Dinos?! PLEASE HELP

[mbressler]

Can anyone please help id this dino? Atleast im pretty sure it's a dino. Any help is super appreciated. Ive been fighting this for a couple months now, and im not having any luck. Anyone who could id, and/or add some advice on how it can be beaten - please let me know! Pics arent so great with the blue lighting - but i can get others if needed. In person the algae is a dark purple/red color. It's got air bubbles that form underneath, and the top has a velvety sort of texture to it.

 

[CenlaReefer]

A picture with more natural light would be better.

 

[Idech]

Dark purple sounds more like cyano than dinos. For dinos you need to ID with a microscope to determine what type, then use the appropriate treatment plan.

 

[mbressler]

Here are some more with the whiter lights

 

[CHSUB]

Looks like Cyano over some other nuisance algae. Toothbrush, turkey basting, vacuum sand, and WC with manual removal; Increases CUC rinse and repeat with manual removal. Some info on tank and inhabitants would be helpful, however regardless you can still remove filth.

 

[mbressler]

Looks like Cyano over some other nuisance algae. Toothbrush, turkey basting, vacuum sand, and WC with manual removal; Increases CUC rinse and repeat with manual removal. Some info on tank and inhabitants would be helpful, however regardless you can still remove filth.

Thanks. I’ve been doing 30% water changes every week for about a month now. Getting at the sand with the vacuum as much as possible, as the majority of the algae is on the sand. Toothbrush and turkey basting(doesn’t work too great) every 4-5 days, but thats only doing so much. Tank is a 190 gal Red Sea peninsula. Cuc consists of mostly blue leg hermits, conchs, assorted snails, crabs and shrimps. Current other livestock is mostly tangs(yellow, powder blue, blonde naso, sailfin, yellow belly hippo, and purple), but I’ve also got some cardinals, gobies, Midas Blenny, couple of clownfish, royal gramma basslet, and two dragonettes

 

[CHSUB]

Thanks. I’ve been doing 30% water changes every week for about a month now. Getting at the sand with the vacuum as much as possible, as the majority of the algae is on the sand. Toothbrush and turkey basting(doesn’t work too great) every 4-5 days, but thats only doing so much. Tank is a 190 gal Red Sea peninsula. Cuc consists of mostly blue leg hermits, conchs, assorted snails, crabs and shrimps. Current other livestock is mostly tangs(yellow, powder blue, blonde naso, sailfin, yellow belly hippo, and purple), but I’ve also got some cardinals, gobies, Midas Blenny, couple of clownfish, royal gramma basslet, and two dragonettes

Large fish load, imo, inorganic nutrients are fueling the algae. Simply doing a WC isn’t going to help much unless it is directed at detritus and algae. I do weekly WC in a clean aquarium and the removal water is generally filthy. I use a canister filter to vacuum the top layer of sand because WC is limited and amazed how much detritus I remove. Imo, you need to do a better job with manual removal, cleaning mechanical filters twice weekly minimum, lightly turkey basting more often. Things like increasing flow and cleaning your skimmer are important, but there is no magic cure to nuisance algae, it is about input/output, CUC, and maintenance. It becomes simple with experience and a mature system. Is this a coral system?

 

[mbressler]

Large fish load, imo, inorganic nutrients are fueling the algae. Simply doing a WC isn’t going to help much unless it is directed at detritus and algae. I do weekly WC in a clean aquarium and the removal water is generally filthy. I use a canister filter to vacuum the top layer of sand because WC is limited and amazed how much detritus I remove. Imo, you need to do a better job with manual removal, cleaning mechanical filters twice weekly minimum, lightly turkey basting more often. Things like increasing flow and cleaning your skimmer are important, but there is no magic cure to nuisance algae, it is about input/output, CUC, and maintenance. It becomes simple with experience and a mature system. Is this a coral system?

I think I will increase flow a bit, but I don’t want to disturb the coral ecosystem too much; since they seem to be doing well. I don’t have too many corals just yet, but at the moment I’ve just got a few nems, zoas, and torches. I actually turned off the skimmer about 7 months ago because between that and the filter roller it was stripping everything basically down to zero(and causing different issues). Everything’s been great ever since….except now obviously this outbreak. This may be the obvious answer, but could it be as simple as starting the run the skimmer again?

 

[CHSUB]

I think I will increase flow a bit, but I don’t want to disturb the coral ecosystem too much; since they seem to be doing well. I don’t have too many corals just yet, but at the moment I’ve just got a few nems, zoas, and torches. I actually turned off the skimmer about 7 months ago because between that and the filter roller it was stripping everything basically down to zero(and causing different issues). Everything’s been great ever since….except now obviously this outbreak. This may be the obvious answer, but could it be as simple as starting the run the skimmer again?

I would run a skimmer, but again it’s not going to be a magic bullet. As you add more coral, less real estate for algae to grow. It becomes simple with time, don’t get impatient with magic fixes.

 

[Merge_595]

Have you tried a 3 day blackout completely covering the tank pitch black??? Anytime I've had Dino's that stay on the sandbed it's always worked.

 

[mbressler]

Have you tried a 3 day blackout completely covering the tank pitch black??? Anytime I've had Dino's that stay on the sandbed it's always worked.

I was considering it; but figured it would kill my corals too. Is that not the case?

 

[Merge_595]

I was considering it; but figured it would kill my corals too. Is that not the case?

If your corals are already struggling you might definitely have some losses. I've done it multiple times with high end Acro’s with minimal losses..you can always do a 2 day blackout also but the longer the better

 

[bradreef]

Really only 2 good options from here imo

1. Buy a microscope for $60 and identify the type. Take that to mack dinoflagellates page on Facebook and they will tell you exactly how to treat.
2. If all on the sand buy this https://3dreefing.com/products/sand-bed-uv-sweeper
And hope it's one of the types that it works on.

Don't listen to anyone on here that says do this, or dose that and it will fix dinos. There are a few common types all requiring different treatment.

 

[CHSUB]

Don't listen to anyone on here that says do this, or dose that and it will fix dinos. There are a few common types all requiring different treatment.

Including buying a silly light on a stick or a microscope. If you don’t want something, anything in your aquarium remove it or get something to eat it.