Amphidinium Dinoflagellate Treatment Methods

[Dj City]

Hello everybody

Im still at it. Still fighting the good fight even though I took a round or two off.

I just re-employed my UV sterilizer gravity fed.
I've got the intake in the D.T. and the output in the skimmer section.

I also tried bleach. I believe the bleach treatment WILL work! My tank looked good for 3 days after the first dose.
Problem was, I may have overdosed that 1st dose.
No loses but I had to add a buttload of prime and do an emergency water change.
What happened was my lionfish freaked out! He was breathing REALLY hard and he started drifting around the tank. Not swimming, drifting in the current.

Next time I try bleach, I will try at half dose and work my way up.

Im encouraged.

 

[ReefPress]

Are you going to be adding back in live sand ? I want to try this by removing all the sand and replacing with new live sand to see if this works. Do you know if this method has been attempted before.

How's it going, when I add sand back I'm going to add dry sand, but thoroughly rinse it. I wanted to rinse the sand to skip the "cloudiness" phase so that's why I'm not going to get live sand. I read on here somewhere someone was successful at removing then they rinsed the sand and added the same sand back in to my understanding. But when I rinsed the sand that I removed, let it dry out in the sun it still had like this odor to it that I felt shouldn't have been remaining. Also an LFS near suggested if it smelled like that not to add it back.

 

[Dj City]

You can remove the sand. That goes a long way towards beating this pest.

If you simply add new sand you will have the same problem.
You have to remove the sand, DESTROY ALL DINOS, then you can add new sand.

It's a long process.

 

[dwest]

My only trouble is I have a star fish I would need to find d a temporary home for and nasarius snails . Hmmm.

I think they will be ok for a while without sand, IMO

 

[ReefPress]

Are you going to be adding back in live sand ? I want to try this by removing all the sand and replacing with new live sand to see if this works. Do you know if this method has been attempted before.

This is a recent pic everything still doing fine. When I add sand back it'll be a thin layer cause I do like the asthetic of the sand better.

 

[ReefPress]

Are you going to be adding back in live sand ? I want to try this by removing all the sand and replacing with new live sand to see if this works. Do you know if this method has been attempted before.

Pic

 

[dwest]

Pic

I might have asked you this already, but are there some acros in there? looks great BTW.

 

[ReefPress]

I might have asked you this already, but are there some acros in there? looks great BTW.

Not really any major acros. Whatever a birds nest, green slimer, and pocillapora are classified as. Lol. I'm in the process of building a canopy, adding another XR15 and 2 T5s. Then I'll start adding more coral. Maybe a few months down the line add the sand back.

 

[dwest]

Not really any major acros. Whatever a birds nest, green slimer, and pocillapora are classified as. Lol. I'm in the process of building a canopy, adding another XR15 and 2 T5s. Then I'll start adding more coral. Maybe a few months down the line add the sand back.

Green slimer is an acropora.

 

[OpenOcean33]

Not really any major acros. Whatever a birds nest, green slimer, and pocillapora are classified as. Lol. I'm in the process of building a canopy, adding another XR15 and 2 T5s. Then I'll start adding more coral. Maybe a few months down the line add the sand back.

I'm curious to see if the dinos would come back after a month or so with no sand. I think I'm going with one last ditch effort of copepods and magick ocean from alage barn they claim it will help also I have read in places where this has worked. If not at least I will have some copopods for fish snacks

 

[dwest]

I'm curious to see if the dinos would come back after a month or so with no sand. I think I'm going with one last ditch effort of copepods and magick ocean from alage barn they claim it will help also I have read in places where this has worked. If not at least I will have some copopods for fish snacks

Let us know how this works.

 

[Dj City]

He's my question.

HOW do you remove ALL your sand?
I have rockwork that would be really really hard to move.

Getting behind that rockwork would be extremely hard. Getting under it is beyond my thought process at the moment.

 

[OpenOcean33]

He's my question.

HOW do you remove ALL your sand?
I have rockwork that would be really really hard to move.

Getting behind that rockwork would be extremely hard. Getting under it is beyond my thought process at the moment.

Siphon will pull it out

 

[ReefPress]

I'm curious to see if the dinos would come back after a month or so with no sand. I think I'm going with one last ditch effort of copepods and magick ocean from alage barn they claim it will help also I have read in places where this has worked. If not at least I will have some copopods for fish snacks

I'll be adding pods soon also.

 

[ReefPress]

He's my question.

HOW do you remove ALL your sand?
I have rockwork that would be really really hard to move.

Getting behind that rockwork would be extremely hard. Getting under it is beyond my thought process at the moment.

Yeah, siphon will work. What I did was just siphon it into a 5 gallon bucket. When the bucket got full, just poured the water back in and kept repeating that so I didn't remove so much water.

 

[Dj City]

Yeah, siphon will work. What I did was just siphon it into a 5 gallon bucket. When the bucket got full, just poured the water back in and kept repeating that so I didn't remove so much water.

That's a good idea.

You did it in sections?
Over a few days as to not kick up too much dust, detritus and dinos?

 

[ReefPress]

That's a good idea.

You did it in sections?
Over a few days as to not kick up too much dust, detritus and dinos?

Man I did it all at one time.

 

[OpenOcean33]

That's a good idea.

You did it in sections?
Over a few days as to not kick up too much dust, detritus and dinos?

How long has your sand bed gone untouched? If it's been like a year I would do like 3 or four sections over a weak just in case. I always stir my sand bed. Just my own 2 cents tho. I am new to the hobby but I was told nitrate bubble can build up in sand if untouched but has more beneficial bacteria

 

[dwest]

He's my question.

HOW do you remove ALL your sand?
I have rockwork that would be really really hard to move.

Getting behind that rockwork would be extremely hard. Getting under it is beyond my thought process at the moment.

It’s a pain. I removed as much as I could every day for a week. Now I siphon some out once a week with a small wc. It’s 95% gone...you can blow out behind the rocks with a power head or turkey baster, then vacuum it out.

 

[CMO]

He's my question.

HOW do you remove ALL your sand?
I have rockwork that would be really really hard to move.

Getting behind that rock work would be extremely hard. Getting under it is beyond my thought process at the moment.

I'm with you. I've got a ton of sand in hard to reach places and corals everywhere to make it even more challenging. I've broken quite a few arms off my sps corals while trying to get the sand out. And my blue spot jawfish makes it even more fun by trying to jump out of the tank while I have the lid off. :mad:

I've been doing a combination of siphoning and scooping out with a cup for several weeks now every day to slowly remove it and not disrupt anything too quickly.

As for the siphon, siphoning with just the hose end and no sand cleaning attachment helps to get to the hard to reach places. Also, I've had success using a small spatula with my whole arm down in the bottom of the tank to push the sand out from behind the rocks.

I might have to go sand less permanently cause I just don't have it in me to do this again if they come back with new sand. What a nightmare.