Dinos: Prorocentrum - Let's beat this!

[blasterman]

I had a minor outbreak a few months ago. Knocked it out with UV.

My nitrate slipped below 5ppm again and boing, stringy snot is back.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Do you know what kind of dino you have? That's the first step.

The prorocentrum type

 

[ScottB]

The prorocentrum type

Sadly, you don't have ostreopsis. But you have the protocol above, and it will over time get it done; just not as quick as with ostreos.

No shortcuts just execute. Anything @taricha suggests that is contrary or in addition to what I wrote, then do that.

As long as you do everything else as listed, the TOTAL blackout for 36 hours really does accelerate things in my experience. Wrap the tank in dark trash bags. Then they will swim.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Sadly, you don't have ostreopsis. But you have the protocol above, and it will over time get it done; just not as quick as with ostreos.

No shortcuts just execute. Anything @taricha suggests that is contrary or in addition to what I wrote, then do that.

As long as you do everything else as listed, the TOTAL blackout for 36 hours really does accelerate things in my experience. Wrap the tank in dark trash bags. Then they will swim.

We'll i ran Chemiclean prior to clean red film cyano.

I see people are using silica to induce a diatom outbreak. I dont think that's what i want to do all over again.

My phosphates are .14 and nitrates at 3ppm. It appears i may have to dose nitrates every other day to increase to 10-20 as recommended by some.

I currently have a 15 watt Aqua UV sterilizer. This strand doesnt really tackle Dinoflagellates that burry in the sand at night so i'm thinking that purchasing a $400 UV upgrade is pointless.

Right now i'm dosing phytoplankton and cope pod, running activated carbon in my reactor, and skimming (to keep pH elevated as the co2 scrubber is connected).

All ai hydra lights are running 12 hours with blue and violets only. Whites 0%

Micro filter socks i change every other day.

I'm feeding regularly to keep nutrients elevated. Right now pretty much my entire sand bed in the tank is covered with Dinoflagelllates and some bubbles on the rock. I'm pretty calm about it as a last ditch effort i would just siphon my entire sand bed out if needed.

@taricha , @ScottB let me know if there is anything you would do differently, or modify.

 

[Mattyreefs]

We'll i ran Chemiclean prior to clean red film cyano.

I see people are using silica to induce a diatom outbreak. I dont think that's what i want to do all over again.

My phosphates are .14 and nitrates at 3ppm. It appears i may have to dose nitrates every other day to increase to 10-20 as recommended by some.

I currently have a 15 watt Aqua UV sterilizer. This strand doesnt really tackle Dinoflagellates that burry in the sand at night so i'm thinking that purchasing a $400 UV upgrade is pointless.

Right now i'm dosing phytoplankton and cope pod, running activated carbon in my reactor, and skimming (to keep pH elevated as the co2 scrubber is connected).

All ai hydra lights are running 12 hours with blue and violets only. Whites 0%

Micro filter socks i change every other day.

I'm feeding regularly to keep nutrients elevated. Right now pretty much my entire sand bed in the tank is covered with Dinoflagelllates and some bubbles on the rock. I'm pretty calm about it as a last ditch effort i would just siphon my entire sand bed out if needed.

@taricha , @ScottB let me know if there is anything you would do differently, or modify.

Wondering if you've made any progress? Dealing with Prorocentrum myself and every time I think I'm turning the corner, I feel like I have setbacks.

 

[clhardy5]

Wondering if you've made any progress? Dealing with Prorocentrum myself and every time I think I'm turning the corner, I feel like I have setbacks.

I beat Prorocentrum in my Biocube before I broke it down. Dosing silicates to induce a diatom bloom is the ONLY thing that worked for me.

 

[Mattyreefs]

I beat Prorocentrum in my Biocube before I broke it down. Dosing silicates to induce a diatom bloom is the ONLY thing that worked for me.

Thanks. That's what I'm trying now but guess I need to be more patient and wait it out. Haven't seen a diatom bloom yet.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15%) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

 

[Mattyreefs]

Doing all that besides h2o2. Read enough threads about it killing shrimp so I'm going to save that as a potential last resort.

 

[jmichaelh7]

I apologize for the lengthy reply.

i went to my LFS.

The owner showed me a picture of dinos and told me that all of that “feeding phytoplankton , microbacter 7” to defeat dinos is a bunch of non sense.

He showed me a picture of one 80 gallon tank covered with snot dinoflagellates. He then showed me the tank as of today and it was clear as could be - no dinos. The tank was plumbed with a oversized UV straight into the tank. He said “I’ve been doing this for years, this is what I do for a living trust me. Run UV and blow the dinos out of the sand with a turkey baster and they will get in the water column and be destroyed by UV”.

So I came home and started the plumbing. my UV bulb came in the mail from saltwater aquarium over night shipping (2 days late due to fed ex) which is another issue I need to follow up on.

Today is day 1 I will be following and updating my progress.

