Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?
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Hello all...
I first had this as its own post but realized this really belongs in this thread...
Any help/insight is appreciated...
I've been chasing what I thought was an algae problem for weeks only to now believe it is Dinos... I have put it under a microscope but, in hindsight, I was looking at it wrong...
I've attached a few pictures but I'm still confused. What I'm seeing, I think, doesn't line up with written descriptions - or maybe I'm still looking at this wrong. I think what I'm seeing is Prorocentrum but I don't see any movement under the scope. I do see other "stuff" moving but it is much smaller and I can't get a good view of it. Also, I've read that the Prorocentrum strands are short and I'm seeing strands that can be a couple of inches long.
I suspect I have more than one type of Dinos but getting on ID on this one will help start me down the right road.
So far, all of my coral have been growing and not showing stress although I do find times where these Dino(?) strands will get caught up in the polyps & I need to blow/suck them off and I've been pretty diligent about sucking this stuff up every morning.
Tank:
Tank is a 9 month old RS250, bare bottom, mixed reef. I use Tropic Marin Pro for salt and been dosing (GHL) 2 part to keep the ALK (Hanna) between 8 and 8.3. I also use Apex DOS for AWC for 1.5 gallons a day. Cal (RS) runs high (466) and Mag (RS) 1320-1400. My phosphate bottomed out for a couple of weeks this past March when I was adding ReefFlux and Vibrant to get rid of a Bryopsis/GHA outbreak. Since then, the testing (Hanna Phosphorous) shows between .03 and .08. Nitrates (RS) have been pretty stable between 5-10ppm. I have a mix of LED/T5 with a PAR range of ~400 top to ~150 bottom. Also, I have 2 powerhead and 2 ReefWaves providing plenty of water movement.
Any help with an ID would be most appreciated...
Joe
I first had this as its own post but realized this really belongs in this thread...
Any help/insight is appreciated...
I've been chasing what I thought was an algae problem for weeks only to now believe it is Dinos... I have put it under a microscope but, in hindsight, I was looking at it wrong...
I've attached a few pictures but I'm still confused. What I'm seeing, I think, doesn't line up with written descriptions - or maybe I'm still looking at this wrong. I think what I'm seeing is Prorocentrum but I don't see any movement under the scope. I do see other "stuff" moving but it is much smaller and I can't get a good view of it. Also, I've read that the Prorocentrum strands are short and I'm seeing strands that can be a couple of inches long.
I suspect I have more than one type of Dinos but getting on ID on this one will help start me down the right road.
So far, all of my coral have been growing and not showing stress although I do find times where these Dino(?) strands will get caught up in the polyps & I need to blow/suck them off and I've been pretty diligent about sucking this stuff up every morning.
Tank:
Tank is a 9 month old RS250, bare bottom, mixed reef. I use Tropic Marin Pro for salt and been dosing (GHL) 2 part to keep the ALK (Hanna) between 8 and 8.3. I also use Apex DOS for AWC for 1.5 gallons a day. Cal (RS) runs high (466) and Mag (RS) 1320-1400. My phosphate bottomed out for a couple of weeks this past March when I was adding ReefFlux and Vibrant to get rid of a Bryopsis/GHA outbreak. Since then, the testing (Hanna Phosphorous) shows between .03 and .08. Nitrates (RS) have been pretty stable between 5-10ppm. I have a mix of LED/T5 with a PAR range of ~400 top to ~150 bottom. Also, I have 2 powerhead and 2 ReefWaves providing plenty of water movement.
Any help with an ID would be most appreciated...
Joe
Jason mack
Monti madness
From the microscope you have maybe what looks like a few dinos maybe ostreopsis and maybe one more I think you were right about prorocentrum and these are the ones most likely not too move ...but you also have what looks to be chrysophytes/ golden algae as well the really small ones on the last microscope photoHello all...
I first had this as its own post but realized this really belongs in this thread...
Any help/insight is appreciated...
I've been chasing what I thought was an algae problem for weeks only to now believe it is Dinos... I have put it under a microscope but, in hindsight, I was looking at it wrong...
