Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

JCOLE · Nov 18, 2019

Has anyone tried this method? I am upping my nutrients and will try other things first over the next couple of weeks. I will try this method in about 3 weeks if I cannot get rid of Dinos.

Barracuda85 · Nov 18, 2019

taricha said:
sorry about confusing the type, I thought I correctly followed our comment thread back. Oops.

I wouldn't try to hammer the blackouts. Dinos can survive blackouts longer term than a lot of the things you'd want to keep alive and supporting. But yes, blasting surfaces, and some cells still will go into water at night. Wait and see what comes back before you jump straight in to doing more blackouts.

Hey everyone

It's been 10 days now, and no signs of Dinos (keeping fingers crossed and a watchful eye every day)....

I followed all the recommendations, plus did force all my water through some huge 10 micros filter socks, almost like doing an 70% water change, but putting the same water back into the system after passing the socks. Most the Dinos that were floating in the water column seem to have been filtered there too.

I also started dosing phosphate since my reading was 0, which even started to make my corals look a lot happier....

I guess it was the combination of the relentless fighting against Dinos on several levels that in the end shifted things around.

Thanks for all the helpful tips and tricks, I would not be at this point today if it wasn't for this forum and it's members.

ScottB · Nov 18, 2019

taricha said:
This is very underrated. It's cheap, effective and exports exclusively dinos.

And giving credit where it is due... I got this tip from you!

I have improved upon it though:
Cut a sheet into roughly 4" X 8" pieces (or larger)
Punch a hole near one or both ends and thread a zip tie through
Using the zip tie(s), fasten the sheet to one of the 100s of suction cups we all accumulate and never use
Stick it to the glass, near the top, in heavy flow
Remove and spray rinse each night

Makes it easy to export dinos and helps keep the snot off of your corals

Xavier434 · Nov 18, 2019

ScottB said:
And giving credit where it is due... I got this tip from you!

I have improved upon it though:
Cut a sheet into roughly 4" X 8" pieces (or larger)
Punch a hole near one or both ends and thread a zip tie through
Using the zip tie(s), fasten the sheet to one of the 100s of suction cups we all accumulate and never use
Stick it to the glass, near the top, in heavy flow
Remove and spray rinse each night

Makes it easy to export dinos and helps keep the snot off of your corals

This is a great idea that I will be shamelessly stealing tonight.

ldolor2 · Nov 19, 2019

So I have purchased the Aqua UV 25 watt for my 50 gal system. I was advised by an Aqua UV rep that the lowest flow rate should be 400gph and that’s the flow rate used for fish disease. Would 400gph at 25watts be enough to eliminate ostreopsis while maintaining my nutrients (.03 phos and 5-10 nitrates)? I could splurge and get a 57watt UV sterilizer, but was advised to not go below 1000something gph which isn’t feasible with my 50 gallon system...

ScottB · Nov 19, 2019

ldolor2 said:
So I have purchased the Aqua UV 25 watt for my 50 gal system. I was advised by an Aqua UV rep that the lowest flow rate should be 400gph and that’s the flow rate used for fish disease. Would 400gph at 25watts be enough to eliminate ostreopsis while maintaining my nutrients (.03 phos and 5-10 nitrates)? I could splurge and get a 57watt UV sterilizer, but was advised to not go below 1000something gph which isn’t feasible with my 50 gallon system...

Your 25 watt Aqua UV at 400 gph is going to crush those snotty b******s.

And good on you for getting manufacturer's advice on the minimum flow rate. An overheated bulb won't get the job done.

I will suggest that you should not be afraid to take your nutrients even higher to 10-15 and .01. Not overnight, but up them until you see some green film again. It is also common to see some cyano come in once the dinos start fading.

drawman · Nov 19, 2019

@taricha and @ScottB I'm starting to think I'm fighting multiple things including ostreopsis, red cyano, and possibly chrysophytes or maybe lyngbya. I do see some good snotty strings but I can't really say that the dinos are dominant in my tank. There is also a good crop of hair algae on my rocks now but that doesn't bother me. Makes me think I'm between a rock and a hard place with nutrients. I'm going to try to keep raising them but tank almost looks worse from everything. Still haven't pulled the trigger on a UV FWIW.

ScottB · Nov 19, 2019

drawman said:
@taricha and @ScottB I'm starting to think I'm fighting multiple things including ostreopsis, red cyano, and possibly chrysophytes or maybe lyngbya. I do see some good snotty strings but I can't really say that the dinos are dominant in my tank. There is also a good crop of hair algae on my rocks now but that doesn't bother me. Makes me think I'm between a rock and a hard place with nutrients. I'm going to try to keep raising them but tank almost looks worse from everything. Still haven't pulled the trigger on a UV FWIW.

I see your dilemma there. My tendency would be to treat dinos first, then come back to the cyano and algae after they are knocked back. But that creates a Catch 22 as the algae consumes the nutrient.

What do others think about the order of operation in this situation?

Is it OK to hit the algae with fluconazole so that it stops consuming all the PO4 and NO3?

@drawman without the UV to kill ostreopsis, you're really fighting with a hand (or two) behind your back. Eventually the dino tide will turn, but it will be a long, ugly, slog.

drawman · Nov 19, 2019

ScottB said:
I see your dilemma there. My tendency would be to treat dinos first, then come back to the cyano and algae after they are knocked back. But that creates a Catch 22 as the algae consumes the nutrient.

What do others think about the order of operation in this situation?

Is it OK to hit the algae with fluconazole so that it stops consuming all the PO4 and NO3?

@drawman without the UV to kill ostreopsis, you're really fighting with a hand (or two) behind your back. Eventually the dino tide will turn, but it will be a long, ugly, slog.

