Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[swiss1939]

If dosing hydrogen peroxide to remove dinos, will the h202 also decimate a copepod population?

 

[hotdrop]

Idk about pods but at least for me it did nothing against dinos.

 

[Snoopdog]

EDIT: Wrong thread.

 

[hotdrop]

Small update on DinoX treatment. Seems to be going ok 3 doses in (lights are a lot lower than usual too). Gonna loose my torch that’s been weak but everything else is hanging on.

 

[swiss1939]

Started treating with peroxide at night and microbacter 7 in the morning, no lights (not total blackout cause soft daylight coming through curtains). 5 Day treatment... 3 days in and dinos almost completely gone. Will say that one coral did not respond well to it. Rainbow Stylo. Not sure if its responding poorly to peroxide, no lights for days, or if its just getting eaten by amphipods who are now starving from the reduction of algae. I see amphipods on it and missing polyps starting to spread. Every other coral is doing fine as of now. Seems copepods are doing ok also, I do see them, but just not as much probably due to the lack of algae on the glass.

 

[Snoopdog]

Well I will report some progress yesterday. I am going the natural approach other than using UV, I guess that is not really natural. So far blasting with way too much UV is making the biggest dent. It takes more than that though. I am doing a very long daily blackout, maybe 18 hours and then leaving the lights on about 50% for 6 hours. I am going to supplement this with live rock, the second batch. Hopefully this will give the fauna an edge.

I cannot stress that just doing the UV by itself would take too long it appears, you need to do partial blackouts to keep them in the water column.

 

[hotdrop]

Well I will report some progress yesterday. I am going the natural approach other than using UV, I guess that is not really natural. So far blasting with way too much UV is making the biggest dent. It takes more than that though. I am doing a very long daily blackout, maybe 18 hours and then leaving the lights on about 50% for 6 hours. I am going to supplement this with live rock, the second batch. Hopefully this will give the fauna an edge.

I cannot stress that just doing the UV by itself would take too long it appears, you need to do partial blackouts to keep them in the water column.

Yeah that would work for me in stretches but ultimately that killed most of my coral.

 

[Snoopdog]

Yeah that would work for me in stretches but ultimately that killed most of my coral.

I only really had to do quick blackouts, I doubt your corals would suffer from the lack of light for just a day or two.

 

[ScottB]

I am battling a dino issue and am needing some advice on buying a UV unit. Total system is around 250 gallons. I have a nano tank and a large frag tank plumbed together into a 70 gallon sump. My dino issues are in the frag tank that is roughly 160 gallons. Will the 55gallon Jabao uv unit do me any good if I have the uv recirculating in the frag tank or is it a little too small for my setup?

I am a bit behind on this thread, but in case no one else has responded: Yes that unit -- plumbed directly in/out of the frag tank itself -- should work. Run it slow to maximize contact time.

When they are blooming at their peak, shut off your return, blast the dinos with a powerhead to stir up the dinos.

Have you ID'd your species?

 

[ScottB]

35g tank volumes with a 15w Aqua Uv.

If they are not diminishing with that UV:
a) Could be they are LC amphidinium that cling to substrate
b) Your bulb is dead
c) You have it plumbed to the return which is running too fast

 

[ScottB]

Not sure about other species, but ostreopsis have a very distinct smell. Not a noxious smell but still unpleasant. A yeast smell that has gone bad is my best description.

 

[swiss1939]

I only really had to do quick blackouts, I doubt your corals would suffer from the lack of light for just a day or two.

Along these lines.. I've been wondering what is a safe blackout time vs approaching dangerous blackout time length for coral health? Granted I'm not doing a full blackout as my room still gets diffused daylight through lighter curtains, but I can see my corals are looking desperate for light after 3 days with just lights off all day. Contemplating if I should go for the full 5 days or just end the treatment at 4 days and see if dinos start to come back with gradual light acclimation all blues again.

 

[Flatlandreefer]

I am a bit behind on this thread, but in case no one else has responded: Yes that unit -- plumbed directly in/out of the frag tank itself -- should work. Run it slow to maximize contact time.

When they are blooming at their peak, shut off your return, blast the dinos with a powerhead to stir up the dinos.

Have you ID'd your species?

Thanks for the reply. I have the unit ordered, should be here next week.

I have not gotten a positive id on the species, but am 100% that it is Dino’s. Had them a month ago, got them to go away with manual removal and then they came back. Started dosing p aggressively and that kind of turbo charged them but once I got p up above .1 it seems to have bloomed some diatoms and reduced the Dino bounce back after daily manual removal.

Dino’s attach to coral tips and the fleece that I have hung above power heads so there are some that are in the water column. Majority stay attached to egg crate all day and night so I could have two types idk.

