HOW TO BEAT OSTREOPSIS DINOFLAGELLATES

[420reefer365]

Hello all,
In this thread I am going to go in depth on how I eliminated Ostreopsis Dinos quickly with NO coral loss. So, without further ado, lets get started.. I would like to begin with why I got these nasty dinos. Like most of us, I was doing weekly/bi-weekly water changes of around 25% in my 20g tank. I thought that with this standard pattern of normal upkeep and no algae growth everything would stay perfect in my tank (I feed once a day with a cube of frozen mysis shrimp to my 4 fish). This caused me to get lazy with testing water parameters. After about a month, I was reading 0 Nitrates and 0 Phosphates. Salinity stays at a constant 1.025, Alk is around 9.4dkh, and water temp ranges 77-80... Back in the day, these parameters for Nitrates and Phosphates would be great because of the inaccuracy of our test kits. Now, with Hanna kits, these numbers are no longer suitable.
After much research, Ostreopsis THRIVE off of these low Nitrate and Phos readings. They came in small waves at first where I did not notice they were even there. Then one day I went to work and came home to my Nano being overrun. These little devils feed off of the good food in your tank and starve out the beneficial bacteria which is why beating them can be very difficult. It ended up taking me 3 months of experiments and hundreds of dollars on new equipment to be able to come here today and tell you how you can execute these guys in 2-4 weeks at VERY low cost.

HERE IS HOW I DID IT​

1. Buy NeoNitro and NeoPhos. Each bottle will run you around $10-15 as of 01/22/24. Increase Nitrates to 10-25ppm. Optimally 15ppm but I know some Salifert and similar tests kits are not super accurate. Your phosphates should be anywhere from .05-.15ppm. Optimally .1. Every parameter needs to be stable throughout this process. SG 1.025-ALk-9dkh-Temp around 77.
2. Next purchase will be a "UV sterilizer." Now, I put parenthesis around that for a reason. This hobby is expensive, and I am teaching you not only how to beat these jerks, but the cheapest way to do it. Go on amazon and search "UV Sterilizer Light." These WATERPROOF bulbs will pop up for no more than $20. THIS IS ALL YOU NEED. Make sure when you set the bulb up, it is inside of your hang-on filter, sump, or anywhere else where the UV CANNOT touch anything other than FLOWING water. The idea behind this is, at night, the dinos suspend themselves up into the water column. As the water is sucked through the filter or whatever you put the light in, the UV is DESTROYING their micro DNA strands preventing them from reproducing and eventually killing them directly. This is why it is so important to keep this light hidden. It can and will kill corals, fish, and BENEFICIAL BACTERIA if the light is bleeding into the tank. I threw my little 5w bulb into a little fluval hang-on filter and it worked perfect. FYI, I keep my light on constantly day/night, but it is most effective at night.
3. The last purchase you will need is Dr. Tims REFRESH and WASTE AWAY. This stuff knocks out bad bacteria and replaces it with beneficial. For small tanks, you'll need small bottles. This stuff is not very expensive either and will run you $10-$20 bucks as well. The dosing calculations are on the bottles, but for my 20g, I was dosing 7.5ml of refresh FOR THE FIRST 3 DAYS. After that, I dosed the WASTE AWAY FOR THE FOLLOWING 4 DAYS. The waste away can be tricky and there is a warning on the bottle, but really you just need to start with small doses first working your way up. I did 5ml the first day, 7.5ml the next, and then 12.5ml the last two days. MAKE SURE TO TURN YOUR UV OFF BEFORE YOU DOSE AND FOR AT LEAST 4 HOURS AFTER. If you do not, all of the bacteria you just poured into the tank will be killed by the UV.
4. Now that we have everything we need to fight the Dinos the last thing we need to do is test our parameters every few days. I had a serious problem maintaining my phosphate levels throughout this process and dosed 1.5ml EVERY DAY to increase them by .03ppm to fight the drop.
5. By day 7, if the dinos are still in the tank, restart the process each week.

I want to thank you guys for coming to my TED talk, and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below and I will get back to you ASAP.

