Am I in the clear?

[danieljones8623]

Hey everybody,

I was battling for a long time what I really think was dinos. I did a lot of the things commonly prescribed to fix it. 5 day complete black… they came back. Did various treatments and they still came back. The last thing I tried was I nuked them with Dinox. That worked for a while, but they eventually came back. So, I did a fairly long experiment on my tank that I read might work. I got to the point where I didn’t have any corals anymore, so I just cut off my light for like 3-4 months. I also turned off my skimmer and did less frequent water changes. Still feed my fish about the same. I also added some microbacter7 from time to time.

I finally turned on my light again about 2 weeks ago. First time in around 3-4 months. After two weeks, I haven’t seen any bubbles on my rocks or anything that looks suspiciously like dinos… yet. Some green algae has started to grow though.

Do I have reason to be hopeful that maybe my dino problem has maybe gotten better after my course of action? Also, do you normal pick up dinos from the fish store from it hitchhiking on live rock, coral, etc.?

thanks for any info.

 

[Idoc]

Stabilize your nutrients and hope for the best. If they do come back, maybe your tank has improved with the other biological life that may be able to help control the dinos from a bad outbreak again. But, I do think you have reason for celebration since it's been 2 weeks and no dino signs yet. And yes, you can pick up dinos from live rock or coral plugs....just look around a fish store closely inspecting their tanks prior to purchase.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Without knowing what your water parameters are, it’s anyones guess. Give us a little more to work with. 3-4 months of no light, and “various” treatments, seems quite excessive.

edit. I would agree that not seeing them in the last two weeks is good news

 

[danieljones8623]

Well, I say various. Best I remember, I used chemi clean hoping it was Cyanobacteria, and then used dinoX. Other than that, I was blacked it out two times for 5 days. Before I turned off my skimmer and my light, my phosphate was right at 0 using a hanna checker and my nitrate was around 1-2.5 using salifert test. I’ve let my numbers creep up. My nitrates are around 20-40 now. Not sure what my phosphate level is at the moment. If it’s still around 0, should I dose a little bit?

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I would hold off on doing anything more. There’s a lot going on and you’ll end up playing whack a mole. Let things be for awhile. Is this a relatively new system?

 

[danieljones8623]

It’s a little over a year. So just let the light come on and observe? I was thinking about cutting my skimmer on to help me reel in my nitrates a bit. Should I hold off on that?

 

[CoralB]

Well, I say various. Best I remember, I used chemi clean hoping it was Cyanobacteria, and then used dinoX. Other than that, I was blacked it out two times for 5 days. Before I turned off my skimmer and my light, my phosphate was right at 0 using a hanna checker and my nitrate was around 1-2.5 using salifert test. I’ve let my numbers creep up. My nitrates are around 20-40 now. Not sure what my phosphate level is at the moment. If it’s still around 0, should I dose a little bit?

Yes you never want to let your phosphates zero out or get to low . 0.05-.1 is a good place to keep them . If its zeroed out you run the risk of having all the time and effort become a waste of time . You could get Dino’s again also never let your nitrates zero as well . Need to work on keeping your parameters in check and stable . Adding bacteria is beneficial to out compete cyano and Dino’s but if you don’t fix the issue that gave you those problems they will come back

 

[Jedi1199]

Well, I say various. Best I remember, I used chemi clean hoping it was Cyanobacteria, and then used dinoX. Other than that, I was blacked it out two times for 5 days. Before I turned off my skimmer and my light, my phosphate was right at 0 using a hanna checker and my nitrate was around 1-2.5 using salifert test. I’ve let my numbers creep up. My nitrates are around 20-40 now. Not sure what my phosphate level is at the moment. If it’s still around 0, should I dose a little bit?

This post is why I dislike, and never advise, chemical fixes, especially to new reefers.

You weren't even sure what you were fighting, yet you added chemicals to combat it... whatever it was. When that didn't work, more chemicals and so on. It is a common pattern. Not to call you out specifically, but something I cringe at whenever I see it.

To be honest, I believe there is some real benefit to an overstocked tank. The good stuff simply consumes the stuff the bad guys want faster than the bad guys do.

 

[Jedi1199]

I have a couple questions that come to mind here.

What size tank are we discussing? What is your stock list (Please include all fish, corals and inverts like snails shrimp, crabs ect)? What is your lighting? What size skimmer do you run? What is your filtration system and how is it set up?

This information is important as after a year, your tank "Should" be pretty stable. The fact you are still fighting to get the numbers in line pretty much screams unaddressed issues with the system itself.

