HELP! Dino or Diatom ID

[ambam87]

Hi! I was able to grab these pictures of what’s in my tank. Any ideas on what this is?

 

[ambam87]

 

[tymo92]

Definitely dinos. I’ll let someone else chime in on specific ID.

 

[EnterName]

I would say Amphidinium.

Compare to images from the identification guide
https://www.reef2reef.com/attachments/dinoflagellateid12_12_2019-pdf.1324729/
Or to images in my microscopy thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/
Post #3 is a small cell Amphidinium. Post #5 large cell Amphidinium from another user. Post #1 contains prorocentrum and ostreopsis. Don't get confused by the "3D" look in my images. I'm using a different illuminaton technique to get better images than typical bright-field microscopy.

Remember that Amphidinium is a whole genera with many different species. Your individuals might look slightly different, but still have this "beak" which is most often associated with Amphidinium. Without DNA analysis an exact identification is impossible.

What matters is the behavior at night when lights turn off. If the stains get smaller they either go into the open water column (best case), or deeper into the substrate (worst case).

 

[ambam87]

I would say Amphidinium.

Compare to images from the identification guide
https://www.reef2reef.com/attachments/dinoflagellateid12_12_2019-pdf.1324729/
Or to images in my microscopy thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/
Post #3 is a small cell Amphidinium. Post #5 large cell Amphidinium from another user. Post #1 contains prorocentrum and ostreopsis. Don't get confused by the "3D" look in my images. I'm using a different illuminaton technique to get better images than typical bright-field microscopy.

Remember that Amphidinium is a whole genera with many different species. Your individuals might look slightly different, but still have this "beak" which is most often associated with Amphidinium. Without DNA analysis an exact identification is impossible.

What matters is the behavior at night when lights turn off. If the stains get smaller they either go into the open water column (best case), or deeper into the substrate (worst case).

Thank you! I definitely think Amphidinium is possible, just not sure if it is small cell or large cell. I do notice the stains get slightly lighter at night but not completely gone. If it goes deeper in the substrate what would you recommend as a best course of action?

 

[ambam87]

Definitely dinos. I’ll let someone else chime in on specific ID

 

[ambam87]

Definitely dinos. I’ll let someone else chime in on specific ID.

Yeah you’re right unfortunately

 

[EnterName]

I would say Amphidinium.

Compare to images from the identification guide
https://www.reef2reef.com/attachments/dinoflagellateid12_12_2019-pdf.1324729/
Or to images in my microscopy thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/microscopy-thread.1138845/
Post #3 is a small cell Amphidinium. Post #5 large cell Amphidinium from another user. Post #1 contains prorocentrum and ostreopsis. Don't get confused by the "3D" look in my images. I'm using a different illuminaton technique to get better images than typical bright-field microscopy.

Remember that Amphidinium is a whole genera with many different species. Your individuals might look slightly different, but still have this "beak" which is most often associated with Amphidinium. Without DNA analysis an exact identification is impossible.

What matters is the behavior at night when lights turn off. If the stains get smaller they either go into the open water column (best case), or deeper into the substrate (worst case).

Thank you! I definitely think Amphidinium is possible, just not sure if it is small cell or large cell. I do notice the stains get slightly lighter at night but not completely gone. If it goes deeper in the substrate what would you recommend as a best course of action?

Depends on the tank. If the tank is only a few months old, doing nothing can be absolutely fine. Very often dinos will sort themselves out.

If you had chronically low nutrient levels before the outbreak (we are talking undetectable nitrate and/or phosphate), it might be worth a try dosing said nutrients. If nutrient levels were normal or elevated you might want to do some maintenance to get rid of excessive nitrogen, phosphorus and dissolved organic carbon.

Manual removal is always an option and a UV sterilizer doesn't hurt either, even if most of the cells go deeper into the substrate. If the problem persists you may try silicate dosing to encourage diatom growth which can help completing with those dinos over nutrients, space, and light.

I'm personally not a fan of blackouts as pretty much everything else will starve before those dinos will, but some people have reported success and it can be worth a try if other methods fail.