I've attached a few pictures but I'm still confused. What I'm seeing, I think, doesn't line up with written descriptions - or maybe I'm still looking at this wrong. I think what I'm seeing is Prorocentrum but I don't see any movement under the scope. I do see other "stuff" moving but it is much smaller and I can't get a good view of it. Also, I've read that the Prorocentrum strands are short and I'm seeing strands that can be a couple of inches long.
I suspect I have more than one type of Dinos but getting on ID on this one will help start me down the right road.
So far, all of my coral have been growing and not showing stress although I do find times where these Dino(?) strands will get caught up in the polyps & I need to blow/suck them off and I've been pretty diligent about sucking this stuff up every morning.
Tank:
Tank is a 9 month old RS250, bare bottom, mixed reef. I use Tropic Marin Pro for salt and been dosing (GHL) 2 part to keep the ALK (Hanna) between 8 and 8.3. I also use Apex DOS for AWC for 1.5 gallons a day. Cal (RS) runs high (466) and Mag (RS) 1320-1400. My phosphate bottomed out for a couple of weeks this past March when I was adding ReefFlux and Vibrant to get rid of a Bryopsis/GHA outbreak. Since then, the testing (Hanna Phosphorous) shows between .03 and .08. Nitrates (RS) have been pretty stable between 5-10ppm. I have a mix of LED/T5 with a PAR range of ~400 top to ~150 bottom. Also, I have 2 powerhead and 2 ReefWaves providing plenty of water movement.
Any help with an ID would be most appreciated...
Joe
Jason mack
Monti madness
the ones you see with a point almond shape is ostreopsis..
Jason mack, you're a gentleman, thank you...
Hello everyone,
I would be grateful if you could please assist with identification of the Dino specie I have, I believe its Amphidinium but I am not sure.
Latest parameters from weekly tests:
Salinity = 25 deg C
Alk = 7 dKh
Ca = 450
NO3 = 5+
PO4 = 0.02
No carbon dosing
Regular manual dosing of Sodium Nitrate
Skimmer goes off every night for 6 hours
Algae reactor light comes on every night for 12 hours
Single channel doser for Alk
Weekly sand bed vacuuming
I run a Red Sea Reefer 350, it is around 6 years old. I had a partial crash just over 12 months ago, (possibly from sudden high temperature spike over a few hot days, bacterial/viral infection that got in from coral frags or contamination of some kind) where I lost a number of SPS frags and small colonies, unexplained fish & snail deaths over a few months.
I kept up with maintenance and routine cleaning throughout, just gritted my teeth when I had to clip and clear out dead or dying corals and carried on when the tank didn't look too good.
Then about 3 months ago I noticed that the remaining SPS started showing signs of regaining some colour and growth. So gradually I stepped up with efforts on the tank, and now corals seem to be stable and growing, acro frags start to base out over glue/putty fairly quickly after transferring to new plugs.
So now I am turning attention to my dino. I only just got a microscope but I have been routinely blowing the red dust off the sand bed and rock pretty much every day during feeding, and patches would come back later in the day. It looks to disappear mostly at night, but maybe this is just optical illusion if I have Amphidinium.
I clean my glass every 2 days, and the back glass also gets a build up which I scrape every week during maintenance.
Thanks for looking and I would appreciate any comments and advice you can provide!
Cheers, Wilson
I would be grateful if you could please assist with identification of the Dino specie I have, I believe its Amphidinium but I am not sure.
Latest parameters from weekly tests:
Salinity = 25 deg C
Alk = 7 dKh
Ca = 450
NO3 = 5+
PO4 = 0.02
No carbon dosing
Regular manual dosing of Sodium Nitrate
Skimmer goes off every night for 6 hours
Algae reactor light comes on every night for 12 hours
Single channel doser for Alk
Weekly sand bed vacuuming
I run a Red Sea Reefer 350, it is around 6 years old. I had a partial crash just over 12 months ago, (possibly from sudden high temperature spike over a few hot days, bacterial/viral infection that got in from coral frags or contamination of some kind) where I lost a number of SPS frags and small colonies, unexplained fish & snail deaths over a few months.
I kept up with maintenance and routine cleaning throughout, just gritted my teeth when I had to clip and clear out dead or dying corals and carried on when the tank didn't look too good.
