Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[jcosta98]

Hey guys, finally got a microscope to try ID my dinos.. I would say ostreopsis base on the movement , but im not certain about it's shape. Can someone else with more experience help me? I tought I had Amphidinium at first, but under the scope it looks like ostreopsis I would say .

Here are some pictures and videos, thank you everyone!

 

[Yazannreef]

Hey guys, finally got a microscope to try ID my dinos.. I would say ostreopsis base on the movement , but im not certain about it's shape. Can someone else with more experience help me? I tought I had Amphidinium at first, but under the scope it looks like ostreopsis I would say .

Here are some pictures and videos, thank you everyone!

Yes sir that ostreopsis!!

 

[Yodeling]

Yes sir that ostreopsis!!

Yep, definitely ostreo.

 

[angrynoodle11]

Wondering if somebody can help ID? I’m thinking ostreoprosis but doubting myself.
Video

 

[attiland]

Wondering if somebody can help ID? I’m thinking ostreoprosis but doubting myself.
Video

Really small so hard to see but I think it is Amphidinium.
do you have some stills too?
This may help

 

[ScottB]

Have made about 6 slides with 2 samples, one taken from a marine pure ball in fuge area, another from the sand bed. Dinos are mostly on sand bed, a couple strands on rocks, and in the refugium on the marine pure blocks.
Can someone help me ID? I haven’t been able to find any with movement yet, they all appear motionless but perhaps I need to hunt a bit better. I did take some video, but they aren’t really moving . Let me know if I should keep sampling and hunting for some movers? Or if there’s a way to wake them up or something haha

Prorocentrum? ID Possible with these people photos, or attempt better?

Good chance those are NOT dinos, but chrysophytes instead. Also called Golden Algae.

Is the gunk gelatinous, kinda holding it's shape when taken out of the water? You can check my thread for some pics and ideas.

What are your nutrient levels like?

 

[ScottB]

Need to force them into the water colum so the UV does its job.

I've beaten Ostreopsis and LC without it before, but the Prorocentrum are being stubborn.

I'm only going to do a 24...maaaaybe 48 hrs blackout as I don't want to tick off my acros.

On the right track IMO.

 

[Eldritch_blast]

Good chance those are NOT dinos, but chrysophytes instead. Also called Golden Algae.

Is the gunk gelatinous, kinda holding it's shape when taken out of the water? You can check my thread for some pics and ideas.

What are your nutrient levels like?

Yes, it was gelatinous. Perhaps this would explains why I couldn’t find a single one of these little mf’ers movin around like a roomba under the scope?

I will be diving in to this to read a bit further I appreciate you chiming in!

My NO3 has been holding right around 10, lowest I have seen it go was 7. Highest I have seen it go was 16 I think.
PO4 has bottomed out at 0.0 on two separate occasions. Haven’t tested it today yet. But This trend of swinging up and down I have been in the middle of currently.

I did dose with neophos Sunday morning, as it was one of the times I had zeroed out, that afternoon it was at .03.

I wasn’t testing PO4 much before New Years, tank was set up beginning of September, because using the Elos test kit I had, was driving me crazy if it was at 0 or 0.25 or 0.5. My eyeballs are not the best at reading those charts, but I got a Hanna checker for Xmas so I’ve been checking pretty regularly since.

When I first checked with Hannah checker it was also around the time my Red Ogo in my fuge that had been thriving disappeared. In a course of 10 days it went from prolific to extinct in my system.

I hit the threads trying to find out what maybe triggered the starve out of my macro algae. This was also the first appearance of GHA in main display. Long story trimmed down *slightly* after reading and discussing I was convinced to run rowaphos because my .15 PO4 was “too high and that triggered the GHA which starved out my macro algae”.

So I assume I initially threw off the PO4 running rowaphos on top of my GAC in the reactor, which I ran for about a week I think?

Anyways sorry for the long winded reply, I appreciate the suggestion I will be diving in to take a look!

Edit: PO4 zeroed out again today

 

[ScottB]

Good chance those are NOT dinos, but chrysophytes instead. Also called Golden Algae.

Is the gunk gelatinous, kinda holding it's shape when taken out of the water? You can check my thread for some pics and ideas.

What are your nutrient levels like?

@Eldritch_blast
oops. Forgot to share the link.

