Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[mfollen]

@Ernie Crucet Oh yea those are them, thank you for the clearer picture.

What are your plans to take them down?

 

[mfollen]

this is my plan if they were ostreopsis..
-UV sterilizer is running.
-Keep a steady level of N&P.. PO4 at 0.064.
-Kick start an algae turf scrubber to reduce nitrates. This just started running 3 days ago and is seeded. No growth yet.

Now what I’m not sure and can use some advice if I should do or not...
- continue to Dose phytoplankton daily?
- dose dr Tim’s refresh and waste away bacteria products as outlined by BRS?

 

[Ernie C]

@Ernie Crucet Oh yea those are them, thank you for the clearer picture.

What are your plans to take them down?

I’ve tried a few things. Right now i don’t see them but I’m sure there are some on the rocks. I lost a lot of frags. I don’t know how to link my previous posts but I dosed bacter7 but not sure if that did anything. When things started to work was when I raised my nitrates above 4ppm and phosphates to .04. Then I turned off my power heads and just left the return pump running and would suck them out daily at the end of the light cycle through a filter sock. With the power heads off they seemed to clump in certain spots and not be everywhere. The skimmer was also pulling them out. Then I used dino x. Mixed reviews on this product but once I had reduced them to just a few spots, I did three doses of Dino x and then they were almost but all gone. Finally I bought a 55 watt Jebao uv and have it running now. No sign of strings so far. Gonna leave it running for a while. My sump is super dirty. No water changes either. I did have poly filter in the tank before dosing Dino x and put some back in after. Oh and I bought some rubble live rock from my lfs and put it in the sump where I had chaeto.

 

[Paullawr]

I can’t see them too clearly but they look like mine which are ostreopsis

Yes they are.

 

[Wirat]

Hello! Wondering if anyone might be able to help me

I've been battling dinos since about January. At first I thought it was cyano or diatoms but as weeks progressed and I did my weekly water change, the algae grew insanely worse (I've now learned dinos love water changes).

For the past month or so, my local reef store owner has been graciously helping me with the issue, but he has me doing blackout after blackout (I've done 4) to absolutely no avail. We did discover I was buying RO water for my tank, and not RO/DI water, so I bought an RO/DI unit about a month ago to fix that problem, which he thought would fix the dinos , this also didn't work. The blackouts help but a few weeks after the blackout, the dinos come back with vengeance. He advises me to do more blackouts, but they aren't working. His advice unfortunately is only putting a bandaid on my problem I think, so I've come here for help.

I was hoping to get an ID on my dinos, I very much assume they are large cell amphidinium dinos, based on what I've researched but wanted advice from reefers that seem to have extremely helpful advice on dealing with dinos and giving a proper ID (and possible advice on how to start fighting them to get rid of them?)

The images included are what my dinos look like under a microscope. I also included what they look like in the tank.

Nitrates are registering at 5 PPM and Phos is about 0.1 (trying the dirty method currently).




An ID would be amazing if possible so I can try and figure out how to tackle this, thanks in advance!

Having the same problem in my tank. Looks identical on sandbed and identical under microscope.

 

[Paullawr]

Hello! Wondering if anyone might be able to help me

I've been battling dinos since about January. At first I thought it was cyano or diatoms but as weeks progressed and I did my weekly water change, the algae grew insanely worse (I've now learned dinos love water changes).

For the past month or so, my local reef store owner has been graciously helping me with the issue, but he has me doing blackout after blackout (I've done 4) to absolutely no avail. We did discover I was buying RO water for my tank, and not RO/DI water, so I bought an RO/DI unit about a month ago to fix that problem, which he thought would fix the dinos , this also didn't work. The blackouts help but a few weeks after the blackout, the dinos come back with vengeance. He advises me to do more blackouts, but they aren't working. His advice unfortunately is only putting a bandaid on my problem I think, so I've come here for help.

I was hoping to get an ID on my dinos, I very much assume they are large cell amphidinium dinos, based on what I've researched but wanted advice from reefers that seem to have extremely helpful advice on dealing with dinos and giving a proper ID (and possible advice on how to start fighting them to get rid of them?)

The images included are what my dinos look like under a microscope. I also included what they look like in the tank.

Nitrates are registering at 5 PPM and Phos is about 0.1 (trying the dirty method currently).




An ID would be amazing if possible so I can try and figure out how to tackle this, thanks in advance!

Hi Meg

Your ID is correct.

It maybe the dsb fueling their growth. How old is the sand?

 

[mfollen]

About to start a dr Tim’s refresh and waste away treatment tomorrow for ostreopsis.

Do I need to black the tank out for 3 days? Or is this treatment effective without the black out?

Lastly I have a bunch of green film algae on the glass, I haven’t scraped it to compete with the dinos. Should I leave it prior to a blackout if one needs to happen during treaent? The dinos seem to be growing on this film now though.

