Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[Marc2952]

Its been weeks since i finally beat dinos, but now i got ich in my system (after going fallow ror over 3 months). The question is would removing all the fish weaken the good bacteria population? I swear if i get dinos again im getting rid of the tank for good...

 

[christwendt]

Ok so my tank has been clean of dinos for a cople of weeks and phosphates have finally stabilized. My question is now i introduced ich to my tank after gling through the struggle of going fallow before ( my guess is it came from a reef cleaner cuc package i bought 2 weeks ago) the thing is will removing all the fish again

I think you forgot to finish what you were trying to ask ?

 

[christwendt]

Its been weeks since i finally beat dinos, but now i got ich in my system (after going fallow ror over 3 months). The question is would removing all the fish weaken the good bacteria population? I swear if i get dinos again im getting rid of the tank for good...

Don’t get rid of the tank! It’s a process I know but think of the beauty once it all comes together. If you can purchase a UV sterilizer it will help prevent Dino’s and ICH. Keyword help prevent not make it impossible to get. It’s a possibility that removing the fish will make your nitrates and phosphates go to zero again ( risk factor to create Dino’s again). To combat that I would remove fish and make sure you are testing the tank for nitrates and phosphates. Keep phosphates .1 and nitrates 5ppm by dosing Nitrate and phosphates accordingly. This will help prevent Dino’s coming back. It’s not so much the bacteria population but the low nutrients that cause Dino’s to win the heirarchy of bacteria. Someone else chime in I’m new to reefing but this is what I’ve gain to learn from my reading

 

[christwendt]

Ok so my tank has been clean of dinos for a cople of weeks and phosphates have finally stabilized. My question is now i introduced ich to my tank after gling through the struggle of going fallow before ( my guess is it came from a reef cleaner cuc package i bought 2 weeks ago) the thing is will removing all the fish again

That’s a nightmare tho. iCh form cuc ? I didn’t really know that was a thing.

 

[Marc2952]

I think you forgot to finish what you were trying to ask ?

Sorry lol im at work so i was multitasking, my question is will removing all the fish weaken the bacteria load to where dinos come back?

 

[Marc2952]

That’s a nightmare tho. iCh form cuc ? I didn’t really know that was a thing.

Yea the snails and crabs themselves dont catch it its the cysts that attach to any hard surface like their shells. Ive been ich free for a couple of months now and the moment i introduced the cuc i noticed my kole tang scratching on rocks and with white spots just a week after that.

 

[christwendt]

Sorry lol im at work so i was multitasking, my question is will removing all the fish weaken the bacteria load to where dinos come back?

You’re all good. I sent another post after reading the rest. I think if you can afford A oversized UV sterilizer will be a good investment. It’s kinda high price at first 200-300$ but you only replace the bulbs once every 1-2 years. They really help add that extra cushion of protection to your tank.

 

[Marc2952]

Don’t get rid of the tank! It’s a process I know but think of the beauty once it all comes together. If you can purchase a UV sterilizer it will help prevent Dino’s and ICH. Keyword help prevent not make it impossible to get. It’s a possibility that removing the fish will make your nitrates and phosphates go to zero again ( risk factor to create Dino’s again). To combat that I would remove fish and make sure you are testing the tank for nitrates and phosphates. Keep phosphates .1 and nitrates 5ppm by dosing Nitrate and phosphates accordingly. This will help prevent Dino’s coming back. It’s not so much the bacteria population but the low nutrients that cause Dino’s to win the heirarchy of bacteria. Someone else chime in I’m new to reefing but this is what I’ve gain to learn from my reading

Yea i will keep an eye on the nutrient levels and leave the UV on ( i havent turned off the UV ever since i beat the dinos just incase) now on with the real struggle which is catching all these fish!

 

[christwendt]

Yea the snails and crabs themselves dont catch it its the cysts that attach to any hard surface like their shells. Ive been ich free for a couple of months now and the moment i introduced the cuc i noticed my kole tang scratching on rocks and with white spots just a week after that.

That’s very unfortunate. I read it could happen from the shells but rare. Might be worth it to try fresh water dipping any clean up crew in future. I hear if you fresh water dip, the ich can’t live and will come off. Unsure if cuc can handle freshwater dip.

