Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[reeferfoxx]

That’s what I was told. They are perfectly round and spin. I have better pics now but that’s what’s on my camera roll. Still got plenty. The weird image is cuz I used a geology scope

Ok. I found this dino to be a pain. Possibly easy to control but hard to eradicate. I struggled at first trying to get rid of mine. Mostly because my coolia did fine in nutrients. Actually, coolia was possibly my second dino bloom after the initial one.

My first dino bloom happened after nutrients bottomed out. I dosed nutrients and 30 days later I was dino free. Had a lot of hair algae and cyano growing. Nutrients still being dosed. About 4 weeks later, coolia appeared. Growing mostly on the sandbed and hair algae. I didn't know what to do since nutrients were up, live rock added, UV added, RO/DI upgrade for wc's, except for doing nothing at all. I stopped dosing nutrients, stopped dosing alk, ca, and stopped water changes. Only fed fish and emptied skimmer. Eventually, the hair algae started falling off the rocks and the brown dino growth receded.

Just recently I saw some pop up after months of being clear. I'm still scratching my head over it. My guess is possibly because nutrients are building up on their own? A couple months ago my P = 0.01 and N = 2; Four days ago P = 0.04 and N = 10ppm. Alk always 7.5 - 7.6 dkh. My thoughts are mostly an accidental contaminant helped the rebloom but... None the less, I'm sitting it out and the regrowth of coolia is very very small. I wouldnt be surprised if I did nothing for a couple more weeks and they disappear.

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

I suspect it's the water changes that are adding the limited nutrient back in which let's the dinos bloom again. Are you doing water changes now? If not, then maybe some of the limiting nutrient got reintroduced from decaying dinos?

 

[boozeman27]

can anybody ID these for me? Can UV be effective? I think I see diatoms too? TIA

 

[tonymacc]

4 Days in with the uv and things are looking up, slow going as I only got 15w but it is working.
Nowhere near as much brown dusting over everything, my Perspex frag racks that were once thickly covered in the stuff are about 70% better, the long strings are also disappearing and are almost non existent.
no3 being maintained around the 12ppm mark ( salifert test kit) and po4 between 0.08 and 0.12ppm (salifert).
onwards and upwards as they say, I will update again over the weekend.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I suspect it's the water changes that are adding the limited nutrient back in which let's the dinos bloom again. Are you doing water changes now? If not, then maybe some of the limiting nutrient got reintroduced from decaying dinos?

Me? I'm not having a nutrients problem. My nutrients are steady and climbing. I do weekly water changes but it's not enough. Right now, instead of upping wc frequency or %, I'm working on upping par levels and possibly dkh. Some acros are browning out at the moment.

 

[kecked]

My uv is doing little. I increased nutrients and the coolia laugh at me. It’s a little better but not great. I have a second tank I play with. My wife chemicleaned it...it didn’t touch it. Right now just getting the sand out of the bottom of the DT. I see no dinos in my sump at all.

I think I need to find some live rock or tank sludge. I see nothing but dinos, nematodes, one type of diatom, and a few random algae. Dry rock was not the right answer I thought it would be.
I’ve held P 0.2 N 5. For weeks. And very little has happened. Can’t grow what isn’t there. Hate to add HA but rather HA than dinos.

Oh aptasia is back. Still no bubble algae. Not complaining

 

[kecked]

@boozeman27
I’m going take a stab at this but I’m not the right guy.
Top one looks like coolia.
Next one looks like Oster or pro based on taper and flat end
The long stuff is a kind of diatom. I have those too.
Other than the top one I see nothing else like cooolia so prob not andjust the angle in the first image.
I going ostra

 

[RockyProndoa]

Hello everyone. I'm posting here in hopes that someone can help ID what I believe to be ostreopsis Dino's. As a bit of backstory first however, I'll tell you a bit about my system.
Currently running a 6' 135g tank with a 100g Rubbermaid sump. Tank is a little less than a year old, with some SPS/LPS (mostly frags or slightly larger). Inhabitants include some Astrea snails, a few ceriths, probably 10 hermits (blue leg and red), a two-barred rabbitfish, yellow Tang, and a pair of clowns. Tank was progressing nicely, though I did develop a cyano outbreak a few weeks ago. After several failed attempts at ridding it/slowing it down, I treated with Chemiclean, which did the trick. About two weeks ago, I attended a frag swap, picked up a few pieces as well as a bag of chaeto. Frags were dipped, chaeto was dumped in the sump. Several days ago I noticed the tell tale brown on the sand, and as time has progressed, it is slowly covering the glass, powerheads, etc.

