Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[Paullawr]

ostreopsis cysts - two forms from my beaker tests. Characteristic sesame seed shape with double thick wall - this is thought to be short term to deal with temporary bad conditions, or round with spherical double thick wall - this version is thought to be longer term, like to overwinter until next growing season.

 

[Paullawr]

I cant find the post with photos you are saying

Linked the quote

 

[Jolanta]

Linked the quote

Thank you so much for your help, they definitively look different, mine dont have a sharp point, they are kind of round both sides. Maybe I dont have ostreopis no more and now other kind is a winner.

 

[Paullawr]

Thank you so much for your help, they definitively look different, mine dont have a sharp point, they are kind of round both sides. Maybe I dont have ostreopis no more and now other kind is a winner.

@taricha any ideas

They do look similar to something i found in my tank. Don't know what they are though.

 

[Paullawr]

Thank you so much for your help, they definitively look different, mine dont have a sharp point, they are kind of round both sides. Maybe I dont have ostreopis no more and now other kind is a winner.

I wonder if its just ostreopsis that's been damaged.

Hey have any h202 at hand. Might be worth a trial dosing to. See if it damages them in a container.....cannot see a protective wall in them

 

[Jolanta]

I wonder if its just ostreopsis that's been damaged.

Hey have any h202 at hand. Might be worth a trial dosing to. See if it damages them in a container.....cannot see a protective wall in them

Yes all the cells I see, look like those from my pictures, I cant find tipical ostreopsis like I was seeing before.

 

[Paullawr]

Hmm..

Well that cyano rx clearly has 'deactivated' them in some way.
So I wonder what is in cyano rx to do this.

Are they like this in the water column or on rocks etc.

If I were you I'd export / clean what you can and get them out of your system.

Do you have UV? I'm curious as to what would happen in a blackout situation or treated with h202 :s

 

[Paullawr]

I certainly think you should do some follow up treatment, whatever that maybe.

 

[Jolanta]

Hmm..

Well that cyano rx clearly has 'deactivated' them in some way.
So I wonder what is in cyano rx to do this.

Are they like this in the water column or on rocks etc.

If I were you I'd export / clean what you can and get them out of your system.

Do you have UV? I'm curious as to what would happen in a blackout situation or treated with h202 :s

I took this sample from the rock, yesterday I siphoned what I could with waterchange and this week I will get my uv unit and give it a try. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[sfin52]

I use a power head and blow of the rocks. Corals hate it but it’s only a couple of seconds and I get so much stuff of the rocks.

 

[Paullawr]

I took this sample from the rock, yesterday I siphoned what I could with waterchange and this week I will get my uv unit and give it a try. I will let you know how it goes.

Very interesting. The cells in my tank which looked similar were all over the rocks. Dormant/static. Yet I had at that time not used any treatments. Now. And then I would see a small amount of snot appear but only miniscule. There was very few active cells.

 

[xilez]

Starting to get what appears to be lyngba/cyano on my rocks.... Dinos, the stringy style, appear to less and less existent. At what point do i stop dosing PO4 and Nitrates so hopefully the cyano goes away? Starting to lose faith here....

 

[Oberst Oswald]

Been trying to beat Dino's for a couple of months now by reading the forums and asking the owners of 3 LFS for help. 75% 0f my coral dead, all shrimp & snails dead and starting to lose fish. Did quite a bit... 3 day blackout, raised PO4=1.58, NO3=4+, 2 doses of "Red Slime Stain Remover, Triton Test (the tank runs on the Triton Method), water changes and no water changes etc. None worked. Bought a microscope. Before I buy a $400. dollar UV unit could somebody please ID these... I could not find these types of Dinos. Closest I could come up with is Amphidinium but not sure because there are so many types out there. They are all over everything when lights on and kind of clear up at night so I hope they are of the "free swimming type" and a UV unit will kill them. Really ready to give up the fish tank but I had a fairly nice tank before the Dinos and don't want to quit without giving all my best. Thanks.

 

[taricha]

Thank you so much for your help, they definitively look different, mine dont have a sharp point, they are kind of round both sides. Maybe I dont have ostreopis no more and now other kind is a winner.

Honestly, these don't look all that different from the way that your previous pics showed ostreopsis
here or
here.
if they aren't moving then perhaps this is a resting state, and there will be some opportunity for other things to take over.

Starting to get what appears to be lyngba/cyano on my rocks.... Dinos, the stringy style, appear to less and less existent. At what point do i stop dosing PO4 and Nitrates so hopefully the cyano goes away? Starting to lose faith here....

when you can't detect any dinos then you can focus on increasing grazers to control the new algae growth levels. (or bring a scrubber online to grow algae in sump etc)

...75% 0f my coral dead, all shrimp & snails dead and starting to lose fish. Did quite a bit... raised PO4=1.58, NO3=4+, ... Before I buy a $400. dollar UV unit could somebody please ID these... I hope they are of the "free swimming type" and a UV unit will kill them.