 

[christwendt]

Yea i will keep an eye on the nutrient levels and leave the UV on ( i havent turned off the UV ever since i beat the dinos just incase) now on with the real struggle which is catching all these fish!

Might have to look into fish traps, good luck. If you ever get back to really low nutrients don’t keep it at that for long or you will get Dino’s again. Just pick up a bottle of potassium nitrate or something and phosphate and you will be good from Dino’s. Best luck and hope the fish all recover!

 

[Marc2952]

Might have to look into fish traps, good luck. If you ever get back to really low nutrients don’t keep it at that for long or you will get Dino’s again. Just pick up a bottle of potassium nitrate or something and phosphate and you will be good from Dino’s. Best luck and hope the fish all recover!

Yea just got a trap yesterday thanks!

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I have some snotty stuff on my rocks that started after I connected a new frag tank to my main system. At first I thought it was just a typical small bloom due to new silicates of adding a new tank to the mix but they seem to hang out on my rocks in my display (no major outbreak yet). My nitrates are 25 and my phosphates are 0.03

The odd thing is they don't retreat into the water at night, I can shine my light into the tank and see them if the moonlights are on still hanging on the rocks.

 

[christwendt]

I have some snotty stuff on my rocks that started after I connected a new frag tank to my main system. At first I thought it was just a typical small bloom due to new silicates of adding a new tank to the mix but they seem to hang out on my rocks in my display (no major outbreak yet). My nitrates are 25 and my phosphates are 0.03

The odd thing is they don't retreat into the water at night, I can shine my light into the tank and see them if the moonlights are on still hanging on the rocks.

Take a pic and post. Some strains of Dino’s don’t detach at night

 

[ScottB]

I have some snotty stuff on my rocks that started after I connected a new frag tank to my main system. At first I thought it was just a typical small bloom due to new silicates of adding a new tank to the mix but they seem to hang out on my rocks in my display (no major outbreak yet). My nitrates are 25 and my phosphates are 0.03

The odd thing is they don't retreat into the water at night, I can shine my light into the tank and see them if the moonlights are on still hanging on the rocks.

I have 3 tanks and three sumps all tied together as a 300G frag system. Each time I added a new tank or sump to the system, I got dinos (just ostreopsis, which are easy). But only in the "new" tank. Are these in your "old" or "new" or both?

Is there new dead rock or no? In either case, dose up your PO4 -- especially if you have new dead rock. They will bind any existing PO4 in the water. Don't ask me how I know

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Take a pic and post. Some strains of Dino’s don’t detach at night

I have 3 tanks and three sumps all tied together as a 300G frag system. Each time I added a new tank or sump to the system, I got dinos (just ostreopsis, which are easy). But only in the "new" tank. Are these in your "old" or "new" or both?

Is there new dead rock or no? In either case, dose up your PO4 -- especially if you have new dead rock. They will bind any existing PO4 in the water. Don't ask me how I know

The frag tank was a brand new build (waterbox 60.3 frag) and it was running for the 6 months, cycle finished fairly quickly but it was new dry rock with 0 po4 in water and 50+ nitrates; lots of dinos. I felt like I didn't want to manage two tanks so I ditched the sump, emptied it out/cleaned it out and connected to display.

No dinos in the actual frag tank now, just the display (thought I had some on the back wall but snails ate it and are still alive eating the algae on the frag rack). The display tank had about 50-70 lbs of carib sea live rock added as part of a rescape 4 months ago (cut out a lot of huge sps colonies taking too much room). I see the dinos primarily on the newer carib sea dry rock, none on the sand and a few on the return jets. I have been dosing po4 daily for about 5 months or since I started developing issues keeping it in the tank. I try to keep it around 0.03-0.08...

My guess is what you mentioned, that dry rock is sucking it all up! I feel I went through this several years ago when I added some rock to the tank, the new rock had this stuff for a while and it eventually went away on it's own.

 

[ScottB]

The frag tank was a brand new build (waterbox 60.3 frag) and it was running for the 6 months, cycle finished fairly quickly but it was new dry rock with 0 po4 in water and 50+ nitrates; lots of dinos. I felt like I didn't want to manage two tanks so I ditched the sump, emptied it out/cleaned it out and connected to display.