Then about 3 months ago I noticed that the remaining SPS started showing signs of regaining some colour and growth. So gradually I stepped up with efforts on the tank, and now corals seem to be stable and growing, acro frags start to base out over glue/putty fairly quickly after transferring to new plugs.
So now I am turning attention to my dino. I only just got a microscope but I have been routinely blowing the red dust off the sand bed and rock pretty much every day during feeding, and patches would come back later in the day. It looks to disappear mostly at night, but maybe this is just optical illusion if I have Amphidinium.
I clean my glass every 2 days, and the back glass also gets a build up which I scrape every week during maintenance.
Thanks for looking and I would appreciate any comments and advice you can provide!
Cheers, Wilson
chvvkumar
Active Member
Accidentally posted in the wrong thread. But here are my images.
What are these things on my sand bed?! I looked at a couple of ID guides and they don't really match with any thing I have seen Full picture and a part cropped in to show detail:
What are these things on my sand bed?! I looked at a couple of ID guides and they don't really match with any thing I have seen Full picture and a part cropped in to show detail:
SMSREEF
Valuable Member
They look like Diatoms.Accidentally posted in the wrong thread. But here are my images.
What are these things on my sand bed?! I looked at a couple of ID guides and they don't really match with any thing I have seen Full picture and a part cropped in to show detail:
Not a problem, get a clean up crew, they love to eat them
Jason mack
Monti madness
Yes agree diatoms ..
chvvkumar
Active Member
SMSREEF
Valuable Member
It may be good to not look at it as a battle, but part of your biome In the tank expanding. These are one of the good guys. Ugly, but good. They have a lot of silica in them and the snails and other critters need that.
Also many people try and grow these to outcompete and get rid of certain Dino strains.
Ostreopsis.Hey everyone, please help confirming id. I’m thinking ostreopsis, but not 100% sure. Came across an outbreak when my phosphate/nitrate is undetectable. I got rid of it by dosing nutrients and increasing feeding. Everything cleared out for a month, but now it’s back and I’m left with GHA and a bigger dino problem. Some LPS have started closing up, acros started getting brown stringy stuff and a few are bleaching out. Parameters:
Phosphate: 0.07
Nitrate: 5ppm
Alk: 9
Mg: 1300
Ca: 457 ppm
please help!!
Good news: a properly sized UV will work wonders on them.
Bad News: they are toxic and can damage weakened coral. Varies by species of coral. Chalices, birds nest, blastos, monti digi to name a few that get hit the hardest IME. Run and refresh GAC carbon every 2 weeks or so.
Anyone with verfied dinos using red sea salt?
Do you guys know if carbon gets rid of that dino smell? Its like rotting cabbage and disgusting.
Ive dosed 65 mls of 35% h202 and it hasnt killed them. 125 gallon.Vibrant didnt kill them. No3 100ppm po4 was zero. Currently upping the po4.
Fwiw an article recommended raising the temp to 95f to kill dinos for only 5 hours.but thats too hot imo.
Do you guys know if carbon gets rid of that dino smell? Its like rotting cabbage and disgusting.
Ive dosed 65 mls of 35% h202 and it hasnt killed them. 125 gallon.Vibrant didnt kill them. No3 100ppm po4 was zero. Currently upping the po4.
Fwiw an article recommended raising the temp to 95f to kill dinos for only 5 hours.but thats too hot imo.
How long should I run my UV sterilizer after visible dino eradication. I wasn’t planning to run it 24/7 but what do most people do after they’ve beaten dinos? Thanks!
I would keep it on for a couple weeks after visibility is lost. Take a scraping and put it under the scope. You will likely find a few. You could just run it at night, but be sure to run the pump for a few minutes after you shut the bulb so that it does not overheat and damage bulb and/or housing.
Dinos have solid defenses. It is more about having competitors cover their preferred surfaces. UV kills them -- if you can get them swimming into the UV.
What species do you have? I can smell ostreopsis from two counties over.
Yes, carbon will help.
chvvkumar
Active Member
That's good to know, thank you!
from Chevvkumar:
This is an interesting shot. It looks like diatoms organized along long strands. Could the strands be hair algae? It looks so pale. Maybe the diatoms are eating the hair algae.
It does appear that way. There is hair algae on the rocks but I actually don't see any on the sand bed. Here is another picture after the sample dried a bit:
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