Hello reef keeping friends,
I am fighting the good and often times treacherous fight with the famed Ostreopsis Dinos - and as with any fight, there have been casualties. Thus far I have lost:
-Bird's Nest Coral
-Montipora (on it's way)
-1 Belted Sand Fish (he was the only fish in the tank, long story but he is a sea bass that we got in a TBS sand order about 5 years ago and he killed all other fish).
And I have a setosa coral that is under duress as well as a brittle starfish and an 18 year old candy cane that I do NOT want to lose, also under duress. Everything else (Zoas, Hammer Coral, Maxima Clam, 1 remaining setosa, 2 gorgonians, pulsing xenia, tuxedo urchin, sea cucumber, fighting conch I hope he has gone to the sand bed for a bit, nassarius snails, a couple of trochus snails, a couple of blue leg crabs and 2 rock flower nems) .....well....it's all hanging on for now.
For the past three weeks I have been doing the following:
1) Running a UV Sterilizer 24/7 (blowing off the rocks probably 10 times a day and night)
2) Overfeeding tank (I feed Rod's red daily, phyto once a week and nori once every couple of weeks
3) changing carbon weekly, plus running extra
4) NO water changes in the last 4 weeks.
5) GFO turned off completely
6) Blacked out tank for 3 days (but have only done that once, because of the clam).
7) Manual removal with a filter sock (siphoning water through sock and then pouring strained water back into tank).
8) Running skimmer as dry as possible, I cannot bring myself to turn it all the way off.
9) Still running my biopellet reactor for now.
Before I realized I had dinos, I made the mistake of thinking it was diatoms, so, I did what I thought was right, given what I thought was happening....massive water changes, new GFO, etc. PRISTINE conditions and watched as the dinos bloomed over every, and I mean every square inch of my tank. It wasn't until I read threads here that I learned about how to identify the dinos, so I bought a kids microscope (I highly recommend this for any reef keeper) and I found out that I had Ostr. Dinos. Yay me.
Personally, I am shocked I haven't lost more life. My parameters were holding steady but this week they shifted a bit and I think that is because I have not done a water change in a bit. Here are my current parameters:
Alkalinity: 8.8 (normal for my system is in the 7.3 to 7.6 range)
Magnesium: 1,000ppm (normal for my system is in the 1150 to 1200 range)
Calcium: 393 (normal for my system is in the 425 to 475 range)
Nitrates: 7.5 (this is due to my intentional attempt make the tank dirty, normal for my system is 2)
Phosphates: 0.08 (normal for my system is .02 or less)
PH: 8.2 (normal for my system is 8.0)
Salinity: 1.023 (normal for my system is 1.025) but no water changes to replenish salt that comes out from salt creep....so maybe I should top off with salt water?
My system is a 40 gal breeder w/ sump, TBS sand and rock, est. Aug. 2016.
Changes that I have noticed since correctly addressing the problem:
1) a LOT less dinos. They are almost non-existent under the microscope. But I see them trying to take hold in little spots in the tank.
2) a SMALL hair algae bloom on a power head in the display.
3) an uptick in bristle worms.
4) an odd little green tube like algae (I am manually removing until I figure out what it is)
5) the occasional sprig of briopsis - which I guess isn't actually new, but I remove it manually immediately.
A thought that I have had, is that I need to add more sand and rock to the system, and now that the sea bass of death (he was so friggin cool though) has passed on, more critters too. I am afraid to add critters, because I am worried that the toxicity of the remaining dinos could kill them, on the other hand, I am afraid if I don't add more critters, the tank will die of imbalance.
So, if you have read this far, first - thank you, secondly, if you have any advice on this topic, I welcome it - we have had reef tanks for 18 years, and have never run into this particular issue. It is so hard to see corals that were once massive and thriving, basically disintegrate right before your eyes.
Basically - I am interested to hear from those folks who have fought this battle and come out on the other side, is it even possible?
Thank you in advance, I appreciate it!
