Is this Dino it’s cyano?

[christwendt]

My tank is cloudy and this slime stuff is coming back. I did a treatment of chemiclean and it make it sparkles for 3 days now it comes back.. I have about 60X flow, blowing off the stuff with a turkey bastor, and monitoring parameters. A couple things about the tank and here are photos
Tank is 3 months old
I’m having a problem raising my nitrate it stays at 0 since I added a refugium to my 20 gallon tank for pod population.
i also have had spikes of phosphate be so high my ULR Hannah checker can’t read (.9 ppm). The spikes lasted 3 day’s. First spike was from being on vacation and coming home to my phosphates being 0 so I overfed first 3 day’s causing the huge spike. Did a water change and fixed that.
sexond spike in phoaphates was due to using Chemiclean. 3 days ago I used chemiclean and I checked after 48 hrs my phosphates were .9 again. Did the 40 percent water change and a day later it’s .26 steady going down. I’m wondering based on this information is this Dinos or cyano ? And how can I fix it. My nitrates are still 0.. I’m unsure how to raise my nitrates without raising my phosphates.Btw I’m running chemi clean nano which has carbon and gfo pre mixed.

 

[andrewey]

I think you need to take a step back and focus on the basics. It seems like your levels are all over the place, which is certainly inviting the dino and/or cyano you're dealing with. First things first, I would take the refugium offline if you can't keep your nitrates above 0. Sure, you could always dose some nitrates or feed a lot more, but that's likely complicating the issue- I would only introduce a refugium if you wanted to keep your nitrates down (the opposite of what you want). The pod breeding ground should be a secondary objective- I would focus on the primary objective which is trying to keep stable nitrate and phosphate levels in a young tank.

 

[christwendt]

I think you need to take a step back and focus on the basics. It seems like your levels are all over the place, which is certainly inviting the dino and/or cyano you're dealing with. First things first, I would take the refugium offline if you can't keep your nitrates above 0. Sure, you could always dose some nitrates or feed a lot more, but that's likely complicating the issue- I would only introduce a refugium if you wanted to keep your nitrates down (the opposite of what you want). The pod breeding ground should be a secondary objective- I would focus on the primary objective which is trying to keep stable nitrate and phosphate levels in a young tank.

I would do that but I read and was told in order to help with pod population for my mandarin fish I need to dish algae barn pods every 6 weeks , phyto daily, and add a refugium to help reproduce pods. Before the refugium my nitrates were 5 ppm and low phosphate. Everything seemed way happier with 5ppm nitrates. I’ve been battling the nitrates and phosphates ever since adding refugium. I don’t don’t what to do. I didn’t factor in the huge nitrate drop with the refugium. What can I do before removing the refugium ? I have changed the lighting cycle from 24 hours to 12 hours on the Chaeto. Should I cut back the Chaeto perhaps even more? Like how much do I need for Beneficial purposes of pod safety to reproduce? Sorry but I think the refugium is beneficial for my pods to keep my mandarin healthy? Thank you I would appreciate more feedback.

 

[homer1475]

Looks like the typically brown snotty Dino's, and your 0 nitrate would also make me believe it was. But without a microscope(even a cheap one), a positive ID on what type is nearly impossible.

Cyano is typically red, purple, or green in our aquariums.

There is a huge dino thread in the nuisance algae section, I would suggest you read that.

 

[christwendt]

Looks like the typically brown snotty Dino's, and your 0 nitrate would also make me believe it was. But without a microscope(even a cheap one), a positive ID on what type is nearly impossible.

Cyano is typically red, purple, or green in our aquariums.

There is a huge dino thread in the nuisance algae section, I would suggest you read that.

Thank you for the input. I actually read that post before posting this which leads to my next question of I should probably invest in a microscope. I will read more about which ones to get.

 

[homer1475]

I bought a cheap one on amazon, think it was like 20$. Worked well enough for me to ID the issue.

 

[Lithoman]

Check my thread out... and yes on the microscope

Another Dino or Cyan ID Please

Help... what am I fighting? Dino X coming in a few day ..got Chemiclean if needed.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[YMRreefer]

This should not prevent you from getting a microscope to verify - but i just beat dinos and it looked exactly like that... Couple things that helped me if you do verify:

1. Get your Nitrates (5-10) and Phosphates (.05-.10) back up, whatever is stable. If everything was fine until the fuge was online - take it off. Dose pods directly if your worried about your Mandarin. Or get rid of it for now. Not worth it in the fight of dinos. I had to dose Sodium Nitrate and Trisodium Phosphate to get my levels up. Hopefully taking your fuge offline will fix the nutrient issue.

