Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

Stephers

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Prorocentrum? Im aware of the diatoms and cyano :) i'm dosing silicates.

20200103_223230.jpg
 

Reef Box

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Hoping to get and ID on what's going on here. I'm Thinking Dinoflagellates. Brown in color, stringy, snot-like in tank. Don't really seem to go away too much with lights out. Primarily on the sand bed. I took a small sample of the actual stringy material and this is what I got... If I recall this is at 40X. Any ID and Possible treatment is appreciated. I have been attempting to manually remove, adding microbacter7, stopped skimming and doubled feeding because Phosphates were at 00 on the Hanna Phospate checker.

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NMreef

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I have an ID request for you. I am the guy from a few thousand posts back with the antique brass microscope. Good news is that I solved my initial problem with a regimen if dosing phosphates and nitrates, siphoning and finally UV.

I was good for many months until I started to get a new reddish covering on the rocks. No problem, I said to myself, it's probably Cyano so I dosed Chemiclean when it did not go away. I should have just siphoned some and looked under a scope right away...

Turns out the chemiclean was useless. Attached is a picture of what it actually is. Good news is that is goes into the water column at night, I think, so the UV goes on tonight. A positive ID would be appreciated. Again, it presents as a reddish mat on live rock. I run bare bottom and there is none visible on glass or bottom. The dinos swim a little but remain in their areas.

Screen Shot 2020-01-05 at 4.35.34 PM.png
 

RMS18

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Ahhhhhhh finally making progress!!! So I have a 25watt aqua UV plumbed in my sump. But obviously it wasen't enough. So I bought a jeabo 55watt and I have it on top of my tank pulling from DT and emptying into DT. And boy did it make a difference!!! Another thing I did was shut off my moon lights so it was completely black at night. I noticed after shutting off the moon light the sand would clear at night. Then in addition to all that I'd dose h202 an hour after black out. It's been 2 nights only of this and the entire tank is 90% rid of dinos! It's been over 5 months of this fight and I'm starting to feel lighter and happier. Snails are more active, sps are happier no more slime all over them. Sump area doesn't smell as much. Ostreopsis is what I've been fighting.

Thoughts on how long to run this additional UV and dose h202?

Thank you all for the help truly!
 

dwest

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Glad things are turning! I’ve never dosed hydrogen peroxide so I can’t comment on that. I tried to move my UV from DT back to sump return, but it didn’t work for me. It has worked for others however. I plumbed mine permanently in my DT. If you want to remove UV completely I would wait at least a couple months. Good luck either way.
 

ScottB

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Glad things are turning! I’ve never dosed hydrogen peroxide so I can’t comment on that. I tried to move my UV from DT back to sump return, but it didn’t work for me. It has worked for others however. I plumbed mine permanently in my DT. If you want to remove UV completely I would wait at least a couple months. Good luck either way.
+1 in keep running UV. I took mine off after a couple weeks and they returned. I’d also
Let my nutrients dip a bit so monitor that too.

but once you have figured out what it takes, ostreopsis is easy to manage.
 

RMS18

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Glad things are turning! I’ve never dosed hydrogen peroxide so I can’t comment on that. I tried to move my UV from DT back to sump return, but it didn’t work for me. It has worked for others however. I plumbed mine permanently in my DT. If you want to remove UV completely I would wait at least a couple months. Good luck either way.

Hmm I do not see any possible way to plumb my UV to my display. Wow couple of months ok. I was thinking 2-3 weeks should get their numbers to a point they wouldn't show themselves.
 

K.miller

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This is what is on my sand. Did some blackouts, dosed peroxide for a week or so and have uv running in and out of my DT. Seems to have mostly left the rocks but remains in the sand. I have vacuumed and stired the sand and its back within 24-36 hours
20200107_194854.jpg
20200107_194817.jpg
20200107_194814.jpg
 
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dwest

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Hmm I do not see any possible way to plumb my UV to my display. Wow couple of months ok. I was thinking 2-3 weeks should get their numbers to a point they wouldn't show themselves.
It’s obviously your call and there are no rules here. It just seems that results are very mixed. You can try 2-3 weeks, but be ready to crank it back If needed!
 

RMS18

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It’s obviously your call and there are no rules here. It just seems that results are very mixed. You can try 2-3 weeks, but be ready to crank it back If needed!

