Starting to get Dinos. Next steps?

[bitstream]

The tank has been established for 6 months and gone through some of the usual ugliness.

Unfortunately awhile back I lost all the fish due to flukes and velvet (trusted a LFS that they quarantined their fish, instead my of own instinct to quarantine myself — lesson learned), so the tank has been fallow with only a handful of inverts.

I started seeing Dinos a few weeks ago and did a blackout as well as starting to dose NeoPhos because phosphates were always zero. Nitrates are ok — between 10-20. Despite dosing phos, it’s always 0.00 and I just get green algae outbreaks.

Today i noticed a ton of dinos, so am going concerned that if I don’t do something, it’s going to get worse.

I have fish in QT and plan to move them to the DT in a few weeks, so would be loathe to dump Dino medication in the tank after subjecting the fish to copper and metro already.

Suggestions?

 

[bitstream]

Btw - I have been running UV for a month, but it doesn’t seem to do much. Certainly isn’t preventing algae or dinos! At best maybe it’s just holding them back a bit.

 

[doubleshot00]

Dino medication??????

Imo it doesn’t look that bad. But in order to id you will need a microscope. But I would dose the po4 to get ut up.

 

[bitstream]

Dino medication??????

Imo it doesn’t look that bad. But in order to id you will need a microscope. But I would dose the po4 to get ut up.

From what I understand, which could be wrong, these don’t go away on their own.

I’ve been dosing phosphates but stuff in the tank uses it up so even when dosing like 4x the recommended amount per week (spread out over 3-4days), it’s always always 0.00.

I’ve also been dosing QuickStart 900 and microbacter 7 (with UV off), but that has had questionable results.

There’s more in the tank, that’s just what I’ve been able to photograph.

 

[lmfbs]

How have you identified that you have dinos? What type of dinos do you have, that will determine your next steps and options.

 

[bitstream]

How have you identified that you have dinos? What type of dinos do you have, that will determine your next steps and options.

How would I do that? I don’t have a microscope handy.

 

[doubleshot00]

How would I do that? I don’t have a microscope handy.

Only way to id what you have is to use a microscope.

Dose more po4 until you get a reading. I would cut back on the bacteria dosing. It’s probably doing more harm than good.

 

[lmfbs]

How would I do that? I don’t have a microscope handy.

There are other tests you can to do confirm it's dinos (vs other things like diatoms). That at least would be helpful because I can't really see what you're looking at that makes you think dinos.

You can pick up a microscope pretty cheap!

 

[bitstream]

There are other tests you can to do confirm it's dinos (vs other things like diatoms). That at least would be helpful because I can't really see what you're looking at that makes you think dinos.

You can pick up a microscope pretty cheap!

Strands with bubbles on the top, like a balloon on a string? It’s likely dinos.

I know what diatoms look like and this ain’t them. I’ve dealt with diatoms a number of times in the past.

It’s really trying to find a solution early before this gets out of hand and I have to resort to chemical remediation.

 

[lmfbs]

Strands with bubbles on the top, like a balloon on a string? It’s likely dinos.

I know what diatoms look like and this ain’t them. I’ve dealt with diatoms a number of times in the past.

It’s really trying to find a solution early before this gets out of hand and I have to resort to chemical remediation.

The solutions definitely depend on the type of dinos, (for example, only some you can treat with UV) so other than making sure your nutrients aren't bottoming out, see if you can get yourself a cheap microscope.

This thread is fab and so helpful for IDs and treatment options https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/

 

[LARedstickreefer]

First of all, what uv sterilizer are you using and what is the flow through the sterilizer? Second of all, how’s your flow in your tank?

Dinos have to go through the sterilizer to get exposed and the exposure needs to be adequate.

For example, I’m using an Aqua Ultraviolet 15W on my Red Sea reeder 170. I probably have 32-35g of actual water. I’m using around 300gph through my sterilizer.

To start, I blew all the snotty strands into the water column and turned my power heads up to max. I then turned lights off for two days and let my sterilizer run 24/7. Two days (1 day really) later, not a trace of dinos, even after a full year of the worst mess you can imagine.

-Matt

 

[bitstream]

First of all, what uv sterilizer are you using and what is the flow through the sterilizer? Second of all, how’s your flow in your tank?

Dinos have to go through the sterilizer to get exposed and the exposure needs to be adequate.

For example, I’m using an Aqua Ultraviolet 15W on my Red Sea reeder 170. I probably have 32-35g of actual water. I’m using around 300gph through my sterilizer.

To start, I blew all the snotty strands into the water column and turned my power heads up to max. I then turned lights off for two days and let my sterilizer run 24/7. Two days (1 day really) later, not a trace of dinos, even after a full year of the worst mess you can imagine.

-Matt

9w. No idea on its flow rate but it’s only a 20 gallon cube. Between the eyelet and the Nero 3, there’s plenty of flow, though the places they build up are probably the lowest flow areas.

If I black out for a couple days, they go away, but lights come back on and a few days later so do the dinos.

I do some manual removal whenever i see them.

My guess is that it’s because my phosphates are always 0. I dose NeoNitro but it just causes algae blooms and they devour the phosphates. Dosing more phosphates just yields more algae and still a 0 reading on the phosphate test. Nitrates are between 5 and 20.

 

[brandon429]

how many gallons is this tank, that matters tremendously in save options