Nuisance ID needed plz

[Beradd]

Need a proper id on this algae/pest. Please.

 

[NanaReefer]

Dinoflagellate. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

 

[skinz78]

Agreed, looks like dino's to me.

 

[Reefing Madness]

You just get new lights recently? Doesn't have the tell tale dinos bubbles or growth pattern yet. Curious though. Maybe be early signs, but im thinking Dinos for some reason.

 

[Beradd]

Been under T5 for a bit over a month, was about to change to LED. I had a fish die from ich recently and I didn't find it, After searching a bit I wrote it up as under a rock I cant get to or it jumped and one of my dogs ate it. I've since taken all fish out and am running the 8 weeks no fish..started this yesterday as I finally got the six line out of my sump. I recently fully cleaned out my sump of all detritus and fish and hooked up a ViaAqua pr 20-20 reactor running and filled it with a chemipure bag. Ive been strip testing it regularly since the liniatus disappeared. I havnt seen any changes in my #'s. temp is 78 hydrometer reads 1.024 little low from my sump cleaning ...dropped it .002 I do 5 gal water changes once a week with premade saltwater I get from my LFS top off is RO-DI usually mixed with kalkwasser. administered to a newly hooked up ATO. I notice that what ever it is. its not there in the morning when the lights come on. the pix posted are from after I got home 8 hours later. It was a little worse yesterday before I cleaned and added chemipure.

 

[Beradd]

Took this of a small patch of it with bubbles ...most of it dosnt have bubbles, but some does ...

 

[mike007]

Looks to me you have excess nutrients In your tank which will cause issues. We need to know what your nitrate and phosphates levels are so we can help.

 

[skinz78]

Yep looks like Dino's to me.

 

[Beradd]

No3 ...0 NO2...0 PH...8 KH...180 GH 180+ that's via api strip my LFS said "everything looks fine" when they tested I didn't ask for exacts. asked as I was starting the use of the chemipure ..PO4 test came up 0

 

[Beradd]

Can have a full set run at the lfs tomm if need be

 

[NanaReefer]

My personal experience with test strips are, they're very unreliable. Do take a water sample to you LFS and have them test it for you. I also highly recommend the Red Sea test kit or something similar.
Again it does appear to be Dinos.

 

[Eienna]

Test strips are dangerously unreliable. I have heard of, in one case, nitrite being so high that it was killing the person's fish (as determined by the symptoms and a liquid kit when used), but the test strips showing a negative result for said nitrite. This is not an isolated example, either.

Don't trust them. Even the cheaper liquid kits, when not expired, are safer than strips - and in the long run, actually less expensive per test performed.

 

[skinz78]

It really doesn't matter what those tests say if it is Dino's. They feed on silicates and the only way to get rid of them is to completely stop all water changes and let the Dino's consume all of the silicates and basically use up the food source and die. It could take up to six months for this to happen. Been there done that.

 

[Eienna]

It really doesn't matter what those tests say if it is Dino's. They feed on silicates and the only way to get rid of them is to completely stop all water changes and let the Dino's consume all of the silicates and basically use up the food source and die. It could take up to six months for this to happen. Been there done that.

Fun. How would one go about avoiding them in the first place?
Please pm me or drop it in my tank thread if that's too much of a hijack.

 

[Beradd]

no please ... its pertinent to this thread so please share. id like to know how to avoid this as well.

 

[Beradd]

so what am I seeing when they are not there in the morning when the lights come on? there is a lot of conflicting information out there on this stuff... 8(

 

[skinz78]

They are caused by spikes in silicates if I'm not mistaken. Poor salt mixes have high amounts of silicates in them.

 

[Mike J.]

Your tank is obviously very young. Right now you need to concentrate on regular water changes. The best way to deal with it would be to do small water changes every day to siphon it out. Or siphon it out every three days, whatever needs to be done. Also I'd suggest a different test kit, too.

 

[Mike J.]

so what am I seeing when they are not there in the morning when the lights come on? there is a lot of conflicting information out there on this stuff... 8(

Their life cycle is in the morning they will multiply by using the available nutrients, because they are photosynthetic. During this time they gather together to form colonies that you can actually see. About midday they go into a reproduction cycle and multiply and grow exponentially at this time. Most of it you don't see with the naked eye until they colonize the next day larger in mass than the day before. Siphoning them out during the middle of the life cycle not only eradicate the bacterium, but the nutrients that they are feeding on. In this way the locations of the colonies will help you to clean up your tank. At night they don't photosynthesize thus losing their energy that they use to colonize and you can't see them with the naked eye. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Beradd]

thank you for the information. yes, my system is very young, about 4 months old. mixing my kalk TO water a bit stronger tonight to bump the ph up. ill get a kit and a water sample done tomm and update... thanks again for the help.