Dinos or something else
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K.miller
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This stuff went away a bit after the black out and refresh but not as much as would have thought. The strings seem to longer on what is still there. No bubbles in them. Dosing waste away now but not seeing much difference. Still not 100% sure its Dinos im dealing with. Was kinda hoping for some thoughts on the microscope pics i posted. Going to finish the waste away dosing and see what happens
I think dinos too. Are these moving? Lets get someone who knows @taricha
OK. Dinos then. Looks like lots of cyano too. Hopefully an expert will chime in, but I’m thinking amphidinium also. I know nothing about the method you are using. I would make sure measurable nitrates and phosphates are in the tank. I would also run GAC for toxin control, although it looked like corals were ok.
tnw50cal
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Then it's Dinos and it's not that hard to beat, but will be a lot of work with many hours involved the first week of the fight. I just fought this battle and have won. What I did worked for me.
-Most important thing is get a UV sterilizer( one that draws water from the tank and puts it right back into the tank).
- Stop doing water changes.
- Vacuum as much of it out as possible including off the rocks and the gravel. I know you take water out when doing this as well as gravel. What I did was drained the vacuum hose into 1 gallon water jugs and let them sit to settle everything then I poured the water in the jug thru a filter sock right back into the aquarium. Dinos are like 5 microns big so if you are using a 200 micron sock the pores in the sock are 195 microns to big. It's OK as the Dinos your pouring back in are now waterborne and can and will be killed by the UV sterilizer. This will leave gravel and clumped Dinos in the bottom of the jug. Fill the jug about 1/4 full with freshwater (tap water or RIO) shake the crap out of it and pour the water out. Do this until the gravel in the bottom of jug is clean because your going to put the gravel back into the aquarium (I like my gravel it went back in). Doing it this way you'll only have to replace a little (maybe a gallon or less) of tank water. Use a brush(toothbrush) on the rocks after vacuuming to again get as many Dinos waterborne as possible. The above will be a every or every other day endeavor for the first week or so. Put the gravel back in after doing all this.
- Use and change your filter floss many times a day(in the morning before going to work, after work, before going to bed, etc) as it will be brown from the dead Dinos the UV sterilizer killed. And get rid of any GFO if your using it.
Trust me when I tell you it's a great feeling to wake up to clean gravel(not brown) and this happens about the middle of the 2nd week.(NO MORE VACUUMING thank God) By then the only Dinos are in the holes in your rocks that you could not get with the toothbush . I guess you could use a powerhead to blow as much out as possible, although this will die by the third week.
Now comes the green algae. I never thought I'd be happy to see that growing in my tank but it ain't brown. This is the point I'm at now. I'm using a refugium with cheato and using the time the light is on the refugium for nutrient control(nitrate ,phosphate). I'm doing pretty good-just enough to keep the Dinos from growing and only enough so green algae growth is at the level my CUC can eat and at the end of the week there is just as much of it as was there at the beginning of the week. Since I have no SPS coral, I'm only doing a 5% water changes a month(have to cut back on the light on the refugium/ harvest some cheato then to build back up the nutrients).
K.miller
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This sounds like a good plan. I haven't done a water change in several weeks so im good there. Im going to start sucking out all the dinos i can. I have a 5 micron sock im going to run it through and then back into the tank. Im going to be ordering some filter floss. Where did you put yours? I have seen people recommend putting it in the display. I have a 36watt UV but i am waiting for a replacement bulb that should be here Wednesday. Just have to find a way to plumb it to the display. Feeding it from the display wont be hard but having it return to the display will be an issue unless i actually unmount it and move it
Mikedawg
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Yep, could be amphidinium; I can't really see the ovate shape and structure characteristic of O. ovata. Good luck, btw.
+ 1 on tnw50cal's plan; this seems to be the de facto standard for managing dino's (can't ever eliminate them IMHO). As you mentioned adding some of Dr. Tim's waste away, Microbacter 7 or similar product will help to build up the number and types of competing organisms. I would also add pods, etc., anything really to support biodiversity.
BRS just posted a 5 minute video on managing dinos, btw.
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Mikedawg
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I alternated between the two, thinking that they contain different bacteria and so improve chances of supporting ones that will outcompete the dino. Not sure if there are any counterindications in product directions.
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Prorocentrum, See below.
These are prorocentrum. They have nearly same shape as amphidinium, but prorocentrum are armored dinos. They possess a shell called a theca.
If you look at the bottom of the photo, what looks like a clear dino cell - that's actually a shed theca. Every time an armored dino multiplies into two cells, it sheds the outer armor.
Thanks for the explanation. That’s awesome!
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