Help with ID of my nuisance

[Nsakis1]

All right friends. I have two main questions and I did my best to put as many pertinent details into this post as possible…

First, can you please help me identify what I currently have growing in the tank?
Second, treatment options?
Bonus question: Did my Vibrant dosing start this nonsense?

It’s a 40 breeder that was set up a little over two months ago.
I will post the parts of my reef diary which I feel are pertinent below.

Currently the torch (my current favorite piece), hammer, and zoas are the only unhappy inhabitants. The LPS and other softies all look happy.

My most recent parameters are as follows:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-0.5
Ca: 430
Mg: 1425
dKh: 10.7
Phos: 0.05
Salinity: 35 ppt
pH range for the last 7 days: 7.61-7.85
Temp range for the last 7 days: 75.7-80.3 (Using an Inkbird instead of my Apex but I’m very unhappy with its inability to control a tight range so I will be switching this to the Apex)

Lighting: 2x AI Prime HD16
Salt: Red Sea black bucket
Flow: MP40 on reef crest mode
Feeding: Daily with pellets or frozen mysis and 2x2 nori square, Reef chili about every other day for about 1 month
Current inhabitants: Black ice clown, ocellaris clown, 3” purple tang, 3” melanurus, cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, hitchhiking hermits
Filtration: Nothing…skimmer was driving me crazy as it wouldn’t break in and I gave up when it was overflowing one night and turned it off

7/9
Dosed Vibrance
Added 14 lbs live rock
Turned on 1 light at 50%

7/10
Ammonia - 2
Nitrite - 1
pH - 7.73
Turned on 2nd light and set both to 30% acclimation mode

7/19
2 clowns ($20 & $50) and 1.5 head torch ($60)

7/25
12 gallon WC
Dosed Vibrant
Added long polyp ($40) and green polyp toadstool ($15), pulsing xenia ($15), GSP ($20)

8/2
Added purple tang ($100+50 shipping)

8/4
Dosed Vibrant

8/9
Dosed Vibrant
4 gallon WC
Lights changed to 100 100 60 60 10 10 0 65 in the initial phase of ramping up from 60 all across

8/10
Added Kenya tree (free) unknown zoas on square tile ($25) and frilly green shroom ($20)

8/16
4 gallon WC
Dosed Vibrant
Added cleaner shrimp ($38) and purple firefish ($50 - died that evening)

8/17
Temp 76.7-79.9 - 7 day avg
pH - 7.68-7.87 - 7 day avg
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 1

8/18
Turned royal and blue up to 100% so now UV, violet, royal and blue are 100%
Reef chili (RC)
Moved hammer as polyps have been retracted lately
Moved Kenya tree as half looks dead

8/19
4 gallon WC as I realized I possibly did not use RODI water but rather the membrane cleansing setting…
Added rubble which was dry then soaking in RODI for a few days with a pump

8/21
Kenya tree top fell off and disappeared. One piece front right in the shade
Shrimp finally cleaning tang and eating pellets
RC

8/23
Long polyp toadstool finished shedding after minimum 5 days
Increased UV and Violet to 166%
Royal and blue still at 100%

8/24
Green toadstool closed

8/25
RC

8/26
Green toadstool open
The uglies have arrived

8/29
Melanurus ($50) and squamosa ($160) from Rivers and Reefs

8/30
Lights to full settings 166 166 125 125 10 10 0 65

8/31
Added yellow favia colony ($45) and emerald crab ($7) from R&R

9/3
Large AquaSD order arrived and acclimated
Forgot to dip like 5 frags. Dipped all the rest

9/4
Glued all the frags
Scrubbed Green slime off all rocks
Melanurus got super glue stuck to his mouth
Added ghetto filter for 1 night

9/5
4 gallon WC
Fed nem 1/4 mysis cube

9/6
Ghetto filter back in

9/8
Fed maxi minis mysis

9/9
Started feeding half mysis cube nightly

9/10
Long polyp toadstool closed

Thank you so much in advance!

Sincerely,
A silly reefer who thought he would escape the ugly phase

 

[Isopod80]

That looks like dinoflagellates to me. Better hop on the dino pages here. If you dosed vibrant, the dinos probably don't have competition at this point. I'd suck out what you can. Add some new carbon and consider the 3 day blackout.

 

[Nsakis1]

That looks like dinoflagellates to me. Better hop on the dino pages here. If you dosed vibrant, the dinos probably don't have competition at this point. I'd suck out what you can. Add some new carbon and consider the 3 day blackout.

Thanks for the quick reply. I hope to hear from others as well

 

[Isopod80]

You need to act quickly. Search dinos on here. It's too much info to type. Depending on the type they can be very toxic. They also spread like wildfire, especially without much competition.

 

[Isopod80]

Am I understanding that you have no filtration on this tank whatsoever?

 

[Nsakis1]

Am I understanding that you have no filtration on this tank whatsoever?

Besides my diy powerhead/filter floss…no

 

[Isopod80]

Ouch, that's gonna make dealing with the dinos pretty tricky. Even a HOB filter on the back would be better than nothing. That way you can add carbon and other media and water will pass through it. You need to absorb the potential toxins. You can't just sit and bag of carbon in the tank and expect it to work. How often are you doing water changes?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Take the concern down a notch. Simple battle.
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

 

[vetteguy53081]

Besides my diy powerhead/filter floss…no

This may be one of the reasons you acquired dino.

 

[Isopod80]

They don't have filters to clean. That's part of the problem. I know some people do run tanks this way but dealing with an unidentified species of dino that could spread quickly in a tank like this is a little concerning. Certainly less than ideal. I don't think I overreacted.

 

[Nsakis1]

Take the concern down a notch. Simple battle.
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

Thanks so much. I’ll do this. I do have light dependent corals and a clam. I assume they will tolerate the 10-15% light schedule?

This may be one of the reasons you acquired dino.

Should getting the skimmer on a stand and tuned in be bumped on the priority list?

 

[Nsakis1]

Bump