Help with Dinos identification and advice for fighting them

[thediscusman]

I am fighting these devils for more than a month with absolutely negative results.
Before realising that I have to deal with dinos I employed frequent water changes, phosphate remover and carbon which seems that made the problem even worse.
After buying a cheap microscope I concluded that I have to battle dinos. I used DINO x but didn't worked. The corals seem to be ok, except from pumping Xenia which was severely affected. I am not sure if Dino x or the toxins from the dinos caused the problem.

What I intend to do (please advice me if I am wrong)
I used carbon in order to absorb whatever made the Xenia to react in such a way (either the toxins from dinos either dino x).
I stoped the GFO reactor in order to slightly increase phosphorus level.
I will use ATI's nitrogen source to increase NO3 from tomorrow.
I have set up a Refugium in order to function as a competitor to dinos. (unfortunately the only macro algae that was able to find was the red macro. I actually wanted Caulerpa, but I will go with what I was able to find)

Is anyone able to recognise which variety of dinos I have? (see attached video)

Any suggestions to fight them?


tank info
4 months old
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0,25 (Red Sea test)
Phosphates 0,021 Hanna ULR

 

[PanchoG]

I cannot help you with the ID but here is a thread where all of this is discussed: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...tling-altogether.293318/page-493#post-8205201

 

[chadfish]

I fought them back with the following regimen: (note, I don’t think they are fully gone)

1) lights out
2) assuming you have larger sized dinos, filter overnight with a 20 micron polishing filter in the DT. Match the flow rate + operating time to treat all the water 10x or more
2) simultaneously run a UV in the DT with the slowest flow rate and the highest wattage you can manage. Adjust the flow rate to shoot for the “parasites” setting
3) run both for 24 hours no light at all. Don’t worry about the corals. They can handle it
4) you can do up to a 3 day blackout, but I didn’t
5) Remove the filter and UV , turn on the lights and dose live phytoplankton. Lots of it. If the recommended dose is 1 ounce, quadruple it. It must be alive.
5a) optional Microbacter 7 or Microbacter clean during the day
6) run the UV at night in the tank
7) dose phytoplankton during the day
8) rinse and repeat until you don’t see the dinos anymore and your parameters are back in check. You want some nitrates and phosphates but not too much
9) expect cyano to follow the dinos. The Microbacter 7 or Clean is good for this.
10) drop the love phytoplankton dose down to a reasonable level after a week or 2 depending on your success and levels

This is just what I did and it worked pretty good. Not perfect, but manageable.

Good luck

 

[thediscusman]

I fought them back with the following regimen: (note, I don’t think they are fully gone)

1) lights out
2) assuming you have larger sized dinos, filter overnight with a 20 micron polishing filter in the DT. Match the flow rate + operating time to treat all the water 10x or more
2) simultaneously run a UV in the DT with the slowest flow rate and the highest wattage you can manage. Adjust the flow rate to shoot for the “parasites” setting
3) run both for 24 hours no light at all. Don’t worry about the corals. They can handle it
4) you can do up to a 3 day blackout, but I didn’t
5) Remove the filter and UV , turn on the lights and dose live phytoplankton. Lots of it. If the recommended dose is 1 ounce, quadruple it. It must be alive.
5a) optional Microbacter 7 or Microbacter clean during the day
6) run the UV at night in the tank
7) dose phytoplankton during the day
8) rinse and repeat until you don’t see the dinos anymore and your parameters are back in check. You want some nitrates and phosphates but not too much
9) expect cyano to follow the dinos. The Microbacter 7 or Clean is good for this.
10) drop the love phytoplankton dose down to a reasonable level after a week or 2 depending on your success and levels

This is just what I did and it worked pretty good. Not perfect, but manageable.

Good luck

Thank you very much for the tips!!
It is really impossible to find live phytoplankton in Cyprus where I live though. I assume that the phytoplankton intends to feed the pods.
Is it possible to use plankton in bottle bought from my LFS?

 

[thediscusman]

Here is also a short video

 

[chadfish]

Thank you very much for the tips!!
It is really impossible to find live phytoplankton in Cyprus where I live though. I assume that the phytoplankton intends to feed the pods.
Is it possible to use plankton in bottle bought from my LFS?

Many LFS and hobbyists culture it. Check to see if you have a local reefing club, you might get more info there.

And the phyto isn’t to feed the pods, it’s to compete with the dinos for resources.

 

[thediscusman]

Many LFS and hobbyists culture it. Check to see if you have a local reefing club, you might get more info there.

And the phyto isn’t to feed the pods, it’s to compete with the dinos for resources.

Thanks so much!!