Thank you so much everyone!

 

[OpenOcean33]

About to start a dr Tim’s refresh and waste away treatment tomorrow for ostreopsis.

Do I need to black the tank out for 3 days? Or is this treatment effective without the black out?

Lastly I have a bunch of green film algae on the glass, I haven’t scraped it to compete with the dinos. Should I leave it prior to a blackout if one needs to happen during treaent? The dinos seem to be growing on this film now though.

Thank you so much everyone!

Uv sterlizer for ostreopsis will work best along with adding biodiversity

 

[taricha]

I was hoping to get an ID on my dinos, I very much assume they are large cell amphidinium dinos, based on what I've researched ...

The images included are what my dinos look like under a microscope. I also included what they look like in the tank.


An ID would be amazing if possible so I can try and figure out how to tackle this, thanks in advance!

These are prorocentrum, and very stringy ones at that.
In fact they are the stringiest prorocentrum I've seen, if you did a microscope shot of one of the stringy strand, would you see any structure in the center like cyano string Maybe, or is it just all the Dinos?
Anyway, if you had been running UV while doing the multiple blackouts you probably would have managed to kill most of them already. But there's also the issue of exporting anytime you have that much unwanted biomass.

 

[taricha]

Everything I have read has advised pods and phyto are the best course of action, they are the number one competitor to dino

Now what I’m not sure and can use some advice if I should do or not...
- continue to Dose phytoplankton daily?

I'm curious what the source is advocating pods and phyto vs dinos. If the dinos are toxic, then they kill off the pods at very small Dino cell concentrations.
Secondly the dino mucus mats are very good at trapping small invertebrates such as pods, and also phyto. The mucus mats themselves often contain toxins and most things that come in contact with them die and their decomposition fuels the dino bloom further.
The next objection is size. When we by phyto, we are buying usually 5 Micron cells. Our problem dinos average around 50 microns long. So the things that grow by eating the live phyto, are poorly suited to try to eat the problem Dino cells. The pods that are sold, are typically also the wrong kind for this job. Much larger pods such as munnid isopods and amphipods are actually capable, and are often found in and around problem Dino blooms in our tanks. The pods typically bought, are copepods which again are just too small for the job. See my previous picture of a copepod covered in mucus mat and prorocentrum Dino cells.
I have tried to carefully observe Dino blooms in my systems as they rise and especially fall. Organisms that I have seen grazing on dinos during the phase where the outbreak is receding include isopods, amphipods, tanaid shrimp, some snails for low toxin blooms, multiple different classes of ciliates, but not copepods. I've posted pics/ vids of these before.

If phyto/ pod sellers have upped their game and are selling a better suited offering, than the normal Live 5 to 10 Micron phyto and copepods I'd be interested to know.

 

[cagatayutku]

I have had battle dinos about 3weeks ago in my 120 G mix reef tank. My Po4 level is 0 ppm(hanna) and NO3 is 1ppm(red sea) because of using biopellets. After theese conditions dinos groving up in my tank. At first I stopped dosing biopellet, coral foods and water changes .Than add microbelift phosphorus with nitrojen. Finally may Po4 level become 0.05ppm and NO3 2ppm. than use dinox ,at the 3th dose of dinox I blackout the tank for 2 days. in this period I add 4 bulb biodigest with 50 ml freetz zyme 460 bacter culture in to 4 days. after the this treatment at 6th dose of dinox there is no sings of dinos . in 15th day after dino I have make a water change and use GAC in media reactor. At last my test results Po4 0,134 ppm , No3 3 ppm and still there is no evidence from dino. good luck to everybody , happy reefing

 

[mfollen]

Thank you @taricha that is very helpful.

Would you recommend acquiring isopods or amphipods to help prevent future Dino outbreaks?

 

[Paullawr]

I'm curious what the source is advocating pods and phyto vs dinos. If the dinos are toxic, then they kill off the pods at very small Dino cell concentrations.
Secondly the dino mucus mats are very good at trapping small invertebrates such as pods, and also phyto. The mucus mats themselves often contain toxins and most things that come in contact with them die and their decomposition fuels the dino bloom further.
The next objection is size. When we by phyto, we are buying usually 5 Micron cells. Our problem dinos average around 50 microns long. So the things that grow by eating the live phyto, are poorly suited to try to eat the problem Dino cells. The pods that are sold, are typically also the wrong kind for this job. Much larger pods such as munnid isopods and amphipods are actually capable, and are often found in and around problem Dino blooms in our tanks. The pods typically bought, are copepods which again are just too small for the job. See my previous picture of a copepod covered in mucus mat and prorocentrum Dino cells.
I have tried to carefully observe Dino blooms in my systems as they rise and especially fall. Organisms that I have seen grazing on dinos during the phase where the outbreak is receding include isopods, amphipods, tanaid shrimp, some snails for low toxin blooms, multiple different classes of ciliates, but not copepods. I've posted pics/ vids of these before.

