Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

Qasimja

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my dinos seem to be dying off or maybe they will pop back up i dunno my tank got hit with marine velvet so im going fallow leaving the lights off and dosing with microbacter 7 i read in some cases this helps well the dinos are nearly gone and they seem to be skimming out with my skimmer and filling my filter socks as i have to clean my socks once a day with all this brown sludge
 

ScottB

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my dinos seem to be dying off or maybe they will pop back up i dunno my tank got hit with marine velvet so im going fallow leaving the lights off and dosing with microbacter 7 i read in some cases this helps well the dinos are nearly gone and they seem to be skimming out with my skimmer and filling my filter socks as i have to clean my socks once a day with all this brown sludge

Sorry about the velvet but not much choice I guess.

I keep hearing good things about MB7. Once the skimmer and socks clear, it won't be long before it makes sense to test for nutrients and consider (according to test results) a little ghost feeding to keep your bacteria colony ready for the next round.

Sorry again about the setback.
 

taricha

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I think I need to knock down the dinos and cyano some first or it won't stand a chance. My thought is if I can grow chaeto AND keep Nitrate at 10 and PO4 at 0.05-0.1 it may be a two front attack on the dinos.
Chaeto is a good competitor. No need to fix everything else before adding it.
So if I don't need a fuge for nutrient reduction, why should I keep it?
because it may help to have a large biomass of photosynthetic competitiors to the dinos. Can deplete the scarce elements that dinos do poorly at acquiring (trace metals, not P). maybe.

What is the consensus on whether to stir the dino-coated sandbed or not to break them up and get them in the Uv with coolia?
if the dinos are in a nice mat, they likely have established a local ecosystem that favors them. It'll require some sort of major intervention to get them out of there if they are comfortable. short blackout can force more cells into water, vacuuming, stirring blasting with turkey baster are all options.

Why is it suggested to run [UV] from DT to DT?
as ScottB suggested, they don't disperse everywhere evenly, they aren't a dissolved chemical. They are swimming cells with preferences about light, nutrients, surfaces, flow etc. UV ought to be where they are to get as many cells as possible.
 

Luisreefmexico

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Hi @taricha is this ostreopsis?
565E640F-1870-4434-860B-7110A8312FE1.jpeg


I’m currently on my 7th dose of DinoX. The Dinos have significantly reduced but not completely gone. I also had a couple SPS bleach and lost a few Euphyllia while dosing DinoX.

@fluidimagery I noticed that you are using Orphek Atlantik V4. I broke out with Dinos after I installed these lights (not sure if the spectrum has a way of catalyzing dinos).

I had Ostreopsis, i started with Dino X treatment but it was bad, my SPS died and my euphilias was very stressed and the ostreopsis was growing.

I installed a uv sterilizer and start to feeding more so currently i dont have ostreopsis but appear amphidium.
i use Atlantik V4 too but i dont think that this be the reason for the dino bloom, i read that the ostreopsis appear when you have a poor microfaune, also the most common lamps are Radion and its also it has dino Bloom
 

Qasimja

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Sorry about the velvet but not much choice I guess.

I keep hearing good things about MB7. Once the skimmer and socks clear, it won't be long before it makes sense to test for nutrients and consider (according to test results) a little ghost feeding to keep your bacteria colony ready for the next round.

Sorry again about the setback.
thanks im really upset with myself for letting this happen but i guess it happens what can i do at this point
 

HWDylan

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Update on my fight with Prorocentrum. I appear to be coming out of it (finger crossed) I am seeing some hair algae for the first time ever in this tank. My filter socks are still getting gummed up with brown stuff pretty quickly (I am changing them daily).

I have backed off of the H2o2 dosing and am adding 3 jars of Algaebarn's 5280 Pods tonight when I get home.

At what point do you get to consider this fight won? My lights are still slowly ramping back up to where they were pre-blackout but I am only running the blue and violet channels. The crazy Alk swings that started with the Dino issue have appears to have stopped as well. I have been able to keep the DKH at 10 with no issues.
 

ACF930

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I had Ostreopsis, i started with Dino X treatment but it was bad, my SPS died and my euphilias was very stressed and the ostreopsis was growing.

I installed a uv sterilizer and start to feeding more so currently i dont have ostreopsis but appear amphidium.
i use Atlantik V4 too but i dont think that this be the reason for the dino bloom, i read that the ostreopsis appear when you have a poor microfaune, also the most common lamps are Radion and its also it has dino Bloom
Interesting. My frag tank broke out with Dinos only under the Orphek V4. I have my frag tank plumbed into the same sump as my DT (which never had and still doesn’t have Dinos). Same water but different lights between the two tanks - and only the Orphek tank has dinos, so I don't know. Maybe the live rock and bio diversity in my DT has been fending off the Dinos for years.