I think you're right on the UV. I'll most likely pick one up used so it may take a few days/weeks. If that knocks the dinos out then I can go pretty hard on the others and bring things into balance.

RMS18 · Nov 19, 2019

Filtering water through a 5 micron sock has been a waste of time. The Dino's get right through the sock. I let the filtered water sit in the bucket for about 8 minutes and the strands started to form. I have been filtering this water and pumping it back into the tank! The amount of hours wasted.

RMS18 · Nov 19, 2019

What are the latest tactics that show results with Amphidinium?

Been throwing everything at Amphidinium but they always seem to come back, days to weeks later.

Po4 and n03 dosing
Po4 maxing out ulr Hanna
N03 25ppm
UV going
Lights reduced
Vacuuming sand with affected areas
Brushing rocks, pumps and snails of dinos
Added pods, miracle mud, live sand activator
Mb7, waste away
H202 dosing

Was thinking to taking out rock from sump and replacing it with live rock from KP aquatics... Thoughts?

nick9one1 · Nov 20, 2019

Can anyone confirm these to be Coolia?

JCOLE · Nov 20, 2019

@taricha I finally was able to get some pictures under the scope. Do you have an ID for this?

drawman · Nov 20, 2019

h2oh2o said:
@taricha I finally was able to get some pictures under the scope. Do you have an ID for this?

Very nice scope pics. My guess is ostreopsis but I will let others chime in.

JCOLE · Nov 21, 2019

It does appear to be Ostreopsis as well. Without going through 410 pages is there a good place to start with treatment for Ostreopsis?

Also, I found this ID online and it seemed really useful. Please delete this if not allowed.

(1) Amphidinium cf. carterae, (2) Bysmatrum caponii, (3) Cabra cf. aremonica, (4) Coolia monotis, (5) Durinskia capensis, (6) Gambierdiscus caribaeus, (7) Ostreopsis heptagona, (8) Plagiodinium belizeanum, (9) Prorocentrum concavum, (10) Prorocentrum foraminosum, (11) Prorocentrum hoffmanianum, (12) Prorocentrum lima, (13) Prorocentrum rhathymum, (14) Prorocentrum sculptile, (15) Prorocentrum cf. sipadanensis, (16) Prorocentrum sp., (17) Sinophysis ebriola, (18) Sinophysis microcephala, (19) Sinophysis stenosoma, (20) ?Togula sp. Scale bars = 10 µm.

Credit - https://www.researchgate.net/figure...e-northern-Yucatan-Peninsula-1_fig6_261172042

TexAg09 · Nov 21, 2019

Ive been having trouble with my tank for a few weeks. Started with a velvet outbreak. I got all of the fish out and into QT, this required removing all the rock. Now there is something growing/settling on the rocks. Nitrate and phosphate are 0 thanks to not feeding after removing the fish and running carbon/gfo. I'm now seeing that having these so low isn't really a great thing. I've searched on here and i still cant tell if its diatoms, dino, cyano or some other algae. It looks like a light brown fuzz on the rocks and sand. Its not real hard to remove but it does require brushing (i.e. wont completely come off just by blowing it off with a turkey baster. I haven't seen any air bubbles.
The tank is pretty new at only 3-4 months running. I had recently switched lights before this happened (at least im pretty sure this stuff started growing after). Starting 2 days ago i reduced the lights to only being on 4 hours a day since there are still LPS in the tank. I do think its getting better after having the lights not on as much, but its hard to tell.

here are some crappy pictures. I dont have a microscope but may get one. To test with a microscope, or with the method taricha mentioned, do you just use a water sample or do you collect some of this stuff off the rock? If its off the rock, how do you collect it?
Thanks for any help, sorry if this isn't posted in the right thread.

drawman · Nov 21, 2019

h2oh2o said:
It does appear to be Ostreopsis as well. Without going through 410 pages is there a good place to start with treatment for Ostreopsis?

Also, I found this ID online and it seemed really useful. Please delete this if not allowed.

(1) Amphidinium cf. carterae, (2) Bysmatrum caponii, (3) Cabra cf. aremonica, (4) Coolia monotis, (5) Durinskia capensis, (6) Gambierdiscus caribaeus, (7) Ostreopsis heptagona, (8) Plagiodinium belizeanum, (9) Prorocentrum concavum, (10) Prorocentrum foraminosum, (11) Prorocentrum hoffmanianum, (12) Prorocentrum lima, (13) Prorocentrum rhathymum, (14) Prorocentrum sculptile, (15) Prorocentrum cf. sipadanensis, (16) Prorocentrum sp., (17) Sinophysis ebriola, (18) Sinophysis microcephala, (19) Sinophysis stenosoma, (20) ?Togula sp. Scale bars = 10 µm.

Credit - https://www.researchgate.net/figure...e-northern-Yucatan-Peninsula-1_fig6_261172042

I think the consensus thus far is raise NO3 to 10, PO4 to .1 and use UV. I'm in the same boat raising nutrients but haven't pulled the trigger on UV. I've also strongly debated getting live rock.

JCOLE · Nov 21, 2019

drawman said:
I think the consensus thus far is raise NO3 to 10, PO4 to .1 and use UV. I'm in the same boat raising nutrients but haven't pulled the trigger on UV. I've also strongly debated getting live rock.

I have been manually raising since Monday and removing as much as I can daily. Seems to be helping

drawman · Nov 21, 2019

h2oh2o said:
I have been manually raising since Monday and removing as much as I can daily. Seems to be helping

Just tested myself today and I'm at a little above 5ppm NO3 and .06ppm PO4. I have refresh and waste away getting delivered tomorrow so I'm debating doing a treatment over the weekend.