Symbiodinium. Got any treatment ideas?

While it looks kinda similar to ostreopsis in the tank, it is very different under the scope. They are VERY small and completely motionless. They are easily basted or siphoned away but return the next day. They don't stick to coral flesh, but do stick to everything else. I FEEL like they are...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[iLMaRiO]

today update:

silicates more than 2.00ppm (i'm over the range, checked with hanna)

po4: 0.16
no3: 0.04

currently i'm dosing ZeoBak 4 drops daily and live phyto 50ml daily

still no changed, LCA are still here over all sand and rocks. the full tank is brownish

 

[Yazannreef]

today update:

silicates more than 2.00ppm (i'm over the range, checked with hanna)

po4: 0.16
no3: 0.04

currently i'm dosing ZeoBak 4 drops daily and live phyto 50ml daily

still no changed, LCA are still here over all sand and rocks. the full tank is brownish

Raise your nitrate to 16ppm slowly. I found that when reached 15ppm nitrate 0.15 phosphate tank cleared out overnight.

Do you have a uv sterilizer??

 

[Yazannreef]

today update:

silicates more than 2.00ppm (i'm over the range, checked with hanna)

po4: 0.16
no3: 0.04

currently i'm dosing ZeoBak 4 drops daily and live phyto 50ml daily

still no changed, LCA are still here over all sand and rocks. the full tank is brownish

Raise your nitrate to 16ppm slowly. I found that when reached 15ppm nitrate 0.15 phosphate tank cleared out overnight.

Do you have a uv sterilizer

 

[Yazannreef]

My update on dinos. They are all gone gone gone!!!! My zoa's we're covered and closed now they are open and happy. I really couldn't believe 1 week could get me over the bad infestation I had!!!

 

[iLMaRiO]

Raise your nitrate to 16ppm slowly. I found that when reached 15ppm nitrate 0.15 phosphate tank cleared out overnight.

Do you have a uv sterilizer

Yes, I have an UV lamp but I have LCA that aren't affected by UV

 

[Yodeling]

Yes, I have an UV lamp but I have LCA that aren't affected by UV

How is your photoperiod? Reducing it and using blue-only spectrum has very significant impact on dinos in my experience. Might be worth a try if you’re not doing it already.

 

[iLMaRiO]

this is what i have right now
bigger are LCA but the (very) smaller ones? could be phyto? i'm dosing pytho Daily and dosed silica 1 week ago (20 times the right amount, It was a mistake) and 1 liters of rotifers 1 week ago

 

[Yazannreef]

this is what i have right now
bigger are LCA but the (very) smaller ones? could be phyto? i'm dosing pytho Daily and dosed silica 1 week ago (20 times the right amount, It was a mistake) and 1 liters of rotifers 1 week ago

Smaller ones are definitely not dinos. Could be a lot of other beneficial bacteria but I'm sure it's not dinos. You are doing great and on track to eradicate them.
How is your tank look( sand /rocks..)

 

[iLMaRiO]

Smaller ones are definitely not dinos. Could be a lot of other beneficial bacteria but I'm sure it's not dinos. You are doing great and on track to eradicate them.
How is your tank look( sand /rocks..)

 

[Acros]

Should I use GFO?

My tank is coming out of the second dino outbreak (prorocentrum). Both times it was caused by using fluconazole followed by chemiclean (I was a little impulsive with their use).

The tank is now 6 months old. It is a 25 gallon nano. I see dinos (air bubbles towards the end of the photo period) on only 1 rock. I do not see any mucus layers or strands. The sand bed has a light dusting of diatoms. It has been staying that way for a week. I do not have explosive hair algae yet; my urchin and hermits clean them up quickly.

My problem - Phosphates have been staying above 0.00 since the end of December. I didn’t dose that much phosphates but had some sail die off. It is currently sitting at 0.254. Measured with Hanna phosphorus ULR. Is it too early to use GFO? I want to bring it just under 0.100.

Additional points:

• Phospahtes whet up when I ramped up SpongExcel dosing. Have not dosed any since 2 weeks.
• My nitrates bottom out if I do not dose. That has been a problem during the entire 6 months.
• I dose AFR. Tank is mostly SPS.

 

[Yazannreef]

That looks a lot like diatoms to me.