About To Throw The Towel In

Andygator · Feb 25, 2019

My two year old reef had a bad case of dinos six months ago that I fought for 3-4 months until trying UV. It completely disappeared within 4 days of installing the UV sterilizer. Well about three weeks ago the ugly brown/rusty colored snot reappeared so I thought maybe my UV bulb was loosing its punch and the sleeve needed a cleaning. I opened it up to find a blown gasket and water in the bulb compartment (it was still working). I decided to replace the entire UV sterilizer thinking that it would kill off the dinos again. Well, I guess I was blessed with a superstrain because I have perfected growing dinos. They definitely disappear at night like my previous outbreak so I thought they were going into the water column. I had undetectable phosphate by Hanna ULR phosphorous checker and 1 ppm nitrate by salifert. I am now daily dosing Seachem Flourish Phosphorous and potassium nitrate. The phosphate and nitrate levels are quickly reduced. Within 24 hrs the 0.06 ppm dose of phosphate drops to non-detect and 10 ppm nitrate dose drops to 1 ppm nitrate. Perhaps I need to dose twice a day? I see no decline in the dino population. Rather, it seems to be enjoying the nutrient dosing. I am at my wits end and about ready to reboot. Any advice on other safe strategies (not bleach) to try? Oh, I forgot to mention I kicked off this battle with a three day blackout and peroxide dosing for a week. Didn't touch it...

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 25, 2019

You may need to consider reducing the amount of rock in the tank.
Cut water changes.
Remove fuge or ats.
Get a smaller skimmer.
Use Fiji mud or Garf grunge. (Not miracle mud)

Andygator · Feb 26, 2019

I was doing a 10% water change every other week. I havent done one in a month now. I was considering setting up a schedule in the Apex to turn the skimmer on and off. My chaeto growth was stagnant until I started dosing (go figure). I harvested half of it last night. I saw a thread about silica dosing. Im a bit leery of going that route until I see some good evidence to show it works. I have a bottle of DinoX that didnt work for the first outbreak. Perhaps I will give it a try and see if it works this go round.

Scottybgood · Feb 28, 2019

Have you been able to ID which species of Dino you have? That helps with how you attack them, since there are a few different approaches depending on which one you have.

My first round I had predominantly Ostreopsis and a big UV took control in just a few days like you mentioned. But several months later, got another round and they were Prorocentrum and Coolia. They also go into the water column and are affected by UV, but much more stubborn. Coolia likes higher Nitrates, so it took a LOT of patience in dosing nutrients, daily testing, rock blasting to "encourage" them going to the water column, and also adding a lot of biodiversity to the tank (started with Dry Rock) by ordering some GARF Grunge, and critters from Indo-Pacific Sea Farms.

I also frequently ran a Vortex Diatom Filter overnight which can also remove them from the water, not to mention polishes the water nicely as well.

Good luck and keep at it

Andygator · Feb 28, 2019

Scottybgood said:
Have you been able to ID which species of Dino you have? That helps with how you attack them, since there are a few different approaches depending on which one you have.

My first round I had predominantly Ostreopsis and a big UV took control in just a few days like you mentioned. But several months later, got another round and they were Prorocentrum and Coolia. They also go into the water column and are affected by UV, but much more stubborn. Coolia likes higher Nitrates, so it took a LOT of patience in dosing nutrients, daily testing, rock blasting to "encourage" them going to the water column, and also adding a lot of biodiversity to the tank (started with Dry Rock) by ordering some GARF Grunge, and critters from Indo-Pacific Sea Farms.

I also frequently ran a Vortex Diatom Filter overnight which can also remove them from the water, not to mention polishes the water nicely as well.

Good luck and keep at it

Just bought a microscope off Amazon. Hopefully this weekend I’ll get some photos that I can post for ID.

SDK · Feb 28, 2019

Good luck and I hope you get on top of it....

Andygator · Mar 4, 2019

Microscope Image 2

Andygator
Mar 4, 2019

Dinos, ID?

Microscope Image 1

Andygator
Mar 4, 2019

Dinos and red cyano? Anyone ID for me?

Anyone able to provide a positive ID and treatment plan?

Andygator · Mar 4, 2019

Andygator said:
Microscope Image 2

Andygator

Mar 4, 2019

Dinos, ID?

Microscope Image 1

Andygator

Mar 4, 2019

Dinos and red cyano? Anyone ID for me?

Anyone able to provide a positive ID and treatment plan?

Sorry the image quality isn't the best I had to make my own coverslip from a Home Depot plastic screw container.

Scottybgood · Mar 4, 2019

it is really hard to catch much detail, do you have a higher magnification on your scope? Need to get just a bit "closer" to get the details. From image 1 there appears to be some very spherical looking ones, which could be coolia but pretty hard to tell.

Andygator · Mar 5, 2019

Scottybgood said:
it is really hard to catch much detail, do you have a higher magnification on your scope? Need to get just a bit "closer" to get the details. From image 1 there appears to be some very spherical looking ones, which could be coolia but pretty hard to tell.

I order some coverslips. Should be in tomorrow. Then I can get a better image for you. When I zoom in they do appear similar to coolia.

dansreef · Mar 5, 2019

try capturing without a coverslip. just put a sample on the scope and use either the lowest magnification or the mid level....without touching the sample. I never use a cover... then again... I dont need the highest magnification to see what I have.

Andygator · Jun 13, 2019

Well as of 6/12 I can say there is no visible sign of dinos. I went the dirty route NO3 @ 50 and PO4 @ > 0.1. I also dosed silica but didnt measure it. After the dinos disappeared I ended up with an invasion of spirulina and (right or wrong) used Chemiclean to nuke it. The aquarium looks spotless (scary clean) now. I did a 20% water change on Sunday and my skimmer is back to operating normally today. I added some MB7 last night to help replenish the bacteria that might have been killed off by the Chemiclean. Current water parameters are the following:

NO3 = 50 ppm
PO4 = 0.11 ppm
pH = 8.2
Alk = 10.1
Ca = 460
Mg = 1320

Now for the questions...I don’t want to get back in the same situation that caused the dinos but I believe I should reduce the NO3/PO4. Should I do a series of water changes over time to gradually reduce the nutrients and/or increase the skimming and regular additions of MB7? Should I rely on the Redfield ratio when assessing nutrient levels or is there a low limit that I should stay above? Also, one of my torches has retracted over the past week and all of my zoas and palys are closed up. Is this a result of the Chemiclean?