I appreciate your feedback. I guess at the end of the day it's been 5 months what's another month or two lol. At least my acros are happy and I can possibly even add more now.
 

dwest

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This is what is on my sand. Did some blackouts, dosed peroxide for a week or so and have uv running in and out of my DT. Seems to have mostly left the rocks but remains in the sand. I have vacuumed and stired the sand and its back within 24-36 hours
20200107_194854.jpg
20200107_194817.jpg
20200107_194814.jpg
Sorry, I’m not an ID person. So hopefully someone can do that. However, their behavior sounds somewhat like the amphidinium I dealt with. Some have had success with bacteria dosing like microbacter 7. I never used that. In addition to UV, I made the largest improvement when I removed my sand.
 

RMS18

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This is what is on my sand. Did some blackouts, dosed peroxide for a week or so and have uv running in and out of my DT. Seems to have mostly left the rocks but remains in the sand. I have vacuumed and stired the sand and its back within 24-36 hours
20200107_194854.jpg
20200107_194817.jpg
20200107_194814.jpg

I would buy a better scope. I had a $15 scope for my first ID and I was told it was Amphidium. After months of bacteria dosing I decided to buy a better scope $100... The cleaner pics showed it was Ostreopsis.
 

RMS18

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Is anyone aware if it's better to use an 02 scrubber / fresh air source to skimmer with Ostreopsis?

I feel like the blooms were more intense with my 02 scrubber connected but I also didn't have the upper hand on them like I do now. I thought I read in one of @Randy Holmes-Farley articles higher pH / lower 02 affected Dino's in a negative way..
 

K.miller

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Sorry, I’m not an ID person. So hopefully someone can do that. However, their behavior sounds somewhat like the amphidinium I dealt with. Some have had success with bacteria dosing like microbacter 7. I never used that. In addition to UV, I made the largest improvement when I removed my sand.
I have been dosing MB7 every other day give or take. Knock on wood the stuff on the sand doesn't seem to be getting worse but it also doesn't seem to be getting better
 

dwest

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I would buy a better scope. I had a $15 scope for my first ID and I was told it was Amphidium. After months of bacteria dosing I decided to buy a better scope $100... The cleaner pics showed it was Ostreopsis.
It’s seems pretty common for us to have more than one type as well. What scope did you get?
 

drawman

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Is anyone aware if it's better to use an 02 scrubber / fresh air source to skimmer with Ostreopsis?

I feel like the blooms were more intense with my 02 scrubber connected but I also didn't have the upper hand on them like I do now. I thought I read in one of @Randy Holmes-Farley articles higher pH / lower 02 affected Dino's in a negative way..
I would assume that Randy is correct that higher pH and lower CO2 would be worse for dinos. Again just an assumption I have no data to back this up. I certainly wouldn't expect a fresh air source or CO2 scrubber to hurt. My guess would be that your blooms were circumstantially tied to your CO2 scrubber.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I would assume that Randy is correct that higher pH and lower CO2 would be worse for dinos. Again just an assumption I have no data to back this up. I certainly wouldn't expect a fresh air source or CO2 scrubber to hurt. My guess would be that your blooms were circumstantially tied to your CO2 scrubber.

high pH was a treatment for dinos in the old days. I just tried to explain why it might work.

pH changes might also alter the bioavailability of some trace metals such as iron. I think trace elements might be why dinos lose out in competition to other organisms when nutrients are high.
 

pinkfloyd1312

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Ost? What do you guys think? Scope is kinda crappy sorry... Only on my sand bed. Trying to read up and figure out what to do but sounds like maybe my tank is a bit too clean (biocube 32) Thinking of doing very little other than manual removal and maybe some pods and phyto along with some MB7 and no water changes. This a good start? Lots of opinions out there

20200108_200509.jpg 20200108_200506.jpg
 

RMS18

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It’s seems pretty common for us to have more than one type as well. What scope did you get?

I agree but the characteristics and I have been experiencing have been the same since day one up until three days ago. Chances of having two different types of dinos in my situation is unlikely. The first scope pictures that I posted months ago were really blurry.

AmScope M150C-I 40X-1000X All-Metal Optical Glass Lenses Cordless LED Student Biological Compound Microscope
 
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