Agree.Yeah that was my first thought. It’s very sticky though l. And I only know cyano as strings under the microscope instead of swimming transforming objects
@taricha should be along at some point. I imagine he has seen those buggers before.
Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?
- Thread starter mcarroll
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@taricha should be along at some point. I imagine he has seen those buggers before.
attiland
2500 Club Member
My first thought was Prorocentum but than it started to change shape and I thought Dinos can not do that. I know some algae can though. Also there is whip like stuff in front of some And than the colour is green so as mentioned I would say green cyano
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Euglena! (first video even shows the orange eyespot on each cell.)
video for comparison.
Polyp Lagoon
Community Member
That’s it!! Thanks you’re awesome
I’ll do some research on how to get rid of them.
Thanks again!!
I just have a quick question. I understand why dosing silica and increasing diatom numbers will take care of the dinos, but what happens when the diatoms are gone? Why wouldn't the dinos just come back?
Healthy sand/substrate has many surface competitors in it as long as there is a steady and balanced food supply. Bacterial film, film algae, cyano, diatoms, pods, coralline, and yes, dinos. They keep each other in check.
I just got a Hanna phosphate checker and discovered that my test kit has been reading way too low. I confirmed it at the LFS, who got the exact same reading as the checker. As a result I have now dosed phosphates up to .19 and my Nitrates are 8.4. Should I do anything to raise the nitrates or leave them as is? If it matters, I don't have any fish in the tank right now.
You are a little out of balance there but shouldn't hurt anything. If your dinos are still replicating they will chew away at your PO4 for sure and your nitrates as well. You have enough of both right now, so just don't let too many days go by without testing.Say, every three days or so should keep you safe.
Thanks. I have not done any water changes and dinos seem to be slowing, but still there. I haven't dosed silicates yet, because family is here for Thanksgiving and I don't want the tank to look a disaster.
bishoptf
Valuable Member
@ScottB I posted earlier that mine dino's popped back up aftetr doing a chemiclean treatment and it was ostreo, I turned my UV back on and things settled down but now on the underside of my rocks I am still seeing what I believe I've had before and I think the same thing you were battling. They do not move under the microscope and I think you used vibrant to treat them, I ahve a fuge with chaeto and reluctant to go that route but wanted your opinion on path forward.
Let me know what you think, so tired of dealing with this crap...ugh.
Let me know what you think, so tired of dealing with this crap...ugh.
I've been battling dinos on and off for over a year now. Tank is 2yr's old now. First time using a microscope today, and I've managed to capture a decent picture and video of a ****ton of them on a filter sock.
Any help on identification? My n00b eye assumes Amphidinium.
Any help on identification? My n00b eye assumes Amphidinium.
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You're right, LCA. Silicate dosing, keeping nutrients up and balanced and dosing phyto/pods are all good ideas to develop competition and diversity.
Thanks for confirming.
It seems my nitrates are easier to maintain than phosphate. I assume this is caused by feeding pellets and flakes with little phosphates in them? My only export is a skimmer that tends to have a to have a pleasant smell. Is my skimmer exporting a higher ratio of phosphates?
I don't think so. Every tank seems to be a little bit different. It could be that your rock is still absorbing phosphate and one day you will have more trouble with high phosphate than high nitrate. That's kind of where my older tank has evolved to.
@saltyhog is correct again. Nitrates are easier to add and easier to remove largely because phosphates bind to aragonite (sand, rock). It took me a while to pick up on that and ended up here. I dosed almost 2 liters of DIY PO4 before I could keep a reading in the water after 24 hours of dosing.
I've been doing a lot more reading on dinos. I've got the large cell amphidinium dinoflagellates after over-cleaning my sand bed about 3 months back, in a 2-year old tank. Starved a green emerald crab and lost a bunch of snails even though this particular strain is claimed to be less toxic. I'm changing GAC weekly now instead of biweekly. I also decimated my copepod population with peroxide treatments that didn't work. Dosing phytoplankton and trying to balance nutrients wasn't very effective for me either.
Just regularly siphoning the dino dust out of my sand bed when they peak in the late afternoon, and reusing the water is limiting their growth and keeping them at bay, but not submissive.
So I'm starting to wonder if my high alkalinity and co2 levels are contributing to the lack of competitors. I haven't had to scrape my glass or manually remove algae in many weeks. My rocks are almost entirely covered in purple Coraline, minus a few spots in high lighting. Seems like my kalkwasser dosing was too high and I was in the 15dkh range. I'm back just under 12dkh after a few water changes.
