Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[Wen]

Hello all, so I am joining the ostreopsis club.
It has been one battle after another for me lately. Bryopsis, cyano, ich and now dinoflagellates! My system was ULN with a happy fuge and happy, but slightly pale sps. So I committed to dosing nitrates and phosphates. It took me awhile to get my numbers stable and during that time trouble was brewing! Snails began dying, brown slime kept coming back, but when the rock nems all moved off sand, I knew this was something bad.

Is there any consensus as to eliminating ostreopsis? I’ve read and reread threads.

My current plan:
Siphon out all sand with dinoflagellates.
Rebooting fuge with Ulva and fresh miracle mud.
Ordered pods.
Ordered live phytoplankton.
Ordering new live rock rubble.
Turned off skimmer.
Freshened activated carbon bag.
Continue dosing and testing.
Continue uv.
I am not going to use peroxide or vibrant. I’d like to defeat this naturally, eventually.

Cal 425
Alk 7.3
Nitrates 5
Phosphates.07
Mag 1300
40 watt uv

Help!?!

 

[OpenOcean33]

Hello all, so I am joining the ostreopsis club.
It has been one battle after another for me lately. Bryopsis, cyano, ich and now dinoflagellates! My system was ULN with a happy fuge and happy, but slightly pale sps. So I committed to dosing nitrates and phosphates. It took me awhile to get my numbers stable and during that time trouble was brewing! Snails began dying, brown slime kept coming back, but when the rock nems all moved off sand, I knew this was something bad.

Is there any consensus as to eliminating ostreopsis? I’ve read and reread threads.

My current plan:
Siphon out all sand with dinoflagellates.
Rebooting fuge with Ulva and fresh miracle mud.
Ordered pods.
Ordered live phytoplankton.
Ordering new live rock rubble.
Turned off skimmer.
Freshened activated carbon bag.
Continue dosing and testing.
Continue uv.
I am not going to use peroxide or vibrant. I’d like to defeat this naturally, eventually.

Cal 425
Alk 7.3
Nitrates 5
Phosphates.07
Mag 1300
40 watt uv

Help!?!

I dont believe this is osteo, but I'm also not an identifier

 

[dwest]

Hello all, so I am joining the ostreopsis club.
It has been one battle after another for me lately. Bryopsis, cyano, ich and now dinoflagellates! My system was ULN with a happy fuge and happy, but slightly pale sps. So I committed to dosing nitrates and phosphates. It took me awhile to get my numbers stable and during that time trouble was brewing! Snails began dying, brown slime kept coming back, but when the rock nems all moved off sand, I knew this was something bad.

Is there any consensus as to eliminating ostreopsis? I’ve read and reread threads.

My current plan:
Siphon out all sand with dinoflagellates.
Rebooting fuge with Ulva and fresh miracle mud.
Ordered pods.
Ordered live phytoplankton.
Ordering new live rock rubble.
Turned off skimmer.
Freshened activated carbon bag.
Continue dosing and testing.
Continue uv.
I am not going to use peroxide or vibrant. I’d like to defeat this naturally, eventually.

Cal 425
Alk 7.3
Nitrates 5
Phosphates.07
Mag 1300
40 watt uv

Help!?!

@reeferfoxx can hopefully help you ID these. From your description, they may have been mis-diagnosed. I cannot tell from the picture. If you see them mainly on the sand and UV doesn’t help, you might have amphidinium. Either way keep nitrates and phosphate near your current levels and keep replacing GAC weekly. What size is your system?

 

[Wen]

@reeferfoxx can hopefully help you ID these. From your description, they may have been mis-diagnosed. I cannot tell from the picture. If you see them mainly on the sand and UV doesn’t help, you might have amphidinium. Either way keep nitrates and phosphate near your current levels and keep replacing GAC weekly. What size is your system?

150 display and 40 gal sump/fuge

They are only on sand. Sand clears at night and looks terrible at sunset, progressively worse each day. Siphoning out sand every 4-5 days knocks it back.

 

[saltyhog]

Wen, I'm going to say that's not ostreopsis. How does it move when you look at it under the microscope?

This is my video of my ostreopsis. The shape is different than yours. My problem was on the sand but much worse on the rock.

 

[saltyhog]

Looks good doesn't it? [emoji2] I will be glad when the monstrosity can be put away, hopefully for good.

Did you see mine? Your's looks great compared to mine!

 

[jaegers_reef]

What do you guys think of this? There is alot going on there but I believe the larger cells are amphidinium. What's the other stuff?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Hello all, so I am joining the ostreopsis club.
It has been one battle after another for me lately. Bryopsis, cyano, ich and now dinoflagellates! My system was ULN with a happy fuge and happy, but slightly pale sps. So I committed to dosing nitrates and phosphates. It took me awhile to get my numbers stable and during that time trouble was brewing! Snails began dying, brown slime kept coming back, but when the rock nems all moved off sand, I knew this was something bad.

