Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[mcarroll]

Anyone?

Numbers are fine. What are those products you named supposed to be doing?

Can you catch us up on what you've done so far and what dino's you've ID'd, or do you have a thread where you're posting all your updates? (Too many cases to keep them all straight in my brain or even here in this thread.)

Tank looks OK from the posted pic, BTW.

 

[mcarroll]

Thanks all! It's all a guess as to why this works, with good strong theories. If the pattern is increasing NO3/PO4 works, then I'll keep at it. It's just hard when you don't see progress and only see it getting worse. I'm hoping it'll take a turn soon.

Read through as much of the info (including links) on the first post as you can.

Then read as much of the thread as you can too. Most folks go through approximately the same things during this, so I think all those experiences are really helpful to look at.

If you know the type of dino you're targeting then you can even run a thread search for that to narrow in on the parts of the thread that would be most interesting and relevant.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Two questions for those of you that have battled dinos & won, and nutrients definitely worked for me:

I'm still having to dose P about every other day to keep it from bottoming out, and this is without many visible dinos. Did you all stop natural filtration as well for a while (chaeto, ats, etc.)? I'm thinking of at least lowering the lighting period on my chaeto. I feed 3x a day minimum (2x flakes in auto feeder & NLS or frozen in the evening). Other issue with this is I've had persistent cyano stemming from it, but cyano is a heck of a lot better than dinos so I've dealt with it. Would be nice to get to a happy medium again.

What do I do with corals hurt by it? Some are really messed up. Options are frag them all to many pieces or just let it try to grow into it's bald spots (which hasn't seemed to work b/c it's a magnet for other algae or lingering dinos).

I didn't run any filtration other than UV, Skimming, and Carbon. I didn't find it helpful adding nutrient filtration while dosing nutrients. Once algae hits and dinos arent visible, stop dosing and let values fall naturally.

Have you been monitoring nitrates? With only P dosings, it might lower nitrates and that is why you are having coral issues.

 

[Lowefx]

Numbers are fine. What are those products you named supposed to be doing?

Can you catch us up on what you've done so far and what dino's you've ID'd, or do you have a thread where you're posting all your updates? (Too many cases to keep them all straight in my brain or even here in this thread.)

Tank looks OK from the posted pic, BTW.

So I guess these are diatoms. Not sure how to rid them away. Here is my scope find about a year ago. You may remember it.

 

[J Rog]

Well I guess I’ll join this party.. I have been battling dinoflagellates for about 3 weeks or so. I have been dosing N03 (stump remover) and P04 (Seachem flourish). I have also been dosing Hydrogen Peroxide. At first everything seemed to start to get better after the first couple of days of dosing all that stuff.. But then itseemed to plateau and just held steady keeping a hold.. when I first saw the out break I tested P04 and N03. Of course both were undetectable. I noticed when I run my skimmer (which I have to because of dosing the peroxide) it’s gets worse even though the skimmer isn’t pulling out much. How long have you guys have seen a significant difference in the Dino’s after bringing up your nutrient levels? I think my next step is to syphon the sand bed and run it though the filter sock. If I don’t see some what of a difference in a couple of days then looks like I will have to see if I can get a microscope to see exactly what I have and if Dinox is a possibility.. Here are a couple of pics of my disaster.. Any other suggestions or comments are more then welcome. I’m at the fed up point.. [emoji849]

 

[IKD]

Well I guess I’ll join this party.. I have been battling dinoflagellates for about 3 weeks or so. I have been dosing N03 (stump remover) and P04 (Seachem flourish). I have also been dosing Hydrogen Peroxide. At first everything seemed to start to get better after the first couple of days of dosing all that stuff.. But then itseemed to plateau and just held steady keeping a hold.. when I first saw the out break I tested P04 and N03. Of course both were undetectable. I noticed when I run my skimmer (which I have to because of dosing the peroxide) it’s gets worse even though the skimmer isn’t pulling out much. How long have you guys have seen a significant difference in the Dino’s after bringing up your nutrient levels? I think my next step is to syphon the sand bed and run it though the filter sock. If I don’t see some what of a difference in a couple of days then looks like I will have to see if I can get a microscope to see exactly what I have and if Dinox is a possibility.. Here are a couple of pics of my disaster.. Any other suggestions or comments are more then welcome. I’m at the fed up point.. [emoji849]

