Amphidinium Dinoflagellate Treatment Methods

[dwest]

Do you plan to add sand again?

I honestly don’t know.

 

[Victoria M]

I can not live without sand...I can live without coral before I live without sand.
I keep forgetting...does hyposalinity on a FOWLER kill dinos or just make them go dormant?

 

[Victoria M]

Does anyone know if hyposalinity kills dinos or just makes them go dormant?

 

[Neoalchemist]

Does anyone know if hyposalinity kills dinos or just makes them go dormant?

If I remember correctly it just makes them encyst, to come back later, there's a lot about it buried in the main dino thread.

 

[Entz]

Yeah there is only really anoctadal information https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...ow-along-and-see.253917/page-109#post-3276609
Hard to say if it will work. Pretty big risk in a display imo, especially with invert/microfauna die off, but that is just me.

 

[Victoria M]

Yeah there is only really anoctadal information https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...ow-along-and-see.253917/page-109#post-3276609
Hard to say if it will work. Pretty big risk in a display imo, especially with invert/microfauna die off, but that is just me.

I agree. It is only a back up plan to make the tank a FOWLR rather than tear it down.

 

[Candace Summers]

With good test kits and sensible N & P levels you can keep things from zeroing out while having even a lot of macro in display.

I was going to comment that my chaeto blob experience actually had many similarities to what @bh750 just reported.

The key to how well these grazer-empowering methods work on a particular outbreak seems to be tied closely to how toxic the dinos are. If almost totally non-toxic like mine, then grazers can be very important.
This is my favorite Dino video. It's a tanaid (a shrimp-like critter) and its young eating amphidinium by the claw-full.

Where can I buy 100 tanaids?!?!?

 

[Candace Summers]

My amphidium seems likely its on its way out! Haven’t seen any in my last 3 samples! I never dosed silicates but still keeping n and p elevated. Once I feel comfortable I will move my uv from in tank to return line. Then I’ll likely stop dosing nutrients and hold my breath. Hoping for the end game...

How long did this take you? I've had Nitrate and Phosphate up for nearly 2 months and it's as bad as ever.

 

[taricha]

Where can I buy 100 tanaids?!?!?

Actually my GHA (derbesia) is full of them, so maybe buy some hair algae

 

[JerseyReefer]

I dosed sponge excel for over a month. I increase my feedings. I stopped cleaning my sand. And now I have tons of competitors for the dinos. Only think I noticed so far... I have more dinos and more competition. I’m not sure what to do next. I think ultimately I’ll have to remove my sand and manually maintain the population.

 

[Idoc]

I dosed sponge excel for over a month. I increase my feedings. I stopped cleaning my sand. And now I have tons of competitors for the dinos. Only think I noticed so far... I have more dinos and more competition. I’m not sure what to do next. I think ultimately I’ll have to remove my sand and manually maintain the population.

There's no quick fix. I did that for a few months before seeing improvement.

 

[JerseyReefer]

There's no quick fix. I did that for a few months before seeing improvement.

Thanks because my tank looks terrible. It’s taking the fun out of the hobby.

 

[Neoalchemist]

Thanks because my tank looks terrible. It’s taking the fun out of the hobby.

More manual removal. But manual removal that hurts the dinos and helps others. At this point when competitors are growing well I start pulling all algea off of any rocks and sand and actually "groom" my turf and hair algea growing on my overflows and back glass. The ratio of dino to others will get better every time. But continue to maintain free nutrients in the water.
And if toxins seem low, maybe start beefing up clean up crew. Astrea's and ceriths breed like crazy when there's diatoms around.

 

[Idoc]

Thanks because my tank looks terrible. It’s taking the fun out of the hobby.

Yes, it definitely does make you question why you're doing this! Just keep blowing off the rocks. It does eventually get better. Here's a during treatment and more recent pic of my sand... it's actually even a little better than the last pic now. But i noticed my dinos got worse about a month into raising n/p levels and then started to improve. I actually started to get increased ostreopsis dinos as well, but those have also finished greatly.

During treatment:

Recent... a few months later:

I still have some brown dusting of dinos now. But now, I'm battling the huge cyano outbreak following the screwed up elevated nitrates/phosphates! But I'll take cyano any day over dinos!

If I ever start another tank and use dry rock, I'll definitely start out initially dosing nitrates/phosphates into the system and deal with the other algaes!

 

[JerseyReefer]

Thanks guys. I’ll stick with it. I have hair algae in my sump that I manually remove. Then I have stringy brown stuff growing on my glass (that’s the microscope pic I posted). I remove that as well by scraping but I can’t get it out of my system.

What do you guys do with your skimmer? On it off?

 

[Idoc]

What do you guys do with your skimmer? On it off?

I leave mine running 24/7. I initially cut it to 12hrs when trying to raise n/p, but that really didn't help. I ran it for 3weeks at 12hrs/day without noticing a change in those nutrients. I then started dosing n/p for a few weeks... then levels stabilized where i wanted them... haven't had to dose since.

 

[AtlCPA]

Does a 3 day black out help with these guys? Haven’t seen that mentioned much

 

[taricha]

Does a 3 day black out help with these guys? Haven’t seen that mentioned much

Does nothing against the most common amphidinium.

 

[Jameseywayney]

Has anyone successfully beat amphidinium by solely vacuuming out the sandbed every few days and letting the tank get dirty? My nitrates have always been 5-10ppm and phosphates have been 0.1ppm or more and i still got amphidinium dinos. I just upgraded to a new tank and its really ruining all enjoyment of the hobby considering i just beat ostreopsis in my old tank.

I'm currently dosing 6ml of spongexcel in my tank every day and trying to algae crowd by putting chaeto on the worst parts. Hoping to just hit it from all fronts and hopefully beat it and start to enjoy this hobby again.

 

[dwest]

Has anyone successfully beat amphidinium by solely vacuuming out the sandbed every few days and letting the tank get dirty? My nitrates have always been 5-10ppm and phosphates have been 0.1ppm or more and i still got amphidinium dinos. I just upgraded to a new tank and its really ruining all enjoyment of the hobby considering i just beat ostreopsis in my old tank.

I'm currently dosing 6ml of spongexcel in my tank every day and trying to algae crowd by putting chaeto on the worst parts. Hoping to just hit it from all fronts and hopefully beat it and start to enjoy this hobby again.

Sorry.

That’s a good question. I don't recall reading anyone who has done that successfully TBH. I personally think you have a shot if you continue dosing Si and let the tank dirty and siphon your sand. I also believe chances are even better if you remove the sand. That’s what I eventually did.