I have a TMC Vecton-6 UV sterilizer running in the sump (for my frag and DT) and it has not helped. I'm going to move it directly to my frag tank to see if that helps (maybe the Dinos were not floating down into the sump area). My only concern is raising the temp too fast in my frag tank as its water circulates through the UV. We'll see.

I wish I would have saw this thread and ID Ostreopsis before using DinoX. My corals have taken a beating. Lost 3 nice wall hammers and a head of Aussie Gold Torch :(. Alk consumption has dropped since everything is stressed. Aside from the Dinos, everything was happy and healthy before Dino X. Now running carbon and anxiously waiting to do a water change a.s.a.p. Back to the drawing board.
 
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H3rm1tCr@b

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@mcarroll is absolutely correct. I have had a dinoflagellate bloom before, it sucks when you don't know what caused it. From what I can remember, I just kind of let it be and didn't do water changes for a while and it simply went away. Quite recently I had a small bloom, and was worried that it would return to plague - like levels as before, which would prove catastrophic (I had a lot more coral and actually was enjoying my tank). I did a bit of reading and tested the levels, then decided not to do water changes for a while, considering the fact that it got a little worse since the last one. It has now been over a month since my last water change, and there are only the slightest traces of the pest on my front glass. Just my two cents ;)
 

Luisreefmexico

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Interesting. My frag tank broke out with Dinos only under the Orphek V4. I have my frag tank plumbed into the same sump as my DT (which never had and still doesn’t have Dinos). Same water but different lights between the two tanks - and only the Orphek tank has dinos, so I don't know. Maybe the live rock and bio diversity in my DT has been fending off the Dinos for years.

I have a TMC Vecton-6 UV sterilizer running in the sump (for my frag and DT) and it has not helped. I'm going to move it directly to my frag tank to see if that helps (maybe the Dinos were not floating down into the sump area). My only concern is raising the temp too fast in my frag tank as its water circulates through the UV. We'll see.
What kind of fishes do you have?
Maybe the frag tank have more microfauna, reason? could be that you dont have fishes in the frag tank.
Did you try blowing off the dinos while you turn on the UV?
 

ACF930

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What kind of fishes do you have?
Maybe the frag tank have more microfauna, reason? could be that you dont have fishes in the frag tank.
Did you try blowing off the dinos while you turn on the UV?
My DT (with no Dinos) has several Tangs. There is also about 100 lbs of live rock with pods and other organisms. It's running Ocean Revive LED which is no where near as strong and wide spectrum as Orphek V4. I never had dino before, until starting my frag tank.

My frag tank is 5 months old and has no fish but some snails. It's basic bare bottom with egg crates, but has more flow than my DT. I was thinking of also adding phyto and pods into the frag tank to help battle the dinos, along with UV running directly there (unless the UV ends up frying the pods ugh).

Fortunately, the Dinos are mainly sticking to the egg crate, so every few days, I pull the crates out and hose them down. The corals have not been affected by the Dinos, as long as I routinely brush off any dinos sticking to them (I always have a bag of carbon in my sump so maybe that helps reduce any toxin). I would say this DinoX treatment created more loss, harm, and stress on my corals than Dinos. Ah never a dull day in reefing.
 
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Rodey09

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I believe I am battling Dinos, but not 100 percent sure. My wife took a sample of my water to work and sent me the following images. I believe they may be dinos, but there are some other things in here too. Any idea on what this stuff is and how to combat it would be great. Ran a water test 2 nights ago. Alk was a little low at 7, calcium was 460, 1.025 salinity, phos at .25, ammonia at .25, nitrite 0, nitrate 40 which is crazy high....want to do a water change but everything I have read regarding Dinos says not to do this... ph came in at 8.2. Screenshot_20191115-062645_Gallery.jpg received_3017043248520156.jpeg received_765299927249500.jpeg received_2451545594914592.jpeg received_2154588358168891.jpeg received_426082134998155.jpeg
 

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taricha

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I believe I am battling Dinos, but not 100 percent sure.
Mostly prorocentrum dinos. A few coolia dinos as well. the green algae is derbesia, and the worm-thing is a nematode.
 

Rodey09

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Mostly prorocentrum dinos. A few coolia dinos as well. the green algae is derbesia, and the worm-thing is a nematode.
Thank you, Taricha. I will look into ways to
try and stabilize the bloom I have going on in the tank now that I know what it is.
 

ScottB

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Interesting. My frag tank broke out with Dinos only under the Orphek V4. I have my frag tank plumbed into the same sump as my DT (which never had and still doesn’t have Dinos). Same water but different lights between the two tanks - and only the Orphek tank has dinos, so I don't know. Maybe the live rock and bio diversity in my DT has been fending off the Dinos for years.