2. Run a good over-sized UV and kill the ********. Does the slime mostly go away after the lights are off? If so a UV will help. But get ready to run carbon, clean socks and potentially a WC quickly once they die off. I lost all my torches and hammers from the toxic die off of the dinos...

 

[christwendt]

This should not prevent you from getting a microscope to verify - but i just beat dinos and it looked exactly like that... Couple things that helped me if you do verify:

1. Get your Nitrates (5-10) and Phosphates (.05-.10) back up, whatever is stable. If everything was fine until the fuge was online - take it off. Dose pods directly if your worried about your Mandarin. Or get rid of it for now. Not worth it in the fight of dinos. I had to dose Sodium Nitrate and Trisodium Phosphate to get my levels up. Hopefully taking your fuge offline will fix the nutrient issue.

2. Run a good over-sized UV and kill the ********. Does the slime mostly go away after the lights are off? If so a UV will help. But get ready to run carbon, clean socks and potentially a WC quickly once they die off. I lost all my torches and hammers from the toxic die off of the dinos...

Hello how long would I run the UV sterilizer for ? And if I do a 50 percent water change everyday the moment I start the UV would that be safest ? I only have 16 gallons of water so water changes are a breeze.i don’t want to lose my hammers and torches.

 

[christwendt]

Check my thread out... and yes on the microscope

Another Dino or Cyan ID Please

Help... what am I fighting? Dino X coming in a few day ..got Chemiclean if needed.

www.reef2reef.com

Hi I plan to read the whole post. I looked at it quickly can I ask how did you take photos with the microscope ? That would be easiest for me since then I can post back to this thread for proper identification. I’m on the hunt for microscope and UV sterilizer.

 

[christwendt]

Check my thread out... and yes on the microscope

Another Dino or Cyan ID Please

Help... what am I fighting? Dino X coming in a few day ..got Chemiclean if needed.

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you I just read the whole
Thing. Resly
Informative so it looks like I need a microscope first that can take pics. Will post back to this with microbe pics next.

 

[YMRreefer]

Hello how long would I run the UV sterilizer for ? And if I do a 50 percent water change everyday the moment I start the UV would that be safest ? I only have 16 gallons of water so water changes are a breeze.i don’t want to lose my hammers and torches.

Im stilling running my UV and will probably never take it offline TBH. IMO you will never be able to get rid of all the dinoflagellates in your system. Even if it were possible to eradicate every single one, they would likely be reintroduced some other way. The problem is that the conditions in your tank have caused a population boom and once they take hold they can be a **** to control.

First verify its Dinos and the particular species - if it is the type that goes into the water column at night, a properly tuned and oversized UV will knock them back down quick. I even blew my rocks off multiple times during the day to try to get them into the UV. Once you notice less of them during the day, you can assume they are starting to die back. Use mechanical filtration, skimmer or/and WCs to remove the dead stuff. It will clog socks fast so make sure to clean often.

You have high phosphate and no nitrates. You need to get you ratios back in check. See what happens when you take your fuge offline first. If everything goes back to stable then all good. If not you may need to dose some nitrates until it stabilizes.

I will say be careful with waterchanges. They will be counter productive while you are trying to raise nutrients so use them carefully and only after you start to kill the dinos and if you see some corals getting irritated.

 

[christwendt]

Im stilling running my UV and will probably never take it offline TBH. IMO you will never be able to get rid of all the dinoflagellates in your system. Even if it were possible to eradicate every single one, they would likely be reintroduced some other way. The problem is that the conditions in your tank have caused a population boom and once they take hold they can be a **** to control.

First verify its Dinos and the particular species - if it is the type that goes into the water column at night, a properly tuned and oversized UV will knock them back down quick. I even blew my rocks off multiple times during the day to try to get them into the UV. Once you notice less of them during the day, you can assume they are starting to die back. Use mechanical filtration, skimmer or/and WCs to remove the dead stuff. It will clog socks fast so make sure to clean often.

You have high phosphate and no nitrates. You need to get you ratios back in check. See what happens when you take your fuge offline first. If everything goes back to stable then all good. If not you may need to dose some nitrates until it stabilizes.

I will say be careful with waterchanges. They will be counter productive while you are trying to raise nutrients so use them carefully and only after you start to kill the dinos and if you see some corals getting irritated.