If phyto/ pod sellers have upped their game and are selling a better suited offering, than the normal Live 5 to 10 Micron phyto and copepods I'd be interested to know.

Great post.

 

[Jameseywayney]

Story Time:

I had Dinos(Ostreopsis) in my 66g tank, after adding a UV sterilizer and biodiversity they were gone. I recently purchased a new tank (130g) that was previously running, came with all the live rock and sand. After moving my livestock and coral over to the new tank i noticed dinos only on the sand bed, appears to be ostreopsis again and is likely a result of the sand bed being stirred when I moved the tank. I moved my UV from my old tank to my new one, and it appears to be holding them at bay, but i'm going to begin dosing Microbactor7 in hopes of eliminating them. What i found most interesting was what began happening in my old tank, as i left it running, since i planned to sell it as a running tank.

Since I ignored the old tank Dinos began to come back, the rear wall was absolutely coated in Dinos and it was over the rocks. I didn't really care because there was no livestock or coral in the tank. A few weeks passed and i noticed it starting to go away and the rear walls were absolutely covered in pods, i'm talking thousands and many massive ampipods. They completely ate all of the dinos, and other algae. The tank was literally a pod paradise. There was no predators and they were out during the day and night. I firmly believe pods are a very good answer to dinos.

 

[Jason mack]

Update from my tank .....now 98% dino free ..

 

[Paullawr]

Story Time:

I had Dinos(Ostreopsis) in my 66g tank, after adding a UV sterilizer and biodiversity they were gone. I recently purchased a new tank (130g) that was previously running, came with all the live rock and sand. After moving my livestock and coral over to the new tank i noticed dinos only on the sand bed, appears to be ostreopsis again and is likely a result of the sand bed being stirred when I moved the tank. I moved my UV from my old tank to my new one, and it appears to be holding them at bay, but i'm going to begin dosing Microbactor7 in hopes of eliminating them. What i found most interesting was what began happening in my old tank, as i left it running, since i planned to sell it as a running tank.

Since I ignored the old tank Dinos began to come back, the rear wall was absolutely coated in Dinos and it was over the rocks. I didn't really care because there was no livestock or coral in the tank. A few weeks passed and i noticed it starting to go away and the rear walls were absolutely covered in pods, i'm talking thousands and many massive ampipods. They completely ate all of the dinos, and other algae. The tank was literally a pod paradise. There was no predators and they were out during the day and night. I firmly believe pods are a very good answer to dinos.

I do like a good story, especially one with a happy ending.

 

[Ernie C]

Story Time:

I had Dinos(Ostreopsis) in my 66g tank, after adding a UV sterilizer and biodiversity they were gone. I recently purchased a new tank (130g) that was previously running, came with all the live rock and sand. After moving my livestock and coral over to the new tank i noticed dinos only on the sand bed, appears to be ostreopsis again and is likely a result of the sand bed being stirred when I moved the tank. I moved my UV from my old tank to my new one, and it appears to be holding them at bay, but i'm going to begin dosing Microbactor7 in hopes of eliminating them. What i found most interesting was what began happening in my old tank, as i left it running, since i planned to sell it as a running tank.

Since I ignored the old tank Dinos began to come back, the rear wall was absolutely coated in Dinos and it was over the rocks. I didn't really care because there was no livestock or coral in the tank. A few weeks passed and i noticed it starting to go away and the rear walls were absolutely covered in pods, i'm talking thousands and many massive ampipods. They completely ate all of the dinos, and other algae. The tank was literally a pod paradise. There was no predators and they were out during the day and night. I firmly believe pods are a very good answer to dinos.

Do you plan on leaving UV on permanently? What size/kind UV are you using? Anyone know where to buy amphipods?

 

[Paullawr]

Do you plan on leaving UV on permanently? What size/kind UV are you using? Anyone know where to buy amphipods?

Some dealers sell them but usually come in on LR and frags.

 

[Ernie C]

Some dealers sell them but usually come in on LR and frags.

I surprisingly found some on amazon.

 

[Fritzhamer]

My microscope just came. I’ve been running UV, siphoning out what I can each day. This is really, really stringy. It grows in a mat almost like cyano, maybe incorporating cyano as was mentioned.

I’ve been running UV, dosing Dino X and dosing hydrogen peroxide. I also replaced my sandbed with starboard and have been keeping my T5s off, using only led which is mostly blue.

Green algae is growing on the glass and I seem to be holding the Dinos back but I wouldn’t say I’m winning. The progress I’ve made in the display, is made up for the Dino mess that’s in my sump.

I’ve mostly kept my fuge light off because the Dinos take over down there. To keep my macro alive I do turn it on for a few hours every couple days but the Dinos cover everything in the fuge during that time.