 

[Letterkenny]

So I believe I have Dino’s on my back wall and sand bed. I’ve tried to read throughout this thread but it’s a beast at 485 pages. My tank will soon be empty as I am moving my nems out and will just have some snails and inverts while my clowns are in QT. What’s the best plan of attack to get rid of them? Seems UV sterilizers aren’t the best for when they aren’t in the water column. How about a black out and then adding coppepods and ocean majik phyto from algae barn post blackout?

 

[Snoopdog]

So I believe I have Dino’s on my back wall and sand bed. I’ve tried to read throughout this thread but it’s a beast at 485 pages. My tank will soon be empty as I am moving my nems out and will just have some snails and inverts while my clowns are in QT. What’s the best plan of attack to get rid of them? Seems UV sterilizers aren’t the best for when they aren’t in the water column. How about a black out and then adding coppepods and ocean majik phyto from algae barn post blackout?

They will decimate copepods, you will waste your money.

 

[taricha]

Granted I'm not doing a full blackout as my room still gets diffused daylight through lighter curtains, but I can see my corals are looking desperate for light after 3 days with just lights off all day. Contemplating if I should go for the full 5 days

What we want to do with a blackout is simply cause dinos to move into the water and get hit by UV. We aren't trying to light-starve things to death. So to me, less than 3 days is the target.

 

[hotdrop]

I only really had to do quick blackouts, I doubt your corals would suffer from the lack of light for just a day or two.

Usually they are already stressed so it can be enough to knock them out

 

[Snoopdog]

Usually they are already stressed so it can be enough to knock them out

If anything my corals look way better now. We turned on the lights for four hours last night, never saw my button polyps open like that before, never.

 

[TheDuude]

Well it seems I will be joining the fight against dinos. I have taken a look at mine and believe I have Amphidinium. Tank is a reefer 250 that was setup in February using dry rock and dry sand. After my cycle my no3 and po4 fell to zero and I started feeding much heavier. No matter how much I fed I could not get any indications of no3 or po4. I held off on dosing since the tank and corals were doing well and looking great. I went through all the usual blooms, bacteria, cyano, and diatoms. All cleared up after a few weeks with no input from me other than my usual water changes.
around 2 weeks ago I began to notice the dinos and they have been getting progressively worse. Now they are to a point where they are starting to negatively impact some of my corals.

My current plan of action
- Dosing NeoNitro and Neophos ( currently dosing 15ML NN and 5ML NP daily, Still showing zeros )
- Continue skimming
- Cleaning glass and coral frags daily ( I have been letting the dinos build up on the sand )
- Slowly raise temps to around 82.

A few questions I have

Should I add a UV? It's my understanding that UV does not help against Amphidinium.
Should I be vacuuming and stirring the sand?
Should I be dosing bacterias? I have MB7 and vibrant on hand.
How long should It take daily dosing N&P to start getting readings?

And Finally, I have been thinking about making a trip to my LFS to pick up some live rock and maybe even sand to add some biodiversity. Is this worth it? I used dry rock to avoid hitchhikers but right now feel my rock is much too sterile. Not even a stitch of any algae anywhere other that Dinos.

I will greatly appreciate any guidance. I tore down my last tank due to Dinos since I did not have the time to battle. I have decided I am not giving up on this one so easily.

 

[Snoopdog]

Well it seems I will be joining the fight against dinos. I have taken a look at mine and believe I have Amphidinium. Tank is a reefer 250 that was setup in February using dry rock and dry sand. After my cycle my no3 and po4 fell to zero and I started feeding much heavier. No matter how much I fed I could not get any indications of no3 or po4. I held off on dosing since the tank and corals were doing well and looking great. I went through all the usual blooms, bacteria, cyano, and diatoms. All cleared up after a few weeks with no input from me other than my usual water changes.
around 2 weeks ago I began to notice the dinos and they have been getting progressively worse. Now they are to a point where they are starting to negatively impact some of my corals.

My current plan of action
- Dosing NeoNitro and Neophos ( currently dosing 15ML NN and 5ML NP daily, Still showing zeros )
- Continue skimming
- Cleaning glass and coral frags daily ( I have been letting the dinos build up on the sand )
- Slowly raise temps to around 82.

A few questions I have

Should I add a UV? It's my understanding that UV does not help against Amphidinium.
Should I be vacuuming and stirring the sand?
Should I be dosing bacterias? I have MB7 and vibrant on hand.
How long should It take daily dosing N&P to start getting readings?

And Finally, I have been thinking about making a trip to my LFS to pick up some live rock and maybe even sand to add some biodiversity. Is this worth it? I used dry rock to avoid hitchhikers but right now feel my rock is much too sterile. Not even a stitch of any algae anywhere other that Dinos.

I will greatly appreciate any guidance. I tore down my last tank due to Dinos since I did not have the time to battle. I have decided I am not giving up on this one so easily.

Instead of flying blind, buy a microscope.