Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[JaimeAdams]

Tagging

 

[Beardo]

Thanks and yes lots of movement.

Based on that and the pics I would say dinos.

 

[Denisk]

Based on that and the pics I would say dinos.

Gotcha. Thanks.

 

[Denisk]

Decided to post a couple more photos.

 

[alyee5]

Can I play? I would appreciate help identifying what I think are dinoflagellates (tho hoped for diatoms)

These are my microscope videos- Low mag shows some stationary organisms, some that move like bumper cars and a few that seem to spin on their axis.
The high mag is a cluster of organisms that I happened to find.

@taricha , @mcarroll and others- what do you think I am dealing with here? I'd like to start a course of treatment as soon.

Thx in advance!

 

[taricha]

@alyee5 These are amphidinium dinoflagellates. Second video is great quality. If you look closely you can see both flagella. One is a small wiggling that circles around the protrusion at the front of the cell.
Around 30-35 sec into video you can see the long flagellum that hangs out the back of the cell like a tail.

 

[alyee5]

@alyee5 These are amphidinium dinoflagellates. Second video is great quality. If you look closely you can see both flagella. One is a small wiggling that circles around the protrusion at the front of the cell.
Around 30-35 sec into video you can see the long flagellum that hangs out the back of the cell like a tail.

Great! thank you very much...
I was playing around with my new scope and was excited to finally get a good quality image. I showed my 11 year old daughter, "See the little tails, honey, that's how they move around"....Her reply, "Shouldn't have left for my golf tournament by now, Dad?" OOPS! ;Shamefullyembarrased

 

[Sebae]

Hey everyone,

I was looking through some papers on dinos and found a nice review. The paper reviews predators and prey of various dinos (mixotrophic and heterotrophic) and essentially it came down to the following for mixotrophs (potentially Ostreopsis): "Therefore, in MIRs (maximum ingestion rate) and MCRs (maximum clearance rate) of the predators on MTDs (mixotrophic dinoflagellates), the general sequence was copepods > large ciliates = the larvae of benthos > small ciliates = HTDs (heterotrophic dinos)." They also go into "but what if the dinos are toxic?". Essentially some copepods can handle the toxins and other cannot. They state, "Therefore, it is concluded that feeding by heterotrophic protistan and metazoan predators on toxic dinoflagellates was affected by the prey species and strains of a toxic dinoflagellate and also the predator species". Not too surprising. It looks as though MTD do feed on phyto which would explain some of the anecdotes of people feeding phyto and the situation becoming worse.

This makes me want to go out and grab a bunch of ocean water and just dump it in my frag tank. I've noticed a massive decrease in the slimy bubbly strands of dinos since adding the 35 lbs of live rock on Friday.

Not sure if anyone has posted something similar but I found it interesting and thought I would go ahead and share it.

Full citation:
Jeong, H.J., Yoo, Y.D., Kim, J.S. et al. Growth, feeding and ecological roles of the mixotrophic and heterotrophic dinoflagellates in marine planktonic food webs
Ocean Sci. J. (2010) 45: 65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-010-0007-2

 

[Derek Clifford]

I really hope I am not speaking too soon, but for the last few days I am not seeing Dinos growing. The sand bed is staying clear on the area I siphoned and another area where I did not siphon is nearly cleared by its self.

ID by microscope, most likely Prorocentrum.
There are 2 definite changes that have made the improvement. I installed a UV about a month ago, there was some improvement, but not enough to beat it. In the last week I began dosing phosphate. Thats where the significant changes started. I am dosing approx 1ml for 350 litre nearly every day. The instructions are 10ml for 500 litre to give 0.1ppm. My phosphate is still measuring less than 0.01ppm on red sea test.
Also adding bacteria blend once a week. Siphoning help to keep it in control.

The before is not the worst, but gives an idea.
Before


after.

 

[Derek Clifford]

oh, and thanks to all here that suggested the phosphate dosing and UV. The forum really helped.

 

[sfin52]

Ya the phosphate makes a big difference. It's a little hard to get people to buy into, since we have been too p04 is really bad. Keep it up. It's fun seeing the sand again It's even better when you start seeing green algae. ;Joyful Your close to doing the happy dance. ;Headphone

 

[Derek Clifford]

It's fun seeing the sand again It's even better when you start seeing green algae. ;Joyful Your close to doing the happy dance. ;Headphone

I can't believe I am actually contemplating putting sand back in.
The corals look better too.

 

[chefjpaul]

Ya the phosphate makes a big difference. It's a little hard to get people to buy into, since we have been too p04 is really bad. Keep it up. It's fun seeing the sand again It's even better when you start seeing green algae. ;Joyful Your close to doing the happy dance. ;Headphone

Oh yeah it did, as well as addition of liquid no3. Mine are almost completely gone within a month. Massive algae growth now, actually never seen my tanks look so green...hahaha

Picked up a massive cuc and an urchin to knock it out, ill give them a month or two to mow this down.
I almost had a heart atrack when my lfs rang up my purchases for the cuc, a normally large coral order.

I truly do think being the tank is fallow helped maintain steady control of the nutrients though.

 

[sfin52]

My gsp are finally experiencing explosive growth. Unfortunately I lost my two favorite corals(Duncan). They were my second coral in my tank

 

[Thle009]

Finally took care of the dino problem w/ UV.

 

[Sebae]

Has anyone else with SPS in their system noticed SPS pale while the dinos are present and/or show poor growth? Just digging at my brain as to what is wrong with my SPS. Maybe dinotoxins in the water? Outcompeted for nutrients? Dinos using up a specific trace mineral? I should be getting an ICP water test back soon I wonder if the dinos preferentially use any trace minerals in abundance that may negatively affect SPS?

 

[sfin52]

I've heard and think in this thread it was talked about that Dino caused poor coloration. Adding phosphates helped bring back or restore color.

 

[tenurepro]

oh, and thanks to all here that suggested the phosphate dosing and UV. The forum really helped.

Which bacterial blend did you add?

 

[tenurepro]

Has anyone else with SPS in their system noticed SPS pale while the dinos are present and/or show poor growth? Just digging at my brain as to what is wrong with my SPS. Maybe dinotoxins in the water? Outcompeted for nutrients? Dinos using up a specific trace mineral? I should be getting an ICP water test back soon I wonder if the dinos preferentially use any trace minerals in abundance that may negatively affect SPS?

My SPS are looking really good; actually the increase in po4 has them looking more colorful than usual. I don’t think my dinos (prorocentrum) are very toxic though, haven’t lost snails and crabs are in

 

[chefjpaul]

Has anyone else with SPS in their system noticed SPS pale while the dinos are present and/or show poor growth? Just digging at my brain as to what is wrong with my SPS. Maybe dinotoxins in the water? Outcompeted for nutrients? Dinos using up a specific trace mineral? I should be getting an ICP water test back soon I wonder if the dinos preferentially use any trace minerals in abundance that may negatively affect SPS?

I believe mine paled out, but from a drastic drop in nutrients. I have a ton of gha right now and sps are just barely starting to color up, but they are, the montis didnt get phased at all, only acros.

Im intetested in your icp, I have 3 sets, just didn't take or send in as I was more focused on the basic nutrient issues, and fish/ velvet at same time.... in hind sight I wish I would have from the beginning to document