Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[Biddence]

I won my battle with dinos on my rocks and on my sand over a months time by doing these things

Raised phosphate from .01 to .09
Raised nitrate from 2 to 15
Kept my hands out of the tank as much as possible
Started a fuge
Added copepods and dosed phyto daily
No water changes

Don’t know if one worked better than the other but i read a bunch of threads and articles and i figured I’d try a bunch of things that seemed to have success, and kept with it and I’m happy with the results

 

[ScottB]

I won my battle with dinos on my rocks and on my sand over a months time by doing these things

Raised phosphate from .01 to .09
Raised nitrate from 2 to 15
Kept my hands out of the tank as much as possible
Started a fuge
Added copepods and dosed phyto daily
No water changes

Don’t know if one worked better than the other but i read a bunch of threads and articles and i figured I’d try a bunch of things that seemed to have success, and kept with it and I’m happy with the results

Assuming you had large cell amhids, the only thing missing from this list is dosing silicates to feed competitive diatoms.

Glad you are controlling them.

 

[Biddence]

Assuming you had large cell amhids, the only thing missing from this list is dosing silicates to feed competitive diatoms.

Glad you are controlling them.

I was really close to buying a microscope to find out exactly what i was dealing with before they started to go away on their own. It actually got worse for two weeks before it started to get better, now there it is almost not noticeable without looking really close up on some rocks... now i gotta be careful/avoid using gfo reactor

I am happy to have them in recession because it was sucking a lot of the fun out of the hobby watching all my coral starting to get strangled out by Dino

 

[happyhourhero]

I have a scope coming Friday but does anyone know if a specific type makes really long skinny strands? Like 3-5” and dark brown. It’s more of these strands than mats really.

 

[shortysmalls]

After practicing unsafe coral insertion into my tank (you think I would know better after 8 years) I ended up with a Bryopsis outbreak. After fighting it for 6 months, I resorted to fluconazole which did a wonderful job at cleansing my tank of this plague however I have now joined the 519 pages of Dino misery. Under a scope it looks as though it is Prorocentrum, but would like to get some validation. I've pulled samples from the sand, glass, rocks, and the bit of GHA that is on the rocks, and they are all the same species.

My tank hovers between 77 and 78 degrees, .12 PO4 (Hanna), 8-10 N03 (Nyos) and so far I can keep the nutrient levels steady by slowing the flow of my rollermat.

I also dose All-for-Reef which was a recent switch from BRS 2 part, but I may switch back to the 2-part until this is resolved.

So far, I've adjusted my tank temp to hover between 79-80 degrees, added 2 bottles of 5280 pods from AlgaeBarn (my mandarin goby will love me for that although he's already a bit chunky), and started feeding AlgaeBarn OceanMagik.

My next steps will be leveraging a PMUP v2 pump, a toothbrush, and a canister filter with a 1 micron sediment filter to start pulling out as much as I can daily.

I'm also debating dosing silicates, and I'm not opposed to buying an 80W UV sterilizer, would just like to knock it down with other methods if I can.

My tank is a 240g.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

 

[thediscusman]

Wow. You got some energetic little buggers.

I am going to go with small cell amphidinium given speed, shape and size. Get nutrients up, get a UV at 1 watt per 3 gallons. 2-3X turnover to/from display. A blackout can be helpful ONCE YOU HAVE THE UV IN PLACE.

Thank you so much for the identification and for the info.

 

[ScottB]

I have a scope coming Friday but does anyone know if a specific type makes really long skinny strands? Like 3-5” and dark brown. It’s more of these strands than mats really.

Mmmm. When you suck it out of the tank, does it retain its form in a thick jelly-like consistency? Under the scope, they are sessile and super tiny. That would be chrysophytes/symbiodinium which I presently enjoy. Sometimes referred to as golden algae.

I have not solved for these yet. You can join me in this separate thread if so. A few of us are working through it. At least you will learn what does NOT work.

Symbiodinium. Got any treatment ideas?

While it looks kinda similar to ostreopsis in the tank, it is very different under the scope. They are VERY small and completely motionless. They are easily basted or siphoned away but return the next day. They don't stick to coral flesh, but do stick to everything else. I FEEL like they are...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ScottB]

Wow. You got some energetic little buggers.

I am going to go with small cell amphidinium given speed, shape and size. Get nutrients up, get a UV at 1 watt per 3 gallons. 2-3X turnover to/from display. A blackout can be helpful ONCE YOU HAVE THE UV IN PLACE.

@thediscusman it would be good to get a confirmation from @taricha on the dino ID I suggested. He has good eyes for this stuff.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I have a scope coming Friday but does anyone know if a specific type makes really long skinny strands? Like 3-5” and dark brown. It’s more of these strands than mats really.