No dinos in the actual frag tank now, just the display (thought I had some on the back wall but snails ate it and are still alive eating the algae on the frag rack). The display tank had about 50-70 lbs of carib sea live rock added as part of a rescape 4 months ago (cut out a lot of huge sps colonies taking too much room). I see the dinos primarily on the newer carib sea dry rock, none on the sand and a few on the return jets. I have been dosing po4 daily for about 5 months or since I started developing issues keeping it in the tank. I try to keep it around 0.03-0.08...

My guess is what you mentioned, that dry rock is sucking it all up! I feel I went through this several years ago when I added some rock to the tank, the new rock had this stuff for a while and it eventually went away on it's own.

Some folks might scoff at the suggestion, but before adding dead rock to my system again, I will "cure" it first in a PO4 bath. I ripped out 60 lbs of monti & Bali slimer covered rock and replaced with new, engineered shapes. Sucked up a bottle of DIY PO4 and still got a small dino bloom.

 

[Mrtakeoff53]

I can’t thank @ScottB enough for his help batting Ostreopsis in my frag tank. Listen to him. It sent my dinos into ‘remission’.

I had low NO3 in my tank and high PO4 (2 and .14 respectively) the imbalance combined with ChemiPure, ChemiClean and fresh, clean surfaces in my new frag tank led to an explosion. I followed @ScottB’s advise to a T and it’s gone 3 weeks later. I raised NO3 to 15, let PO4 drop to .08 and then let NO3 drop to 10. Algae grew EVERYWHERE but my CUC is well fed. Haha. When I finally got the UV attached, I noticed decline in about 5 days. By 2 weeks, it was gone and by 3, it’s still gone. I did a massive cleaning of my frag tank yesterday. Today, still no dinos.
I moved my UV to my main display in preparation for a cleaning there. I’ll leave it up for a few weeks, maintain nutrients and pray they stay away. Thanks again for the help. Good luck everyone!

 

[ScottB]

Ostreopsis are so easy to manage with the "consensus" method. If you had Amphidinium, I'd say do whatever floats your boat. But ostreos are just too easy to do the right way. I would not bother with anything else.

a) Dose PO4 and NO3 to .1 and 10 respectively
b) Run a UV TO/FROM the DISPLAY itself. Not the sump. 1 watt per 3 gallons. Slow flow. Assuming your next tank is going to be larger, then buy for that size. For ostreopsis, UV will finish them in a month easy peasy.
c) Manual removal of dinos. Clamp filter floss to the glass in high flow/light areas. Rinse each evening before lights out.
d) Baste the dinos of surfaces as often as possible.
e) Run activated carbon to reduce toxins.

If you do ALL of these you will see a difference in a few days to a week. Remission in two to three weeks.

Yeah, I have seen the H2O2 remedy around here a hundred times with spotty results. Heck, a rare few used bleach to good effect apparently.

Dinos took over due to imbalance. Oxidizers create more imbalance. Not for me.

[/QUOTE]
I was mentally agreeing with everything you wrote until I realized you were quoting my post... Just when I thought people were agreeing with me.

So how is it going for you in the battle right now? What do you think is/is not working?

 

[Mrtakeoff53]

I was mentally agreeing with everything you wrote until I realized you were quoting my post... Just when I thought people were agreeing with me.

So how is it going for you in the battle right now? What do you think is/is not working?
[/QUOTE]
Haha. I hit the wrong button and posted prematurely. I just gave an update. No Dinos anymore. You’re a lifesaver!

 

[ScottB]

I was mentally agreeing with everything you wrote until I realized you were quoting my post... Just when I thought people were agreeing with me.

So how is it going for you in the battle right now? What do you think is/is not working?

Haha. I hit the wrong button and posted prematurely. I just gave an update. No Dinos anymore. You’re a lifesaver!
[/QUOTE]

Awesome update. Ostreopsis are pretty straight forward so I feel for folks facing other -- particularly large cell amphid infections.

Keep it going for a bit; ostreos will hang around for quite some time but without too much trouble if you keep nutrient available. Scrape the glass now and then for a sample just to keep you on your toes.