 

[taricha]

Thanks for sharing observations.
often, people find that they can knock back ostreopsis with only number 2.
number 1, maintaining a modest PO4 and NO3 is often also helpful.
Lots of people find they can wipe out ostreopsis without other steps.

That non-aquarium UV bulb is interesting and sketchy sounding!

 

[420reefer365]

Thanks for sharing observations.
often, people find that they can knock back ostreopsis with only number 2.
number 1, maintaining a modest PO4 and NO3 is often also helpful.
Lots of people find they can wipe out ostreopsis without other steps.

That non-aquarium UV bulb is interesting and sketchy sounding!

The other steps are to ensure the Dinos don’t come back. You can knock them out with the UV but only temporarily if you don’t fix the root of the problem. And the UV actually is for aquariums, it’s just not ur standard UV Sterilizer with the pumps and stuff attached that runs you $80+

 

[brandon429]

need results from other's tanks, not just yours. go into the nuisance algae forum and find dinos invasion threads, convince them to post their tank here and use that method to fix their tanks as live time jobs. that's what the hobby needs, outbound jobs.


outbound jobs are humbling, u gotta sell those wrecked tank owners to try your method and bring them here so it all links in one place.

 

[420reefer365]

this thread nearly meets the criteria for a work thread

you need results from other's tanks, not just yours. go into the nuisance algae forum and find dinos invasion threads, convince them to post their tank here and use that method to fix their tanks as live time jobs. that's what the hobby needs, outbound jobs.

can't endorse a product legit until you complete this aspect of the game. the inbound game is always much, much easier.

outbound jobs are humbling, u gotta sell those wrecked tank owners to try your method and bring them here so it all links in one place.

Alright, will do. I’m new to these forums and are still trying to figure out how exactly they work. I appreciate the heads up!

 

[BeanAnimal]

can't endorse a product legit until you complete this aspect of the game. the inbound game is always much, much easier.

outbound jobs are humbling, u gotta sell those wrecked tank owners to try your method and bring them here so it all links in one place.

YOU can’t endorse…. The rest of us are fine with what we read.

New forum member and you pounce like a cat on prey. Honestly, this is getting silly.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Alright, will do. I’m new to these forums and are still trying to figure out how exactly they work. I appreciate the heads up!

Welcome to the forums. Thank you for the post. You don’t need to recruit other people to prove what you have done. Brandon means well but has become somewhat of a zealot regarding how people should be allowed to provide information to others and have it believed or verified. Thank goodness he doesn’t make the rules around here. Post what you like, where you like and do so without having to provide “proof” by working other people through your methods, advice or responses, especially in “real time”.

 

[Bxr126]

If it worked for you there's nothing wrong with sharing.

 

[420reefer365]

Welcome to the forums. Thank you for the post. You don’t need to recruit other people to prove what you have done. Brandon means well but has become somewhat of a zealot regarding how people should be allowed to provide information to others and have it believed or verified. Thank goodness he doesn’t make the rules around here. Post what you like, where you like and do so without having to provide “proof” by working other people through your methods, advice or responses, especially in “real time”.

Haha well I appreciate it. I was definitely caught off guard by his response. I wanted to share because I had success with this method and was hoping to save others from wasting time and money. Thank you for your support!

 

[420reefer365]

If it worked for you there's nothing wrong with sharing.

Thank you!

 

[Reef Rhino]

420reefer365:​

I appreciate your post and I followed your tips. Call me another successful Anecdote eliminating Dinos.

I read your post right when I was about to research Dinos on this Forum and I liked the approach without needing to do a Tank blackout. Had them hit a small stand alone, low tech 20g tank, separate from my Reef system, and where I had accidently overdosed nitrate by mistake and also allowed phosphate to get to 0 in that tank. Never tested to see what Dino type I had, but your approach worked.

I was very happy with the cheap Amazon UV approach, although the first 5W was defective and was returned, and ultimately an 11W was purchased and functioned very well. (Tempted also to run it briefly in my Reef tank just as a preventative, but not sure that is wise or necessary)

All of my amounts dosed varied from yours (and brand of phosphate and nitrate), but your process and four elements were followed and led to success. I am still seeing phosphate falling to 0 in that tank and am dosing it more heavily to keep it up and avoid a return of Dinos.

Thanks