Your awesome response made it super clear for me to understand. I have been doing a lot of research on Dino’s and everything you said makes sense. I will follow everything you said I’m trying to figure out which microscope to get. Do you have any suggestions? Also I took microbiology. Will I need to gram stain these cultures to identify ?
I cut back my Chaeto a bunch and I’m feeding regularly. I also cut back the lighting in refugium so my plan is to raise nitrate. If I can’t I will dose nitrates like you mentioned. Do I need to be worried about it killing stuff ? Since doing chemiclean 5 days ago and turkey basting the rocks off each night it seems to look a lot better. I also have increased the flow in rank. I have also cut back on the lighting schedule a little. I’m guessing this could mean it was cyano and not Dino’s which would be good thing.. still I need a microscope.

 

[YMRreefer]

Your awesome response made it super clear for me to understand. I have been doing a lot of research on Dino’s and everything you said makes sense. I will follow everything you said I’m trying to figure out which microscope to get. Do you have any suggestions? Also I took microbiology. Will I need to gram stain these cultures to identify ?
I cut back my Chaeto a bunch and I’m feeding regularly. I also cut back the lighting in refugium so my plan is to raise nitrate. If I can’t I will dose nitrates like you mentioned. Do I need to be worried about it killing stuff ? Since doing chemiclean 5 days ago and turkey basting the rocks off each night it seems to look a lot better. I also have increased the flow in rank. I have also cut back on the lighting schedule a little. I’m guessing this could mean it was cyano and not Dino’s which would be good thing.. still I need a microscope.

There are a few recommendations of microscopes in the big Dinos thread with pictures taken from each. Most them are from amazon in the $50-$100 range either way. They are like anything else... you get what you pay for.

I was going to get this one before I used a local one. - AmScope M150C 40x-1000x - I think it is like 70$ on amazon.

No need to gram stain. Just hold phone up to try to get some photos and a video of how they move if they are dinos...

Post the pics/vid in this thread for help with ID - Here.

I know it is hard - but try not to panic and do 1 million things at once. Be methodological, take notes and watch how your tank responds before you change too much. It will be much harder to pinpoint how individual variable affect progress. (trust me!)

Hoping its Cyano!

 

[Lithoman]

Did you get your ID on the cyano or dino?

Thank you I just read the whole
Thing. Resly
Informative so it looks like I need a microscope first that can take pics. Will post back to this with microbe pics next.

 

[christwendt]

Did you get your ID on the cyano or dino?

Hey thank you so much for checking back in on my thread. I just got my microscope and I’m pretty sure it’s Dino. Here is the picture I was able to get. It’s really hard to get a good pic with paid 30$ but it’s very clear when I look. I need to look more at the Id thread tonight and get a positive ID. they swim in a flipping motion. Like they rotate upside down etc.

 

[christwendt]

Did you get your ID on the cyano or dino?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Its dino and time to start the battle.
Starting today, blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon as much as you can. Do this each day and force to filter and clean filters daily. Kill the white lights for 5 days and reduce blues to 4%.
Each night at night , add 1ml of peroxide per 10 gallons of water (yes, reef safe) and add liquid bacteria such as Bacter 7 each day using the same 1ml formula.
Day 5, you will notice the tank has cleared.

 

[christwendt]

Its dino and time to start the battle.
Starting today, blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon as much as you can. Do this each day and force to filter and clean filters daily. Kill the white lights for 5 days and reduce blues to 4%.
Each night at night , add 1ml of peroxide per 10 gallons of water (yes, reef safe) and add liquid bacteria such as Bacter 7 each day using the same 1ml formula.
Day 5, you will notice the tank has cleared.

Questions for you thank you. Is it okay to turkey baste the stuff off and let it collect in my filter socks and take out in the morning ? I read sometimes with algae when you break off the clumps it just spreads the stuff all over the tank more ?
Another question. My lfs recommenedes a 72 hour black out. Should I do that before dosing peroxide ?
And third question. Do I need to put fresh chemic clean ( carbon ) to collect the toxins from Dino’s dying ? I don’t want anything to die.

 

[christwendt]

Its dino and time to start the battle.
Starting today, blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon as much as you can. Do this each day and force to filter and clean filters daily. Kill the white lights for 5 days and reduce blues to 4%.
Each night at night , add 1ml of peroxide per 10 gallons of water (yes, reef safe) and add liquid bacteria such as Bacter 7 each day using the same 1ml formula.
Day 5, you will notice the tank has cleared.

Also is white light - UV? I have the ai hydra. So only lights running should be royal blue and blue at 4% for 5 days ?