The methods I used were:
Run blues / turn off white lights
Reduce schedule of lights
Run microbacter 7
Dose Phytoplankton
Turn off skimmer / elevate nitrates to 20ppm
Increase phosphates to 0.15ppm

The only thing I haven’t done was dose hydrogen peroxide and I don’t think I want to because of the $$$/ SPS in my tank I don’t want to sacrifice.

I have been siphoning my sand bed out slowly. Half of a 5gallon bucket already so far. last resort I will remove my sand bed.

 

[Mattyreefs]

I apologize for the lengthy reply.

i went to my LFS.

The owner showed me a picture of dinos and told me that all of that “feeding phytoplankton , microbacter 7” to defeat dinos is a bunch of non sense.

He showed me a picture of one 80 gallon tank covered with snot dinoflagellates. He then showed me the tank as of today and it was clear as could be - no dinos. The tank was plumbed with a oversized UV straight into the tank. He said “I’ve been doing this for years, this is what I do for a living trust me. Run UV and blow the dinos out of the sand with a turkey baster and they will get in the water column and be destroyed by UV”.

So I came home and started the plumbing. my UV bulb came in the mail from saltwater aquarium over night shipping (2 days late due to fed ex) which is another issue I need to follow up on.

Today is day 1 I will be following and updating my progress.

The methods I used were:
Run blues / turn off white lights
Reduce schedule of lights
Run microbacter 7
Dose Phytoplankton
Turn off skimmer / elevate nitrates to 20ppm
Increase phosphates to 0.15ppm

The only thing I haven’t done was dose hydrogen peroxide and I don’t think I want to because of the $$$/ SPS in my tank I don’t want to sacrifice.

I have been siphoning my sand bed out slowly. Half of a 5gallon bucket already so far. last resort I will remove my sand bed.

Good luck, hope it works out for you. Dino treatment seems to be a real crap shoot. I've seen just as many cases from "people who do this for a living" that say UV alone won't work and you have to beat it with bacteria/competition. Osteoporosis seems like the only situation where UV alone could be the solution.

Going to follow along because in my experience, anywhere the sand gets disturbed is significantly worse the next day.

 

[clhardy5]

Thanks. That's what I'm trying now but guess I need to be more patient and wait it out. Haven't seen a diatom bloom yet.

Yep....patience was key. I also had to dose more than I thought! I bought the Hanna silicate checker (some say it doesn't work well - but it was find for me). I also checked under the microscope every couple of days.....when I thought the dinos were getting worse - it was actually not - just LOTS more diatoms.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

Same here I had prorocentrum and bought some sodium silicate online and dosed a crap ton of it. Also did elegance corals Dino treatment as discussed on reed dudes channel after about 3-4 weeks of dosing silicates. This took care of it. I believe the diatoms were blooming and ready to take over when I dosed the bacteria products which expedited removal of dinos. Then I had enough diatoms to populate and prevent dinos from coming back. Combo wham bam thank you mam

 

[Edward Stocker]

Anyone got any updates on treatments that work?

 

[jmichaelh7]

Anyone got any updates on treatments that work?

In 3 weeks with a plumbed UV coming from the tank directly back into tank, and blowing the dinos in the water column daily, I no longer have dinos

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

If you have read any dino threads, and I‘m guessing you have, you will read lots of ways to do this. If you haven’t read some, I would.

Here’s what I would do:
1. Make sure the tank has measurable nitrates and phosphate. Dose them if needed.
2. Run UV in the tank, from DT back to DT. At least 1 watt UV per 3 gallons of tank water. Run about 1-3 tank volumes per hour through the UV.
3. Use GAC and replace weekly for now.
4. Blow off rocks nightly with a powerhead or turkey baster.
5. Do a blackout period if needed.

What's the reason for skipping Sump/Refugium with UV btw?

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

I'd just like too add ..dosing liquid silicates too induce a diatom bloom too out compete dinos plus adding phytoplankton and copepods worked for me ..

Which species did you have? Did you microscope ID?

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

Same here I had prorocentrum and bought some sodium silicate online and dosed a crap ton of it. Also did elegance corals Dino treatment as discussed on reed dudes channel after about 3-4 weeks of dosing silicates. This took care of it. I believe the diatoms were blooming and ready to take over when I dosed the bacteria products which expedited removal of dinos. Then I had enough diatoms to populate and prevent dinos from coming back. Combo wham bam thank you mam/

So if you end up actually beating diatoms with dinos, what do you do about the dinos next lol?

 

[Idech]

So if you end up actually beating diatoms with dinos, what do you do about the dinos next lol?

It’s the opposite : you beat dinos with diatoms. Diatoms are okay in a tank. Some inverts will eat and it will eventually go away on its own. It doesn’t harm anything, it just makes your sand brown. I have insane levels and it’s fine.

 

[dwest]

What's the reason for skipping Sump/Refugium with UV btw?

It’s a great question. Mostly it’s something we (the community) have learned by trial and error. There’s many more successes with UV within the DT.

I believe it’s simply because the dinos are mostly in the display. They live where lights and rocks and sand are. They can, at times go in the water column (and that’s when UV can be effective), but they are more concentrated in the DT.

But who knows for sure.