I have dino inside my reef tank

[malek.m]

2 weeks ago i found lots of yellow to brownish trapped bubbles algae i thought it was normal algae so i bought a sea urchin normal snails and turbo snails this brown”algae” regenerated everyday and night it was getting to much when i did my research i found out it was dino people said it came for super clean aquariums i linked it with that i sold my fish 3 weeks ago and did 2 water changes and now i am stuck with dino not knowing what to do and its ugly any help on what i can do ?

View attachment 20260105_130351_836DFF81-E169-426F-8A35-1C5DC2CA076C.mov

I know its not that big of a tank and all of the corals i have are softies(they are closed up because lights are just turned on)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There are many suggested ways to deal with dinos, but none work in all cases (except lights out, which can stress things you want to keep). They include manual removal, UV, boosting nutrients, adding competitors (bacteria, algae, diatoms) or the elements they need (e.g., silicate), mechanical filtration, etc.

Have you measured nitrate and phosphate to ensure they are not too low?

 

[malek.m]

There are many suggested ways to deal with dinos, but none work in all cases (except lights out, which can stress things you want to keep). They include manual removal, UV, boosting nutrients, adding competitors (bacteria, algae, diatoms) or the elements they need (e.g., silicate), mechanical filtration, etc.

Have you measured nitrate and phosphate to ensure they are not too low?

I didn’t measure nitrates nor phosphate

Won’t closing all the lights stress my corals and my nems if not killing them?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I didn’t measure nitrates nor phosphate

Won’t closing all the lights stress my corals and my nems if not killing them?

Yes, which is why I do not use it, but many do, often recommending 3 days.

If you do a Reef2Reef search on treating dinos you will find lots of folks methods. :)

 

[malek.m]

I didn’t measure nitrates nor phosphate

Won’t closing all the lights stress my corals and my nems if not killing them?

Yes, which is why I do not use it, but many do, often recommending 3 days.

If you do a Reef2Reef search on treating dinos you will find lots of folks methods. :)

But which way do you use

 

[Jamie9]

I would suggest reading through this thread:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/
And then if you still have questions you could post a little bit more information about your tank.

 

[exnisstech]

It's my understanding that successful treatment of dinos first requires a microscope to identify which type you have before the correct treatment is determined. I was able to get my osteoporosis under control by adding a UV, filter floss and reducing my light on time from 11hrs to 5hrs with no changed to intensity or spectrum.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

But which way do you use

I personally chose to boost nitrate and phosphate, add silicate, add a UV, and add a mechanical filter.

 

[malek.m]

But which way do you use

I personally chose to boost nitrate and phosphate, add silicate, add a UV, and add a mechanical filter.

Thank you :)

 

[malek.m]

It's my understanding that successful treatment of dinos first requires a microscope to identify which type you have before the correct treatment is determined. I was able to get my osteoporosis under control by adding a UV, filter floss and reducing my light on time from 11hrs to 5hrs with no changed to intensity or spectrum.

What kind of microscope

 

[Biff0rz]

It took me almost 2 years to get rid of dino. Don't do whatever I did lol. (Btw, I followed a lot of methods and didn't have much luck).

 

[exnisstech]

What kind of microscope

I use a cheap digital one from Amazon so I could get a video to post since it uses an app on my phone. I've been told there are better choices but I can't make a recommendation since i have no experience.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

While I know it is very commonly stated to use a microscope to identify the dinos, I actually chose to not use a microscope (would need to get one) since I was not convinced my actions would be different based on what I saw, and I'm also not convinced that there are just two types of pest dinos commonly "identified" out of the thousands of possible dino species.

 

[malek.m]

It took me almost 2 years to get rid of dino. Don't do whatever I did lol. (Btw, I followed a lot of methods and didn't have much luck).

How did you get rid of them

 

[malek.m]

While I know it is very commonly stated to use a microscope to identify the dinos, I actually chose to not use a microscope (would need to get one) since I was not convinced my actions would be different based on what I saw, and I'm also not convinced that there are just two types of pest dinos commonly "identified" out of the thousands of possible dino species.

I am so confused now I don’t know what i should do

 

[malek.m]

While I know it is very commonly stated to use a microscope to identify the dinos, I actually chose to not use a microscope (would need to get one) since I was not convinced my actions would be different based on what I saw, and I'm also not convinced that there are just two types of pest dinos commonly "identified" out of the thousands of possible dino species.

And is it harmful like does it produce toxins or anything?

 

[exnisstech]

Just going by what I've read but there are supposedly free floating and others not so much so UV sterilizer is effective on one and not the other so different treatment methods are used depending on which type is in the tank. That's the reason to determine which you have. It made sense to me when I read it lol. If nothing else it was fun playing with the scope and my dinos appear to be in remission.

These are the ones in my tank. Obviously a better scope would be useful, this was max magnification on mine.




EDIT: Just speculating but a positive ID could also be useful to verify it is actually dinos being treated and not something else. Maybe a step an experienced reefer could skip. I'm only 10 years into the hobby and have never had dinos TMK. I've been watching this stuff for months thinking it was just GHA because I have a lot of that in this tank also.

EDIT 2: I just found this descriptions and images of some types of dinos and found it interesting.


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellate-identification-guide.671466/

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I am so confused now I don’t know what i should do

That's not surprising as there is no fixed recipe to resolve dinos in all cases, and is why dinos are so feared..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

And is it harmful like does it produce toxins or anything?

Many of the pests we have contain toxins, and some species of dinos certainly do.

 

[malek.m]

And is it harmful like does it produce toxins or anything?

Many of the pests we have contain toxins, and some species of dinos certainly do.

Okay thank you i get it