dinos and green hair algae

[joe0813]

Our 180 gallon is under attack. We have some rocks that are covered with green/brown hair algae and now we also have the sand starting to what looks like Dinos. question is how do we get rid of them and not make it worse. I know with dinos they strive on low nitrates/phosphates and then hair algae is higher nitrates/phosphates. so technically if I raise nitrate/phosphate to fight the dinos wouldnt I be making the hair algae worse?

 

[joe0813]

bump

 

[ReefGrammie]

I'm no expert on the subject, but I've been dosing Vibrant in my 90 gallon since mid December for a horrible hair algae outbreak, along with underdosing Phosphate RX. You're welcome to look at my tank reboot thread to read what I've done and see the disgusting pictures! My biggest fear was that my hair algae monster would create another monster, which so far it hasn't. The hair algae is almost gone now, but it took about 4 months of blood, sweat, and tears. I deliberately went very slowly. I think sometimes people get so desperate to get rid of it, they try too many things at once. I had to reel myself in many times!!

At the time I did this experiment, I didn't have any corals except for a blue mushroom that could survive the apocalypse. I do have a refugium that had a large wad of chaeto, which has definitely shrunk up some, but still seems to be ok. Good luck!

 

[joe0813]

going to try vibrant I think. I guess the lack of responses means not a lot of people had this issue

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Our 180 gallon is under attack. We have some rocks that are covered with green/brown hair algae and now we also have the sand starting to what looks like Dinos. question is how do we get rid of them and not make it worse. I know with dinos they strive on low nitrates/phosphates and then hair algae is higher nitrates/phosphates. so technically if I raise nitrate/phosphate to fight the dinos wouldnt I be making the hair algae worse?

You are correct. Rainsing no3 and po4 to battle the dinos will fuel the hair algae growth. While letting my tank get "dirty" fighting dinos no3 at 20 ppm and po4 0.21 ppm caused a hair algae bloom in my tank, slowly took over the rock. Part of fighting dino is getting green algaes to grow and outcomplete the dinos for resources. Deal with the dinos first then worry about the algae. You need to ID whatbtyoe of dino you have so you can take the proper plan of attack. UV is extremely effect in most cases but not if its amphidinium in the sand. Get a $20 microscope from Amazon and look at a sample of the sand with it and post up pics or video at 400X or higher. I have fought and hopefully beaten both amphidinium and ostreopsis dinoflagellates and am now beating back the hair algae as well so ask if you have any questions.

 

[thatbamaguy]

Are you sure it is hair algae and not bryopsis? If it's bryopsis, Fluconazole will end it quickly. As for the dinos, you really need to identify the type but for all of the dinos I've had, the dirty water method was best. I dose sodium nitrate and potassium phosphate to keep my numbers at a good level.

 

[thatbamaguy]

It sounds to me like your "hair algae" is locking up the nutrients and starving your bacteria which has led to a dino outbreak

 

[joe0813]

I do have a microscope and can get some pictures with the lights on tomorrow. it definitely looks like hair algae to me. Im thinking the same thing bamaguy. Hair algae is taking all the nutrients and now im getting dinos.

 

[thatbamaguy]

I do have a microscope and can get some pictures with the lights on tomorrow. it definitely looks like hair algae to me. Im thinking the same thing bamaguy. Hair algae is taking all the nutrients and now im getting dinos.

Take a look at the hair algae under the microscope also. If it's thick and spreads like crazy, I bet it's bryopsis. I fought it for a while sometimes winning but slowly losing many corals. Once I treated Fluconazole, it all died and I haven't seen it since

 

[joe0813]

This is the hair algae. Haven't got a good picture of the dinos yet

 

[thatbamaguy]

This is the hair algae. Haven't got a good picture of the dinos yet

Hmmm, I'm not seeing any fern like parts so it may be hair algae. Sometimes bryopsis only splits at the end though. Supposedly Fluconazole works on GHA also. It absolutely works on bryopsis.

 

[joe0813]

im going to try the fluconazole after I try and suck some up during a water change

 

[Stephers]

I had this problem about 6 months ago. I didn't even realize I had dinos because it was growing only on the hair algae, but my corals were rapidly deteriorating. Definitely confirm it is dinos first. Dinos and Diatoms can look VERY similar in appearance. I dose silicates to promote diatom growth and prevent dinos, and I check mine under microscope all the time to make sure it's actually diatoms growing.

I ended up dosing Reef flux to kill the algae, which fortunately also got rid of a lot of my dinos because it was where they were living. After 3 weeks, it was incredible. 98% of the hair algae was completely gone and the rest was not healthy looking.

BUT if your dinosis only the sand, there's a couple ways to go, I thihnk. There is a dino species which is considered pretty low risk for toxins and it does tend to live on the sand. This is where the identification is also important. While ugly, if your livestock is not looking bad and it looks like that kind of dinos, I'd probably just ignore it, honestly.

 

[AquaLogic]

What happened?

 

[SkinnyMcGinny]

I had terrible dino problem, 8 months of hell, I tried everything. Blackouts, manual removal, Worst battle in 15 years of reefing by far. The ultimate solution was simple: Let tank get nutrient "dirty" so hair algae out-compete dinos, get a hairy tank! Then, throw 1/2 a dozen mexican turbo snails in there and let them feast on the hair! That worked way better than any more complicated (and expensive) solution.

 

[AquaLogic]

I had terrible dino problem, 8 months of hell, I tried everything. Blackouts, manual removal, Worst battle in 15 years of reefing by far. The ultimate solution was simple: Let tank get nutrient "dirty" so hair algae out-compete dinos, get a hairy tank! Then, throw 1/2 a dozen mexican turbo snails in there and let them feast on the hair! That worked way better than any more complicated (and expensive) solution.

After doing a lot of reading last night, that's the conclusion I am coming to as well. I'm letting the tank get dirty now. Overfeeding, adding selcon, etc. Then it's time for a reefcleaners order.