Dinoflagellates - dinos a possible cure!? Follow along and see!

Spschief85 · Oct 12, 2017

Well I beat dinos with doing what I listed up above... gha blew up everywhere after I went back to a normal photoperoid... and some cyno... but I'll take both of those anytime over dinos... thank god my nightmare is over..

tutmatt3 · Oct 12, 2017

saltwaterpicaso said:
wouldn't mind trying it

Keep us posted if so! The note about the 2nd 3day blackout is what kind of turned me off personally..
(That, plus IDK if I know i had dinos for sure or what)

Spschief85 · Oct 12, 2017

tutmatt3 said:
Keep us posted if so! The note about the 2nd 3day blackout is what kind of turned me off personally..
(That, plus IDK if I know i had dinos for sure or what)

I did mutiple blackouts along with many other things, but I attribute my success to getting nutrients in line most of all if your dinos are bad like mine and had everything covered and growing on the glass then no other algae will grow... after getting nutrients in check the blackout is about the only way to get the dinos to die or go into cyst for allowing the good or bad algae to start growing again...just food for thought... it's going to very hard to get rid of dinos if you have it bad without a blackout

mcarroll · Oct 12, 2017

Spschief85 said:
I did mutiple blackouts along with many other things, but I attribute my success to getting nutrients in line most of all if your dinos are bad like mine and had everything covered and growing on the glass then no other algae will grow... after getting nutrients in check the blackout is about the only way to get the dinos to die or go into cyst for allowing the good or bad algae to start growing again.

Dunno if the timeframes overlapped, but you would have liked this thread if it had been around when you were doing what you did:
Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I think we're on the same page with nutrients (with research to back it up!), but it might have saved you from trying "many other things".

Things like blackouts, UV and even diatom filters can be helpful, but they seem to work only in limited circumstances or on certain types of dinos. Not enough cases with hard evidence and positive ID'd to say for sure on the blackouts....but getting a microscope ID is always the best way to begin. (See that thread for more.)

The problem with blackouts in particular is that other photosynthetic critters – microbes and corals alike – are equally compromised....if they happened to already be stressed (e.g. from toxins, etc) the lighting switch could be a problem for some of them.

Spschief85 · Oct 12, 2017

mcarroll said:
Dunno if the timeframes overlapped, but you would have liked this thread if it had been around when you were doing what you did:
Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I think we're on the same page with nutrients (with research to back it up!), but it might have saved you from trying "many other things".

Things like blackouts, UV and even diatom filters can be helpful, but they seem to work only in limited circumstances or on certain types of dinos. Not enough cases with hard evidence and positive ID'd to say for sure on the blackouts....but getting a microscope ID is always the best way to begin. (See that thread for more.)

The problem with blackouts in particular is that other photosynthetic critters – microbes and corals alike – are equally compromised....if they happened to already be stressed (e.g. from toxins, etc) the lighting switch could be a problem for some of them.

Well I total blackout may not be necessary but I would run a shortened and less intense photoperoid at the least... either I had chryophytes to begin with and when I got the nutrients in check it turned into dinos or it went from one species of Dinos to another and the one it changed to loved light... I do think the dinoX helped but did not eradicate them... it did appear to put them in check so to speak

Spschief85 · Oct 12, 2017

I think the most important thing is when battling dinos one takes more than just one approach to eradicating them... this is a battle that requires a 2, 3, or even 4 front war to win

aabjones888 · Oct 12, 2017

Dumb question, but when u do a black out, do you have your refugium light off too?

Spschief85 · Oct 18, 2017

aabjones888 said:
Dumb question, but when u do a black out, do you have your refugium light off too?

Yes all lights off

Lowefx · Oct 18, 2017

aabjones888 said:
Dumb question, but when u do a black out, do you have your refugium light off too?

I covered mine with 2 moving blankets too. But make sure the top is open for ventilation.

matic · Oct 29, 2017

I've started dosing Dinoxal for the second time.. first time did a 4 day light out and a 6 day dosing but the dino's returned after 5 days. Now doing a blackout for a week and started dosing dinoxal for the second time. I would really like to start dosing vibrant but it is not available in Holland... What do you guys think; big water change after or wait till i'm dino free for a month and then do a big water change?

Spschief85 · Oct 29, 2017

matic said:
I've started dosing Dinoxal for the second time.. first time did a 4 day light out and a 6 day dosing but the dino's returned after 5 days. Now doing a blackout for a week and started dosing dinoxal for the second time. I would really like to start dosing vibrant but it is not available in Holland... What do you guys think; big water change after or wait till i'm dino free for a month and then do a big water change?

Do not do a water change

Bubba002 · Oct 31, 2017

Fluconizol was the start of my Dino’s. Hate to see livestock go and dump corals but I am disabled and can not do the valiant things you all have done. Will have someone come in and clear out everything and sterilize the tank and go back to raising cichlids. Bless you all

sebastiaan1985 · Nov 3, 2017

So I am battling Dino's as was confirmed after microscope photos. Does anyone know which specific type of Dinos these are?

mcarroll · Nov 4, 2017

matic said:
I've started dosing Dinoxal for the second time.. first time did a 4 day light out and a 6 day dosing but the dino's returned after 5 days. Now doing a blackout for a week and started dosing dinoxal for the second time. I would really like to start dosing vibrant but it is not available in Holland... What do you guys think; big water change after or wait till i'm dino free for a month and then do a big water change?

(I soooo wish a mod would close this thread once and for all.)

You should check out Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether? before you take any more steps.

There are no cures.

This thread is totally misleading unless you read all 4000+ posts to know that NOBODY had long term success here.

sfin52 · Nov 4, 2017

I read it all and what was tried five pages later didn't work. Bleach, metro, black out, hydrogen peroxide, combo of all, resets was the last straw and Dino came back because the underlying problem was never resolved.

Go to

You should check out Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether? before you take any more steps.

There are no cures.

This thread is totally misleading unless you read all 4000+ posts to know that NOBODY had long term success here.[/QUOTE]

zed102 · Nov 20, 2017

illumnae said:
I have a couple of questions:

1. How "fresh" does the water need to be to kill dinos? Will hyposalinity @ 1.009 (similar to what we use to QT against ich) work?

2. Has anyone tried Chloroquine phosphate treatment to kill dinos? It's supposed to work against velvet, plus it's an algaecide.

I tested chloroquine in a 10 gal tank at 30 mg/g. It killed the Dino’s overnight on a piece of live rock. There was still green hair algae present, but the Dino’s were completely eradicated. Unfortunately I cannot put it into my DT because I have some sensitive wrasses.