-Stressed in Cleveland.
I am fighting the good and often times treacherous fight with the famed Ostreopsis Dinos - and as with any fight, there have been casualties. Thus far I have lost:
-Bird's Nest Coral
-Montipora (on it's way)
-1 Belted Sand Fish (he was the only fish in the tank, long story but he is a sea bass that we got in a TBS sand order about 5 years ago and he killed all other fish).
And I have a setosa coral that is under duress as well as a brittle starfish and an 18 year old candy cane that I do NOT want to lose, also under duress. Everything else (Zoas, Hammer Coral, Maxima Clam, 1 remaining setosa, 2 gorgonians, pulsing xenia, tuxedo urchin, sea cucumber, fighting conch I hope he has gone to the sand bed for a bit, nassarius snails, a couple of trochus snails, a couple of blue leg crabs and 2 rock flower nems) .....well....it's all hanging on for now.
For the past three weeks I have been doing the following:
1) Running a UV Sterilizer 24/7 (blowing off the rocks probably 10 times a day and night)
2) Overfeeding tank (I feed Rod's red daily, phyto once a week and nori once every couple of weeks
3) changing carbon weekly, plus running extra
4) NO water changes in the last 4 weeks.
5) GFO turned off completely
6) Blacked out tank for 3 days (but have only done that once, because of the clam).
7) Manual removal with a filter sock (siphoning water through sock and then pouring strained water back into tank).
8) Running skimmer as dry as possible, I cannot bring myself to turn it all the way off.
9) Still running my biopellet reactor for now.
Before I realized I had dinos, I made the mistake of thinking it was diatoms, so, I did what I thought was right, given what I thought was happening....massive water changes, new GFO, etc. PRISTINE conditions and watched as the dinos bloomed over every, and I mean every square inch of my tank. It wasn't until I read threads here that I learned about how to identify the dinos, so I bought a kids microscope (I highly recommend this for any reef keeper) and I found out that I had Ostr. Dinos. Yay me.
Personally, I am shocked I haven't lost more life. My parameters were holding steady but this week they shifted a bit and I think that is because I have not done a water change in a bit. Here are my current parameters:
Alkalinity: 8.8 (normal for my system is in the 7.3 to 7.6 range)
Magnesium: 1,000ppm (normal for my system is in the 1150 to 1200 range)
Calcium: 393 (normal for my system is in the 425 to 475 range)
Nitrates: 7.5 (this is due to my intentional attempt make the tank dirty, normal for my system is 2)
Phosphates: 0.08 (normal for my system is .02 or less)
PH: 8.2 (normal for my system is 8.0)
Salinity: 1.023 (normal for my system is 1.025) but no water changes to replenish salt that comes out from salt creep....so maybe I should top off with salt water?
My system is a 40 gal breeder w/ sump, TBS sand and rock, est. Aug. 2016.
Changes that I have noticed since correctly addressing the problem:
1) a LOT less dinos. They are almost non-existent under the microscope. But I see them trying to take hold in little spots in the tank.
2) a SMALL hair algae bloom on a power head in the display.
3) an uptick in bristle worms.
4) an odd little green tube like algae (I am manually removing until I figure out what it is)
5) the occasional sprig of briopsis - which I guess isn't actually new, but I remove it manually immediately.
A thought that I have had, is that I need to add more sand and rock to the system, and now that the sea bass of death (he was so friggin cool though) has passed on, more critters too. I am afraid to add critters, because I am worried that the toxicity of the remaining dinos could kill them, on the other hand, I am afraid if I don't add more critters, the tank will die of imbalance.
So, if you have read this far, first - thank you, secondly, if you have any advice on this topic, I welcome it - we have had reef tanks for 18 years, and have never run into this particular issue. It is so hard to see corals that were once massive and thriving, basically disintegrate right before your eyes.
Basically - I am interested to hear from those folks who have fought this battle and come out on the other side, is it even possible?
Thank you in advance, I appreciate it!
-Stressed in Cleveland.