I want to figure out a protocol other than dosing silicates. So my current thinking, beyond regular husbandry and siphoning, is to balance my co2 (pH) between night and day, and slowly increase the depth of my sand bed to better support a more competitive ecosystem to ward out these sand-dwelling dinos. My tank isn't set up to run a reverse light schedule refugium.
My thought process is that I'll know I'm headed in the right direction if I start getting green film algae or Coraline growing on the glass again. My theory is that I have too much aeration, and my co2 is limited for my current light intensity. My nightly pH low is around 7.8 and my daily high is around 8.1. It seems backwards though. I should be able to get my pH up to 8.3 through increased aeration, but it doesn't want to budge. I've only seen a pH of 8.3 after a large water change using freshly mixed saltwater. CO2 in the home is around 370-390ppm, and the skimmer pulls fresh air from the outside at about 350ppm. Do I just need to build up more microalgae that consume co2 during the day? Would a few weeks of running with excess co2 during the lighting period help things along?
I'm curious if anyone has pointers on alk/co2/sand bed depth in relation to fighting dinos. And no, I'm not interested in removing all my sand. For me, I enjoy watching the benthic pods in the display that you get with a healthy sand bed.
Just regularly siphoning the dino dust out of my sand bed when they peak in the late afternoon, and reusing the water is limiting their growth and keeping them at bay, but not submissive.
So I'm starting to wonder if my high alkalinity and co2 levels are contributing to the lack of competitors. I haven't had to scrape my glass or manually remove algae in many weeks. My rocks are almost entirely covered in purple Coraline, minus a few spots in high lighting. Seems like my kalkwasser dosing was too high and I was in the 15dkh range. I'm back just under 12dkh after a few water changes.
I want to figure out a protocol other than dosing silicates. So my current thinking, beyond regular husbandry and siphoning, is to balance my co2 (pH) between night and day, and slowly increase the depth of my sand bed to better support a more competitive ecosystem to ward out these sand-dwelling dinos. My tank isn't set up to run a reverse light schedule refugium.
My thought process is that I'll know I'm headed in the right direction if I start getting green film algae or Coraline growing on the glass again. My theory is that I have too much aeration, and my co2 is limited for my current light intensity. My nightly pH low is around 7.8 and my daily high is around 8.1. It seems backwards though. I should be able to get my pH up to 8.3 through increased aeration, but it doesn't want to budge. I've only seen a pH of 8.3 after a large water change using freshly mixed saltwater. CO2 in the home is around 370-390ppm, and the skimmer pulls fresh air from the outside at about 350ppm. Do I just need to build up more microalgae that consume co2 during the day? Would a few weeks of running with excess co2 during the lighting period help things along?
I'm curious if anyone has pointers on alk/co2/sand bed depth in relation to fighting dinos. And no, I'm not interested in removing all my sand. For me, I enjoy watching the benthic pods in the display that you get with a healthy sand bed.
oooooooooooook guys, I have A LOT of dino in my 1y old tank (never started properly, I would like to fix it).
430liters net (more or less)
po4: 0.04
no3: 0.75
si02 (RODI water): 0.29ppm
tried raising temp to 29°C: nothing changed
tried Dinoxal (it's not Dino X): nothing changed. I'm at day 5 of dosing
tried Cyano RX: nothing changed
i'll try Dino X from Fauna today, let's see
i'm trying, from yesterday, 250g of rowaphos, trying to lower po4 and si02 even more.
Any other idea ? Should I buy a microscope and check the dino type ? an UV lamp (55w) would fix ?
430liters net (more or less)
po4: 0.04
no3: 0.75
si02 (RODI water): 0.29ppm
tried raising temp to 29°C: nothing changed
tried Dinoxal (it's not Dino X): nothing changed. I'm at day 5 of dosing
tried Cyano RX: nothing changed
i'll try Dino X from Fauna today, let's see
i'm trying, from yesterday, 250g of rowaphos, trying to lower po4 and si02 even more.
Any other idea ? Should I buy a microscope and check the dino type ? an UV lamp (55w) would fix ?
Take a look in the "Do I have Dinos section". Then you can go from there.
A Dinoflagellate Treatment Guide
I would advise A LOT of research into this method. It works. It produces some beautiful reefs, but I would consider it a fairly advanced method. It is not next level stuff. It is beyond that.
The RESULT of the method produces low residual nutrient but that is not really where you should START.
I would focus first on where your reef is right now and get some answers and stability there first while you run up the learning curve. You need to study and follow somebody who has traveled this road.
@ycnibrc do IRCC that you are a Zeo user?
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