Do I have dinos (if so what kind)?

[leononfire]

Been battling nuisance algae/bacteria for months. At first I thought it was diatoms, but when it didn’t go away on its own my guess became cyano. I tried dosing chemiclean as I read it was an effective treatment, and at first it seemed to put a dent in it. However it seemed to plateau and even after a second (higher) round of dosing it’s still showing in force.

That brings me to my current theory that this stuff is the dreaded dinos. I read it’s helpful to use a microscope so I bought a cheap digital “1000x zoom” one off Amazon (pics attached).

Long story short: Can anyone get enough out of these pics to tell me if I have dinos and if so what kind? If the microscope pics aren’t up to par, does anyone have budget microscope recommendations so I can diagnose?

Thanks!

 

[Lavey29]

https://www.reef2reef.com/attachments/dinoflagellateid12_12_2019-pdf.1324729/

Looks like dinos. Chech chart for type.

Chemiclean often bottoms out nutrients levels resulting in dinos

 

[CocoReef]

Looks like diatoms to me. Typically they will go away on their own once they use up excess silicates and phosphate. If you blow it around and it stays clumped together its dinos.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Been battling nuisance algae/bacteria for months. At first I thought it was diatoms, but when it didn’t go away on its own my guess became cyano. I tried dosing chemiclean as I read it was an effective treatment, and at first it seemed to put a dent in it. However it seemed to plateau and even after a second (higher) round of dosing it’s still showing in force.

That brings me to my current theory that this stuff is the dreaded dinos. I read it’s helpful to use a microscope so I bought a cheap digital “1000x zoom” one off Amazon (pics attached).

Long story short: Can anyone get enough out of these pics to tell me if I have dinos and if so what kind? If the microscope pics aren’t up to par, does anyone have budget microscope recommendations so I can diagnose?

Thanks!

Yes- amphidium and not a hard battle.
When we see zero readings, automatically we assume this is the cause but by the time you see zero numbers, its because the dino has consumed the po4 and no3 and are multiplying and in turn many dose no3 and po4 to bring numbers up not realizing they are feeding these flagellates even more.
Its biological deficiencies that are causing the dino structure and tank is already doomed.
No light is first key followed by the addition of bacteria to overcome the bad bacteria allowing them to thrive
Prepare by starting by blowing this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles. Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% 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 micro bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons. Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX
You can fish fish as normal and if blackout, ambient light in room will work for them