Dino identification under microscope

[aeoluson]

Hi all,

I’m trying to figure out what I’m dealing with in my tank and could use some help with identification.

The tank is about 6 months old. Over the last month while I’ve been getting a dusty brown to greenish coating across the sandbed. It comes back pretty quickly after I disturb it, sometimes within a few hours. It is not really slimy, and I don’t see much of anything on the rocks yet. Some of the heavier areas look a little stringy, but I’m not seeing a lot of bubbles.

Current parameters are roughly:

NO3: 7.7 ppm
PO4: 0.09 ppm
Alk: 8.1 dKH
Salinity: 35 ppt

I was really careful with nutrients and even dosed nitrate and phosphate when they were close to 0. Not sure why I still got dinos. I did clean the sandbed quite often during water change. Maybe that mess up the biome.

I picked up a microscope and sampled the film directly from the sand. I’m seeing quite a few golden brown oval cells that are actively moving. I attached a video of them under the microscope.

Does this look like Amphidinium, Prorocentrum, or something else?


Also interested in what has worked best for people dealing with this type. I already run UV, although I understand it may not help much if this is large cell Amphidinium. I’m curious about silicate dosing, encouraging diatoms, reducing sandbed cleaning, or anything else that has worked long term.

Thanks for the help!

 

[aeoluson]

Here is the sandbed under white light

 

[MikeReefs]

Yes this is Large Cell/Small cell. The small cell ones are fast moving. They cover rock and sand and burrow when lights go out. Bacteria dosing using Mb7 or MicrobLift special blend. You need to outcompete them. Increase your microbiome this could be done by adding Aflifesource or live sand/rock. Silicate dosing is another method. This is how I beat large/small cell. The aftermath was large amounts of green hair Algea

 

[aeoluson]

Yes this is Large Cell/Small cell. The small cell ones are fast moving. They cover rock and sand and burrow when lights go out. Bacteria dosing using Mb7 or MicrobLift special blend. You need to outcompete them. Increase your microbiome this could be done by adding Aflifesource or live sand/rock. Silicate dosing is another method. This is how I beat large/small cell. The aftermath was large amounts of green hair Algea

Thanks for the reply. Does this type of dino cause immediate harm that need to be dealt with quickly? Is silicate dosing a faster/more aggressive approach?