This sounds very much like the way ostreopsis has presented in my system. Dark brown threads. Usually showing up first on the tips of my gorgonian, or the corners of the nori feeder. If left alone they can become impressively long quite quickly. I'll be curious to see what you find when you put one under the scope!

 

[taricha]

@thediscusman it would be good to get a confirmation from @taricha on the dino ID I suggested. He has good eyes for this stuff.

The mass of smaller cells look more like a
cryptomonas (google images)
video from my system
or some other similar flagellate, rather than a problem dino.

There are a couple of larger cells in there that are dino (large cell amphidinium or prorocentrum), but that's not the bulk of what's there.

 

[happyhourhero]

Are these clear enough for an id by chance?

 

[ScottB]

Are these clear enough for an id by chance?

Ostreopsis for sure. It moves around like the pointy end is tethered to a spot, right?

A good UV will be your best friend.
1 watt per 3 gallons
2-3X turnover; very slow to maximize contact time. Forget what the instructions say about flow, the dinos will hardly get a tan at that speed.
Temporary installation should be directly TO/FROM the display.
Run carbon. These guys are quite toxic.
Raise nutrients to 10/.1 nitrate and phosphate. Higher is fine.

Do it all correctly and they are gone in 1-2 weeks worst. Could be overnight. You picked the easy ones.

 

[Sdot]

Ostreopsis for sure. It moves around like the pointy end is tethered to a spot, right?

A good UV will be your best friend.
1 watt per 3 gallons
2-3X turnover; very slow to maximize contact time. Forget what the instructions say about flow, the dinos will hardly get a tan at that speed.
Temporary installation should be directly TO/FROM the display.
Run carbon. These guys are quite toxic.
Raise nutrients to 10/.1 nitrate and phosphate. Higher is fine.

Do it all correctly and they are gone in 1-2 weeks worst. Could be overnight. You picked the easy ones.

This! I just finally beat mine... they are extremely toxic (I changed out carbon and filter socks daily until i connected my UV) and in 2 days with UV they were gone.

 

[clhardy5]

Question....I have a new tank - still going through the ugly stage. Started in December with Marco rock and dry sand. I've been battling diatoms for awhile (per my microscope). Tonight, the brown stuff looked different, so I took a sample off the back wall and confirmed with my microscope that I have Ostreopsis. Current parameters:

Nitrates: 20 ppm - Salifert
Phoshate: .03 Hanna ULR
Alk: 8.6
Cal: 475
Mag: 1295

Currently, I have 9 fish, and an assortment of cleanup crew including a Conch, hermits, diamond Goby, and snails. I have a healthy pod population, and have a fuge set up in the sump to give them a place to reproduce. I have a few tester corals - but nothing tough to keep or expensive (just literally testing the water). My tank is a RR525xl - 108 gallon dt, and 39 gallon sump. So ....Here are my questions.

1). I know Osteo is toxic. Do I run carbon......and will it be detrimental to my tangs? I have BRS Rox 8.0.
2). Will these Dinos just run their course without intervention? I'm fine letting the tank figure it out since its new....but don't want to kill anything in the process.
3). Do I turn on my UV (36watt) - as it can be effective against Osteoporosis? (I was trying not to run it during the initial stabilization of the tank after watching the BRS video)
4). If I turn on the UV...do I have to plumb it in the DT? Or can I leave it where it is in the sump. I have the Sicce pump at the lowest flow setting currently.

I look forward to any advice or suggestions on what I should do - if anything.


Ps....I've battle Prorcentrum, small cell, and large cell in my Biocube in the past. But this is my first go around with Ostreopsis.

 

[Kobooi]

Update on my situation. The Deltec T5 20W UV at 2x turnover (600 l/hour) in the DT and then moved to the sump kept the ostreopsis at bay, but didn't make them completely gone - in the afternoon brown patches in the sand would appear, also showing some small strings. As I had a 2nd UV sterilizer at hand (an Aqua Medic Helix 2.0 18W) I added this one to the DT, with the same turnover rate. For a couple of days the situation remained the same though. I then decreased the turnover on both sterilizers to 1x (300 l/hour). This showed a significant improvement. So, at least in my case, it proves that UV flow is definitely a main factor. At 300 l/hour the Deltec has a radiation intensity of 110.000 uW/sec/cm2. I would estimate the Aqua Medic to be in the same ballpark.