These are prorocentrum. UV will have an effect. PO4 number accurate? What size tank? UV should not be that expensive. People have gotten good results with cheaper UV systems.
Losing fish? serious toxins. Run activated carbon ASAP and change frequently.

 

[Oberst Oswald]

Thanks for reply. Tank 67 gallons & 2 years old. Numbers are correct...went ape... lost a lot of corals anyway so was willing to try almost anything to kill these things. PO4 now at .99 after a 11 gallon w/c after I found out that didn't help either. 'Frug liked it. Always run activated carbon which I just changed today. Going to get this UV Unit https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/emperor-aquatics-smart-uv-25-watt.html because if I can beat this I just might get a bigger tank in the future. Or I might just say to Hell with it all. There are so many other things I can spend my time & money on.

 

[taricha]

Tank 67 gallons & 2 years old. ...lost a lot of corals anyway so was willing to try almost anything to kill these things. ...Going to get this UV Unit https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/emperor-aquatics-smart-uv-25-watt.html because if I can beat this I just might get a bigger tank in the future.

Hmmmm. When I say 1watt UV per 2 gallons, I'm thinking of these cheapo $60 for 24w
https://www.amazon.com/Green-Killing-Machine-Internal-Sterilizer/dp/B002ZVODP0
Or jebao 55w UV for like $80.
I never realized people were spending 10+ dollars per watt.

@Beardo you had UV units right on the edge of effectiveness. Can you chime in on the UV quality question? Were yours more like $2 per watt, or $10 per watt?

Oberst, patience is the most important quality here. Consistent available nutrients, let everything grow, selectively export/kill dinos, keep toxins low. Let your tank become healthy for normal reef life.

 

[Jolanta]

Those are some pictures from yesterday, I think they are like more normal shape now. I hope to get my uv tomorrow or friday and hope it works together with high nutrients. My tank looks better, I made maybe 30% waterchange but dinos didnt look to get worst.

 

[Paullawr]

Those are some pictures from yesterday, I think they are like more normal shape now. I hope to get my uv tomorrow or friday and hope it works together with high nutrients. My tank looks better, I made maybe 30% waterchange but dinos didnt look to get worst.

Are they moving again?

 

[Beardo]

Hmmmm. When I say 1watt UV per 2 gallons, I'm thinking of these cheapo $60 for 24w
https://www.amazon.com/Green-Killing-Machine-Internal-Sterilizer/dp/B002ZVODP0
Or jebao 55w UV for like $80.
I never realized people were spending 10+ dollars per watt.

@Beardo you had UV units right on the edge of effectiveness. Can you chime in on the UV quality question? Were yours more like $2 per watt, or $10 per watt?

Oberst, patience is the most important quality here. Consistent available nutrients, let everything grow, selectively export/kill dinos, keep toxins low. Let your tank become healthy for normal reef life.

My experience was with the higher cost units (AquaUV). First the 57 watt unit which was ineffective on the size of my tank, then the 114 watt unit, which worked (for Ostreopsis, Coolia and Prorocentrum). Not quite $10/watt, closer to $8/watt, but expensive none the less.
I do believe there is a difference in quality and effectiveness when you are on the edge of the effective size range but there is enough evidence that shows the lower cost units are effective if sized right. For a 67g tank, I would use either the 36 watt or 55 watt Jabeo unit.
On larger tanks I would also consider running the less expensive units in series. No personal experience doing this but the 114 watt AquaUV unit is nothing more than 2 57watt units connected in series.

Now if someone is looking to run UV long-term (years), I would go with a higher quality unit due to longer effective bulb life and the leak issues that have been reported on the lower end units. But for a temporary installation to fight dinos, the inexpensive units are good enough.

 

[Paullawr]

My experience was with the higher cost units (AquaUV). First the 57 watt unit which was ineffective on the size of my tank, then the 114 watt unit, which worked (for Ostreopsis, Coolia and Prorocentrum). Not quite $10/watt, closer to $8/watt, but expensive none the less.
I do believe there is a difference in quality and effectiveness when you are on the edge of the effective size range but there is enough evidence that shows the lower cost units are effective if sized right. For a 67g tank, I would use either the 36 watt or 55 watt Jabeo unit.
On larger tanks I would also consider running the less expensive units in series. No personal experience doing this but the 114 watt AquaUV unit is nothing more than 2 57watt units connected in series.

Now if someone is looking to run UV long-term (years), I would go with a higher quality unit due to longer effective bulb life and the leak issues that have been reported on the lower end units. But for a temporary installation to fight dinos, the inexpensive units are good enough.

Are you still running UV and have you found any active cells since running.