Fast forward to today. The only thing I have done is remove the GFO. Phosphate tests at near 0 with Hannah checker, nitrates are under 10. I have included a pic of the Dino's for reference both under a microscope and on the chaeto mass.

Can someone confirm my suspicions? Secondly - I've read so much about this and there seems to be so many treatment options - can someone summarize a treatment plan for me?

Thanks for the help.

 

[kecked]

See page one. Can’t tell from the pictures. Need a close up. Dino’s but which one. Do they leave the rock and sand at night? If so uv sterilizer will help. Dose P to 0.1-0.2. Keep N where it’s at and remove all filtration except your filter sock. Run GAC and change weekly. Wear gloves and don’t spill the water on yourself or family. Follow up any water you dump with a slug of bleach. Don’t do water changes unless you have no choice. Remove any sand bed a little ata time till your bare bottom.

 

[RockyProndoa]

See page one. Can’t tell from the pictures. Need a close up. Dino’s but which one. Do they leave the rock and sand at night? If so uv sterilizer will help. Dose P to 0.1-0.2. Keep N where it’s at and remove all filtration except your filter sock. Run GAC and change weekly. Wear gloves and don’t spill the water on yourself or family. Follow up any water you dump with a slug of bleach. Don’t do water changes unless you have no choice. Remove any sand bed a little ata time till your bare bottom.

Oh boy... The sandbed needs to come out?

Attached a better (hopefully) pic?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Oh boy... The sandbed needs to come out?

Attached a better (hopefully) pic?

No, looks like ostreopsis. Run GAC and UV helps quick with this one.

 

[RockyProndoa]

No, looks like ostreopsis. Run GAC and UV helps quick with this one.

Thanks. Any idea what size UV for my system? (135g + 100g sump - about 175g total actual system volume).

 

[RockyProndoa]

No, looks like ostreopsis. Run GAC and UV helps quick with this one.

And btw, what are the two large egg looking things?

 

[taricha]

can anybody ID these for me? Can UV be effective? I think I see diatoms too? TIA

Amphidinium dinos. Not targettable in the water column.

And btw, what are the two large egg looking things?

Air bubbles in a batch of ostreopsis.

 

[RockyProndoa]

Amphidinium dinos. Not targettable in the water column.



Air bubbles in a batch of ostreopsis.

Highest success rates with ostreopsis I've seen is slow-flow UV with lots of contact in-tank, elevate P and N (by dosing simple stuff- not heavy feeding).

You quoted this in another thread for someone else; Is this still a sufficient plan of attack for my situation?

 

[tonymacc]

Thanks. Any idea what size UV for my system? (135g + 100g sump - about 175g total actual system volume).

I think most have gone for the Jabao 55w.

 

[RockyProndoa]

I think most have gone for the Jabao 55w.

Oh wow, that's a lot cheaper than the model I was looking at from BRS. How can there be such a difference in price? $80 vs $725? This makes me think there is more to it?

 

[RockyProndoa]

Oh wow, that's a lot cheaper than the model I was looking at from BRS. How can there be such a difference in price? $80 vs $725? This makes me think there is more to it?

I'm considering the Pentair Smart UV 40 watt... Anyone have an opinion on this vs another? I've read conflicting reports on it's effectiveness vs ostreopsis?

 

[kecked]

Just a point on the jebco. It really is junk so you need to treat it nice. Make sure you flush it out once a week or so. Mine appeared to stop being effective so I examined it and found....black soot that kept washing out. My fault. Carbon dust. White dust. My fault had it running when I was removing sand.

I took the bulb out to look at it. There is barely a mount so the bulb literally lays on the quartz. Be careful. Also it appears that the end of the quartz tube near the entrance has a haze. I can’t get the tube out to really clean it. You get what you pay for.

 

[kecked]

I am going to tell you a story and I don’t want anyone freaking out. It’s totaly based on assumption.

Last week I took a bunch of my sand out and washed it and filtered my water and tossed it back in. My blood pressure shot up over 170/100. And fluctuated for almost a week. I never have had high blood pressure in my life. I’m still wiped out but getting better. I have a fish near death as well I found today. His side is all ripped up so maybe it was just a fight. I was scared of my tank and didn’t change my carbon.

Wear gloves and be careful. I can’t say this was my tank but it got my attention and I’m ready to bleach it and go freshwater. Not just yet but saying this really scared me. Don’t forget I was extracting the toxin from carbon too sooooo. Didn’t find what I was looking for but there is something in there that’s bad.

Ps holding p and n and uv and it’s no better and in someways much worse. Coolia is a B.tch.

How long do I wait it out before I dinox andperoxide it. Next step is tear down for good.

If I dip my coral Can I put it in another tank safely?