I have a TMC Vecton-6 UV sterilizer running in the sump (for my frag and DT) and it has not helped. I'm going to move it directly to my frag tank to see if that helps (maybe the Dinos were not floating down into the sump area). My only concern is raising the temp too fast in my frag tank as its water circulates through the UV. We'll see.

I wish I would have saw this thread and ID Ostreopsis before using DinoX. My corals have taken a beating. Lost 3 nice wall hammers and a head of Aussie Gold Torch :(. Alk consumption has dropped since everything is stressed. Aside from the Dinos, everything was happy and healthy before Dino X. Now running carbon and anxiously waiting to do a water change a.s.a.p. Back to the drawing board.

I have described on this thread something similar; I have three frag tanks running from two serial sumps. I started with 1 tank/sump, and both times I added a NEW tank to the existing system, only the NEW one would break out with Ostreopsis. (Same hybrid light system, bare bottom, high flow but low turnover.) If/when I add a fourth, I will just move the UV over to it prophylactically.

Each tank seems to develop its own immune system over time. Bacterial film, film algae, etc.
 

drawman

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I have described on this thread something similar; I have three frag tanks running from two serial sumps. I started with 1 tank/sump, and both times I added a NEW tank to the existing system, only the NEW one would break out with Ostreopsis. (Same hybrid light system, bare bottom, high flow but low turnover.) If/when I add a fourth, I will just move the UV over to it prophylactically.

Each tank seems to develop its own immune system over time. Bacterial film, film algae, etc.
I've heard others say this as well. I'm curious are you running a fair amount of rock in this system?
 

ScottB

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I've heard others say this as well. I'm curious are you running a fair amount of rock in this system?

Only a few rocks in each tank; most of the space is frag racks. To compensate, I use aged Marine Pure blocks in the sump. 4" X 8" X 8" Three of them. They came over in stages (as I added tanks to the frag system) from my DT system.

Curious what you are thinking. Please continue.
 

drawman

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Only a few rocks in each tank; most of the space is frag racks. To compensate, I use aged Marine Pure blocks in the sump. 4" X 8" X 8" Three of them. They came over in stages (as I added tanks to the frag system) from my DT system.

Curious what you are thinking. Please continue.
Just have a thought in my mind if more rock and surface area for bacteria, feather dusters, sponges, etc. would help to reduce/outcompete dinos. My current tank has a pretty open scape with a small amount of rock so it makes me curious what a big rubbermaid sump full of rock would do once colonized.
 

ScottB

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Just have a thought in my mind if more rock and surface area for bacteria, feather dusters, sponges, etc. would help to reduce/outcompete dinos. My current tank has a pretty open scape with a small amount of rock so it makes me curious what a big rubbermaid sump full of rock would do once colonized.

Anecdotal of course, but my DT has a ton of rock AND 2-3 mature Marine block in it. Well stocked & fed, no refugium, dry skim. Keeps low but steady nutrients all the time and NEVER DINOs.

I feel like a lot of rock acts as a store and buffer for PO4. As the water loads up on it, the rock absorbs and stores. As the water loses PO4, the rocks release it back into the water. Goldilocks-like. Just enough in the water at all times.

Marine Pure blocks (big ones, in low flow area) certainly process my nitrates, but I don't know whether or not they store PO4. Hmmmm. Maybe time to tie in a THIRD sump into my basement system and get some rock in there. :)

Thanks for the idea!
 

drawman

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Anecdotal of course, but my DT has a ton of rock AND 2-3 mature Marine block in it. Well stocked & fed, no refugium, dry skim. Keeps low but steady nutrients all the time and NEVER DINOs.

I feel like a lot of rock acts as a store and buffer for PO4. As the water loads up on it, the rock absorbs and stores. As the water loses PO4, the rocks release it back into the water. Goldilocks-like. Just enough in the water at all times.

Marine Pure blocks (big ones, in low flow area) certainly process my nitrates, but I don't know whether or not they store PO4. Hmmmm. Maybe time to tie in a THIRD sump into my basement system and get some rock in there. :)

Thanks for the idea!
Would be my 2nd sump but I may need to as well! Or at least upgrade my current sump to get some extra space.
 

Grigs

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I'm declaring VICTORY!

It took 3 courses of Dr Tim's regimen and a final 3 day blackout to wipe out the remainder of the dino's and the residual algae, but the tank is IMMACULATE right now. I think what pushed it over the edge was the 25% WC last weekend followed by the 3 day blackout. I was dosing Neophos and Neonitro continually trying to keep nutrients above zero. The 72 hr blackout remedied that, but it did take a toll on several of my SPS, particularly the Jack-o-Lantern. Half of it melted. Hopefully good husbandry will result in a rapid recovery. I'm very optimistic.

In summary, hang in there! Mulitple iterations of the treatment may be required. Each time the dino outbreaks were smaller and smaller, but eventually I was able to out-compete it with bacteria and algae...

WB230 Nov 16 2019.jpg
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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