 

[danieljones8623]

I just checked my phosphate level. It was at .23. That was with a Hanna checker. That’s the first I’ve ever seen those kinds of levels. It’s usually 0. I think the highest I’ve ever seen was .02. Most of the time it was less than that. I bought an oversized skimmer for my 40 gallon breeder. I think it was rated up to 120 and I never had much of a bio load. Somebody was kind and mentioned that .05-.1 was a decent mark to shoot for. What would be a gos number to target for nitrates? I thought I knew but it would probably wouldn’t hurt for me to ask.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everybody,

I was battling for a long time what I really think was dinos. I did a lot of the things commonly prescribed to fix it. 5 day complete black… they came back. Did various treatments and they still came back. The last thing I tried was I nuked them with Dinox. That worked for a while, but they eventually came back. So, I did a fairly long experiment on my tank that I read might work. I got to the point where I didn’t have any corals anymore, so I just cut off my light for like 3-4 months. I also turned off my skimmer and did less frequent water changes. Still feed my fish about the same. I also added some microbacter7 from time to time.

I finally turned on my light again about 2 weeks ago. First time in around 3-4 months. After two weeks, I haven’t seen any bubbles on my rocks or anything that looks suspiciously like dinos… yet. Some green algae has started to grow though.

Do I have reason to be hopeful that maybe my dino problem has maybe gotten better after my course of action? Also, do you normal pick up dinos from the fish store from it hitchhiking on live rock, coral, etc.?

thanks for any info.

best recourse would have been:
Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

The problem arises when conditions in the aquarium break the biological balance and some dinoflagellate species spread uncontrollably, smothering the rest of the aquarium inhabitants. If the dinoflagellate species in question has the ability to produce toxins (usual in ostreopsis, gambierdiscus and prorocentrum to name a few)
The problem often arises when we try to bring cleanliness it to the limit, in order to improve its appearance and color of corals.
They tend to occur suddenly when the aquarium water reaches an extraordinary cleanliness, in which most microorganisms perishes for lack of food. With no other organisms that can stop them, this type of dinoflagellate can multiply so fast that when we realize it's late and we will find an aquarium full of brown and ochre slime suffocating fish and invertebrates. These dinoflagellates possess chloroplasts enabling them to synthesize their own food even under a minimal amount of light. Some species can form cysts called pellicles which allow them to remain in the aquarium for months although we have completely sterilized or kept in complete darkness. Once the light or the right conditions come back, they will reappear and thus problems.
Most of these dinoflagellates have a very curious behavior, typical of pathogens and parasites. With the presence of light they secrete mucus which adhere to any surface, including algae, coral and fish. They spend hours synthesising food and extending vertically in search of the light source (if we turn off the pumps in the aquarium we can see brown filaments grow towards the surface). When the light source disappears and can no longer synthesize food, it begins to diminish to none.

 

[gibec]

Honestly, I dont think you had to turn off the lights for 4 months. Even with lights on, within that period your dinos stage shoulda been over.

if you now see green algae, from my experience that means your dino stage has now passed to the second stage, which is green algae. For me, after green algae was green corraline algae, then purple corraline. But this is not always the case I believe.. But I would assume your dinos has passed for now. It can always come back in the future randomly, but not as hard. Atleast for me..

 

[danieljones8623]

Honestly, I dont think you had to turn of lights for 4 months. Even with lights on, within that period your dinos stage shoulda been over.

if you now see green algae, from my experience that means your dino stage has now passed to the second stage, which is green algae

I hope you’re right. That would be good news. Yeah, it I got past it, may have overdone it, but I was playing it safe I guess.

 

[Fishy888]

Any updates? Hopefully still no dinos.

 

[danieljones8623]

No dinos that I can see. Just have a lot of green algae. Hoping that goes away as I reduce my nutrient level in the next few weeks.

 

[Fishy888]

I am in the same boat now. We both have to be careful not to crash our nutrients.

 

[danieljones8623]

I am in the same boat now. We both have to be careful not to crash our nutrients.

I’m not going to lie, it feels great to see the green algae over what I was dealing with. I was feeling pretty hopeless before. Were you dealing with suspected dinos too?

 

[Fishy888]

Definitely. They were everywhere. I'd take aiptasia over dinos lol

 

[danieljones8623]

So are you just really gradually reducing your nutrient load? I turned on my skimmer the other day and have been doing light feedings still. I’m assuming the green algae will just sort it self out when my nutrient levels gets a little lower.

 

[Fishy888]

I am reducing nutrients to a point. Any GHA will indeed sort itself out but more than low nutrients we need stability. Coralline will outcompete bad algae once nitrates and phosphates are in check and the water chemistry is steady. For now, at least in my system, my cuc is doing such a good job that green algae in general doesn't survive long lol