Hey J Rog,
Feel your pain right now. I used the same dosing (stump remover & Seachem Flourish) brands you have. Do you know what levels you are keeping your N and P at? I was keeping mine at 6-10ppm Nitate and 0.8-.14 Phosphate. I saw a leveling-off of dinos (I'm treating for Ostreopsis & Coolia) like you are seeing but not a significant recession. I suspect if I continued to maintain N and P levels eventually other competition would take over, but my coral loss spurred me to get the UV in place. The UV unit made a big difference for me with attacking these strains of dino's since they float in the water column at night (and when you blow the rocks with a turkey baster). I did try using peroxide, but I didn't use it long enough to know if that is really effective (I think there's mixed reviews on it's effectiveness long-term). I would definitely recommend getting a scope and ID'ing the type of dino(s) you have, as the effective treatments do vary after getting your N & P levels in the range I mentioned (i.e. Amphidinium stays in the sand bed and UV isn't very effective but rinsing/replacing the sand is; while Ostreopsis & Coolia are more susceptible to UV being in the water column).

Hope this helps and that you keep on fighting it

 

[J Rog]

Hey J Rog,
Feel your pain right now. I used the same dosing (stump remover & Seachem Flourish) brands you have. Do you know what levels you are keeping your N and P at? I was keeping mine at 6-10ppm Nitate and 0.8-.14 Phosphate. I saw a leveling-off of dinos (I'm treating for Ostreopsis & Coolia) like you are seeing but not a significant recession. I suspect if I continued to maintain N and P levels eventually other competition would take over, but my coral loss spurred me to get the UV in place. The UV unit made a big difference for me with attacking these strains of dino's since they float in the water column at night (and when you blow the rocks with a turkey baster). I did try using peroxide, but I didn't use it long enough to know if that is really effective (I think there's mixed reviews on it's effectiveness long-term). I would definitely recommend getting a scope and ID'ing the type of dino(s) you have, as the effective treatments do vary after getting your N & P levels in the range I mentioned (i.e. Amphidinium stays in the sand bed and UV isn't very effective but rinsing/replacing the sand is; while Ostreopsis & Coolia are more susceptible to UV being in the water column).

Hope this helps and that you keep on fighting it

Thanks for the advice! My N and P levels are consistent because the levels drop really quick. But for N I have been keeping it between 1 and 4ppm. P between .04- .06 or so

 

[mcarroll]

So I guess these are diatoms. Not sure how to rid them away. Here is my scope find about a year ago. You may remember it.

If you take another sample out of the tank and put it under the scope, does it look the same or different?

Can you refresh on what you've done in the year since that scope find, and what the current state of things is?

 

[Lowefx]

If you take another sample out of the tank and put it under the scope, does it look the same or different?

Can you refresh on what you've done in the year since that scope find, and what the current state of things is?

I won't be able to get another scope video until next week.
Well in the last year I've done........omg let me see......last summer I added a UV 57w, changed light fixture bulbs. In the fall I started a DIY cheato reactor.

It seems like the last 6 months I couldn't lower my parameters. They always stayed at no3-8 and po4-never dropped past .08 currently near .36

Currently I've dosed Triton Detox to get rid of the Al, and on day 2 of starting No3Pox4 (6ml daily) to lower no3 and po4. I also plan on changing my membrane, carbon, and Di in my water system. Then I will be doing an 80% water change. I need to find the route cause of this current spike.

How do I get rid of diatoms?