Once I can remove the Aqua Medic from the DT, I wonder what the best option would be:
1) Add it to the sump, parallel to the Deltec, at the same flow
2) Add it to the sump behind the Deltec
3) Add it to the sump, parallel to the Deltec, at a different flow (e.g. lowest flow on Aqua Medic, highest flow on Deltec)
4) Not put it to the sump and keep it as spare

 

[ScottB]

Question....I have a new tank - still going through the ugly stage. Started in December with Marco rock and dry sand. I've been battling diatoms for awhile (per my microscope). Tonight, the brown stuff looked different, so I took a sample off the back wall and confirmed with my microscope that I have Ostreopsis. Current parameters:

Nitrates: 20 ppm - Salifert
Phoshate: .03 Hanna ULR
Alk: 8.6
Cal: 475
Mag: 1295

Currently, I have 9 fish, and an assortment of cleanup crew including a Conch, hermits, diamond Goby, and snails. I have a healthy pod population, and have a fuge set up in the sump to give them a place to reproduce. I have a few tester corals - but nothing tough to keep or expensive (just literally testing the water). My tank is a RR525xl - 108 gallon dt, and 39 gallon sump. So ....Here are my questions.

1). I know Osteo is toxic. Do I run carbon......and will it be detrimental to my tangs? I have BRS Rox 8.0.
2). Will these Dinos just run their course without intervention? I'm fine letting the tank figure it out since its new....but don't want to kill anything in the process.
3). Do I turn on my UV (36watt) - as it can be effective against Osteoporosis? (I was trying not to run it during the initial stabilization of the tank after watching the BRS video)
4). If I turn on the UV...do I have to plumb it in the DT? Or can I leave it where it is in the sump. I have the Sicce pump at the lowest flow setting currently.

I look forward to any advice or suggestions on what I should do - if anything.


Ps....I've battle Prorcentrum, small cell, and large cell in my Biocube in the past. But this is my first go around with Ostreopsis.

Normally at this stage I would say to let it ride --especially with LC Amphids. But ostreos are by far the easiest dinos to manage. Surprised you got them so early on. Also surprised you still have nutrients.

Without carbon, those test corals and some CUC could be stressed. My tangs don't mind a few hours a day of well rinsed Rox.

I'd give the UV a try in the sump with a little lights out. It is always recommended to go direct to/from sump, but you are not scrambling to save a tank full of acro so be lazy and give it a go.

If you want to stay au natural, you could clamp a bunch of filter floss on the glass in high flow/light areas and rinse each evening before they release. But UV will knock 'em back so easily. Beware, they are never exterminated, just suppressed waiting for you to mess up.

 

[shortysmalls]

After practicing unsafe coral insertion into my tank (you think I would know better after 8 years) I ended up with a Bryopsis outbreak. After fighting it for 6 months, I resorted to fluconazole which did a wonderful job at cleansing my tank of this plague however I have now joined the 519 pages of Dino misery. Under a scope it looks as though it is Prorocentrum, but would like to get some validation. I've pulled samples from the sand, glass, rocks, and the bit of GHA that is on the rocks, and they are all the same species.

My tank hovers between 77 and 78 degrees, .12 PO4 (Hanna), 8-10 N03 (Nyos) and so far I can keep the nutrient levels steady by slowing the flow of my rollermat.

I also dose All-for-Reef which was a recent switch from BRS 2 part, but I may switch back to the 2-part until this is resolved.

So far, I've adjusted my tank temp to hover between 79-80 degrees, added 2 bottles of 5280 pods from AlgaeBarn (my mandarin goby will love me for that although he's already a bit chunky), and started feeding AlgaeBarn OceanMagik.

My next steps will be leveraging a PMUP v2 pump, a toothbrush, and a canister filter with a 1 micron sediment filter to start pulling out as much as I can daily.

I'm also debating dosing silicates, and I'm not opposed to buying an 80W UV sterilizer, would just like to knock it down with other methods if I can.

My tank is a 240g.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[ScottB]

Any thoughts on this?

I tend to agree with with prorocentrum but invite @taricha to counter or confirm.

UV is a fairly helpful tool against these guys, but you can give it a go with manual removal for a while.

 

[shortysmalls]

I tend to agree with with prorocentrum but invite @taricha to counter or confirm.

UV is a fairly helpful tool against these guys, but you can give it a go with manual removal for a while.

Thanks @ScottB! I broke down and ordered the TMC Pro 110W, so I'll keep up with manual and add this when I get it Monday.

 

[Vincent100]

Hi all
Not posted in a very long time as I took my old tank down
Anyway new tank went with all fake rock for the DT and a few bits of live rock in the sump

I now have Dino and a few very bad pics
If anyone could ID for me that would be great
Thanks