Is there any consensus as to eliminating ostreopsis? I’ve read and reread threads.

My current plan:
Siphon out all sand with dinoflagellates.
Rebooting fuge with Ulva and fresh miracle mud.
Ordered pods.
Ordered live phytoplankton.
Ordering new live rock rubble.
Turned off skimmer.
Freshened activated carbon bag.
Continue dosing and testing.
Continue uv.
I am not going to use peroxide or vibrant. I’d like to defeat this naturally, eventually.

Cal 425
Alk 7.3
Nitrates 5
Phosphates.07
Mag 1300
40 watt uv

Help!?!

Prorocentrum.

I would keep the skimmer running, disturb the sandbed more, and everything you've ordered and planned to do, is perfectly fine. You said you noticed an increase after dosing nutrients and that is normal. Give it time and they will subside.

With your pictures it's hard to pinpoint the exact specie but it looks similar to Prorocentrum Rathymum. The other closest ID would be Prorocentrum Lima.

 

[reeferfoxx]

What do you guys think of this? There is alot going on there but I believe the larger cells are amphidinium. What's the other stuff?

That is chaos is what that is. Did that come from a tank?

 

[jaegers_reef]

That is chaos is what that is. Did that come from a tank?

lol, that came from a patch of gha inside my fuge chamber. Never seen anything like it. I've been searching for my microbubble problem for weeks.

 

[reeferfoxx]

lol, that came from a patch of gha inside my fuge chamber. Never seen anything like it. I've been searching for my microbubble problem for weeks.

Well, you definitely and unfortunately have amphidinium. After replaying the video 20 times and then reducing the speed to it's slowest, I think they are ciliates. I haven't done too much research on them but I believe they are harmless if not beneficial. According to wiki there are 3,500 described species and an estimated 30,000 not identified. Maybe compare movement to this websites videos? https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16653

 

[jaegers_reef]

Well, you definitely and unfortunately have amphidinium. After replaying the video 20 times and then reducing the speed to it's slowest, I think they are ciliates. I haven't done too much research on them but I believe they are harmless if not beneficial. According to wiki there are 3,500 described species and an estimated 30,000 not identified. Maybe compare movement to this websites videos? https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16653

Thanks for the confirmation! What would you recommend for treatment?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Thanks for the confirmation! What would you recommend for treatment?

Amphidinium is the more difficult to erradicate. You can't exactly get rid of them. What you can do is shift competition to other algae and organisms. I would start with nutrient and silicate dosings to start a diatom bloom. Then move on to copepods, amphipods, live rotifers and heavy phytoplankton dosings. Any type of diversity additons will also benefit. UV isn't effective against amphidinium.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Did you see mine? Your's looks great compared to mine!

Ha ha. Yes I saw yours. Definitely a thing only a mother could love [emoji106]

 

[Wen]

Wen, I'm going to say that's not ostreopsis. How does it move when you look at it under the microscope?

This is my video of my ostreopsis. The shape is different than yours. My problem was on the sand but much worse on the rock.

Thanks Saltyhog!
Your right, mine don’t float around like that. They kinda inch along.

 

[Wen]

Prorocentrum.

I would keep the skimmer running, disturb the sandbed more, and everything you've ordered and planned to do, is perfectly fine. You said you noticed an increase after dosing nutrients and that is normal. Give it time and they will subside.

With your pictures it's hard to pinpoint the exact specie but it looks similar to Prorocentrum Rathymum. The other closest ID would be Prorocentrum Lima.

Yep, they look and move like Prorocentrum! Thank you.

 

[dwest]

Thanks for the confirmation! What would you recommend for treatment?

Reeferfoxx gave great advice. I, and some others, saw huge improvements after the sandbed was removed. I hated to do it, but it gave me the most success. Also, silicate dosing did seem to help some as well. If I were to do it all over again (and I hope I never do!), but I would keep measurable phosphates and nitrates by dosing, dose silicates, then remove the sand bed as a last resort. Good luck.

 

[dwest]

Yep, they look and move like Prorocentrum! Thank you.

I would also expect UV to help tremendously. If it were my tank, I would hook up a jebao 55 watt UV, in addition to the 40 watt you already have. Run about 200 gph through the unit going from DT back to DT until they die down substantially. The jebao’s are big and clunky, but cheap and effective.

 

[Paullawr]

Well, you definitely and unfortunately have amphidinium. After replaying the video 20 times and then reducing the speed to it's slowest, I think they are ciliates. I haven't done too much research on them but I believe they are harmless if not beneficial. According to wiki there are 3,500 described species and an estimated 30,000 not identified. Maybe compare movement to this websites videos? https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16653

Cilliates are good and some feed on dinoflagellates. Its the main purpose of nutrient balancing imo.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

I've still got some patches on the sand but pretty much gone everywhere else.
Should I blow the sand off just before lights out when my UV comes on?