment. Generally, this means raising nutrients, running UV(1 watt per 3 gallons), basting the dinos, etc.

If you want to learn up on dinos, this is the main thread :

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I don't know what percentage of folks had luck battling dinos with any of the methods in the old Dino thread but it's obviously a very low percentage, so I'd like refresh folks on the natural alternatives and lay out three areas of info: some of the factors that contribute to a dino outbreak...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Back where it all began]

Very cool. I ordered a uv that I’ll install soon. It seems that a touch of h2o2 and manual removal is making a nice dent. I believe I arrived at this problem by overdosing Vibrant, not correctly calculating actual water column volume. The lack of algae opened the door for the dinos I believe. My nutrient levels are usually on the higher side as my corals seem to like it that way. That’s the odd thing about these dinos is that my nitrate and phosphate are usually a touch high by today’s thoughts.

 

[saltyhog]

So your next question might be "what microscope should I buy?"

This is the one I bought, but I had to buy a phone cradle separately to get decent video. You can get anything that does 400X or better, but I recommend one that comes with a decent phone cradle. Checks reviews for that functionality.



Once you get the video into youtube then post link under Nuisance Algae forum and we will ID it and suggest treatment. Generally, this means raising nutrients, running UV(1 watt per 3 gallons), basting the dinos, etc.

If you want to learn up on dinos, this is the main thread :

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I don't know what percentage of folks had luck battling dinos with any of the methods in the old Dino thread but it's obviously a very low percentage, so I'd like refresh folks on the natural alternatives and lay out three areas of info: some of the factors that contribute to a dino outbreak...

www.reef2reef.com

That's the same scope I have. Works great!

 

[Idoc]

So your next question might be "what microscope should I buy?"

This is the one I bought, but I had to buy a phone cradle separately to get decent video. You can get anything that does 400X or better, but I recommend one that comes with a decent phone cradle. Checks reviews for that functionality.



Once you get the video into youtube then post link under Nuisance Algae forum and we will ID it and suggest treatment. Generally, this means raising nutrients, running UV(1 watt per 3 gallons), basting the dinos, etc.

If you want to learn up on dinos, this is the main thread :

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I don't know what percentage of folks had luck battling dinos with any of the methods in the old Dino thread but it's obviously a very low percentage, so I'd like refresh folks on the natural alternatives and lay out three areas of info: some of the factors that contribute to a dino outbreak...

www.reef2reef.com

Do you have a link to the phone cradle? I have this same scope and live it.

 

[taricha]

The last time I asked taricha about H2O2 he wasn't too keen on it. It's a random oxidizer and may do more damage to the dinos competition than it does the dinos themselves.

yep. Still agree. h2o2 hits lots of targets and it would take long time to kill off everything that the h2o2 targets to finally work mostly on dinos.
plus, if the dino cells are in a mucus mat on sand or rock, you're really not going to affect them much with an oxidizer. Some people who had success with h2o2 were likely hitting the free-swimming cells like ostreopsis. But UV does the same thing but better...

 

[ScottR]

Anecdotally -- on microscope slides -- they continue living until the water on the slide dries.

As to worry about reintroduction, I would not worry. Because they will never leave your tank. They will always lurk there, waiting for you to screw up (run too clean) so that they can take over again.

To my eye right now, my tanks are free of ostreopsis dinos. But to my microscope, not so much.

As to cross contamination, again I don't worry. You either have an environment where they can thrive or you don't.

+1 to this. Once in your tank, always there lurking to become relevant again.

 

[ScottB]

Do you have a link to the phone cradle? I have this same scope and live it.

Yes, the scope is great. I use it often to help identify stuff in my tanks and others.
The cradle works, but takes some effort to get/keep the lens aligned properly. I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5.
But it is 100X better than trying to hold my phone still manually.

 

[ScottB]

Very cool. I ordered a uv that I’ll install soon. It seems that a touch of h2o2 and manual removal is making a nice dent. I believe I arrived at this problem by overdosing Vibrant, not correctly calculating actual water column volume. The lack of algae opened the door for the dinos I believe. My nutrient levels are usually on the higher side as my corals seem to like it that way. That’s the odd thing about these dinos is that my nitrate and phosphate are usually a touch high by today’s thoughts.

Yeah, you are not the only one reporting solid nutrient numbers and dinos at the same time. Weird, but it does happen.

Are you above 10 and .1 for NO3 and PO4?

The moment I go below .03 phosphates, dinos return instantly.