I'm sure I'm forgetting something

 

[mcarroll]

I won't be able to get another scope video until next week.
Well in the last year I've done........omg let me see......last summer I added a UV 57w, changed light fixture bulbs. In the fall I started a DIY cheato reactor.

It seems like the last 6 months I couldn't lower my parameters. They always stayed at no3-8 and po4-never dropped past .08 currently near .36

Currently I've dosed Triton Detox to get rid of the Al, and on day 2 of starting No3Pox4 (6ml daily) to lower no3 and po4. I also plan on changing my membrane, carbon, and Di in my water system. Then I will be doing an 80% water change. I need to find the route cause of this current spike.

How do I get rid of diatoms?

I'm sure I'm forgetting something

Is sounds like you may possibly be done with us and past the dinoflagellates!

Let's see what the microscope tells us – maybe post a recent pic too.

 

[Lowefx]

Is sounds like you may possibly be done with us and past the dinoflagellates!

Let's see what the microscope tells us – maybe post a recent pic too.

Yesterday's pic

Yesterday's pic. If I'm past dinoflagellates, then why do I do for diatoms?

 

[mcarroll]

Sorry, I meant to ask for a pic that features the algae you're worried about. All I see there is a bunch of happy corals.

 

[Lowefx]

Sorry, I meant to ask for a pic that features the algae you're worried about. All I see there is a bunch of happy corals.

It's all that brown dusting on the sand bed. Super annoying, doesn't go away even after vacuuming.

 

[mcarroll]

That definitely doesn't look like dino's from that view, but we'll see if the new microscope pics say anything different than that.

If it's diatoms, then you need to look for the source of silicates they are using to grow. Often it's tap water and silicates are getting through a worn out or or malfunctioning RODI system.

 

[johnsamm7]

So here are the pictures with the microscope what kind do you think they are and what's my plan of action thanks guys

 

[johnsamm7]

Video

 

[johnsamm7]

Video 2

 

[revhtree]

Still battling a bad outbreak. Tested phosphorus via a Hanna checker and it’s 0.215ppm.

Got all the whites out of my LED lighting to see if it effects the algae. Nothing yet.

 

[Bebow]

Well I guess I’ll join this party.. I have been battling dinoflagellates for about 3 weeks or so. I have been dosing N03 (stump remover) and P04 (Seachem flourish). I have also been dosing Hydrogen Peroxide. At first everything seemed to start to get better after the first couple of days of dosing all that stuff.. But then itseemed to plateau and just held steady keeping a hold.. when I first saw the out break I tested P04 and N03. Of course both were undetectable. I noticed when I run my skimmer (which I have to because of dosing the peroxide) it’s gets worse even though the skimmer isn’t pulling out much. How long have you guys have seen a significant difference in the Dino’s after bringing up your nutrient levels? I think my next step is to syphon the sand bed and run it though the filter sock. If I don’t see some what of a difference in a couple of days then looks like I will have to see if I can get a microscope to see exactly what I have and if Dinox is a possibility.. Here are a couple of pics of my disaster.. Any other suggestions or comments are more then welcome. I’m at the fed up point.. [emoji849]

l

If you are using 200 micron filter filter socks most of the Dino’s will pass through, need to be 5 micron or less to catch then all. The info I found says the cells are 5- 15 microns in size. I found 5 micron and 1 micron socks on Amazon, they will clog up pretty quick but I put about 40 gallons through before that happened.

 

[bh750]

Here's something I was thinking about as I plan my attack on my large cell amphidinium...

My brown dusting on my sand bed is large cell Amphidinium. Sad to learn the don't move into the water column so can't use UV.

But I learned that I also have small cell Amph. I don't think they're visible tho as I only happened upon them by inspecting some white sand under my microscope. Do they go into the water column?

If yes, Here's my thought:

BOTH the large and small cell Amph are contributing to the imbalance in my tank. If the small cell Amph do release into the water column and I kill them with UV, then the imbalance of dinos overall is lessened. Making room for other beneficial life to take hold.

Thoughts?