Algae ID?

[dvgyfresh]

Hello, I think I’m battling Dino’s again after having a tank move (new sand , same rocks plus added a sump). The weird thing is these Dino’s are accompanied by GHA or some weird other algae... I can’t seem to shake them so far and wondering if I can get an ID to better defeat this lol. I don’t have the best pics rn , but you can see the other algae , it kinda of looks like brown GHA , does not blast off rocks and has to be removed. In the first pic you can see it on the left and right rocks. I have pretty stable parameters alk 9, nitrate 10-20ppm , phosphate .2 ppm, ph 8, no ammonia no nitrite , calc is around 410-440 mg 1400. Lights may be too intense , i have 5 orphek or3 90 bars above the tank mounted 12 inches 2 reef day and 3 blue plus running blues for 12 and white for 6.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Have an order from IPSF arriving with miracle mud , hopefully that helps this along

 

[saltyhog]

I don't see anything that screams dinos but I'm on my phone at the moment. What kind of dinos did you have before? Can you get a sample under a microscope for a video?

 

[dvgyfresh]

I don't see anything that screams dinos but I'm on my phone at the moment. What kind of dinos did you have before? Can you get a sample under a microscope for a video?

I can get a better pic later once home, I had osteoporosis before and a uv plus nutrients knocked them out ,I reinstalled the UV into the DT , no microscope unfortunately but the Dino’s occupy my macro algae / rock and some corals now. In the the second pic above the montipora you can see the algae smothering my GSP frag

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like the start of Dinos again. You can do this. Repeat with bacteria and peroxide treatments as before, and just turn off white this time and reduce other colors.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Thanks Man, here’s a better pic showing the Dino’s

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks Man, here’s a better pic showing the Dino’s

Yep - Dino

 

[saltyhog]

I can get a better pic later once home, I had osteoporosis before and a uv plus nutrients knocked them out ,I reinstalled the UV into the DT , no microscope unfortunately but the Dino’s occupy my macro algae / rock and some corals now. In the the second pic above the montipora you can see the algae smothering my GSP frag

How did you ID the previous dino as ostreopsis?

This would be more likely to be ostreopsis again given it's gross appearance. Amphidinium and prorocentrum look different and often focus on the sand, which looks good in your case. Coolia could look like this though.

 

[dvgyfresh]

How did you ID the previous dino as ostreopsis?

This would be more likely to be ostreopsis again given it's gross appearance. Amphidinium and prorocentrum look different and often focus on the sand, which looks good in your case. Coolia could look like this though.

Ye I don’t have a microscope so I can’t diagnose for 100%, but from what I gathered from Dino’s thread it has all characteristics of osteo, my sand bed is very white as it does not touch it. It only goes on rocks / glass / goes into water column at night. I have lost two snails so far

 

[dvgyfresh]

The thing that confuses me this time is that I have high nutrients / algae on rocks . Could it be feeding on silicates from new sand bed/ entirely new surface area in the sump?

 

[saltyhog]

Ye I don’t have a microscope so I can’t diagnose for 100%, but from what I gathered from Dino’s thread it has all characteristics of osteo, my sand bed is very white as it does not touch it. It only goes on rocks / glass / goes into water column at night. I have lost two snails so far

It probably was ostreopsis but coolia can do exactly that too...as well as other pest algaes. All dino's disappear at night....not all go into the water column. I suspect yours do since UV has helped .

The thing that confuses me this time is that I have high nutrients / algae on rocks . Could it be feeding on silicates from new sand bed/ entirely new surface area in the sump?

Low nutrients are not really the "cause" for dinos....they just make for an environment that gives dinos a great advantage. Once you get them you can have them with very high nutrients if you don't have any successful competition for them.

I would highly recommend to invest in a cheap microscope. It could save you a lot of time/headaches going forward. It's also a lot of fun to look at all the cool critters that live in our tanks.

 

[dvgyfresh]

It probably was ostreopsis but coolia can do exactly that too...as well as other pest algaes. All dino's disappear at night....not all go into the water column. I suspect yours do since UV has helped .


Low nutrients are not really the "cause" for dinos....they just make for an environment that gives dinos a great advantage. Once you get them you can have them with very high nutrients if you don't have any successful competition for them.

I would highly recommend to invest in a cheap microscope. It could save you a lot of time/headaches going forward. It's also a lot of fun to look at all the cool critters that live in our tanks.

Yea I’m guessing my move / introducing a new sand bed + new sump allowed the Dino’s to come back due to uninhabited space, I’m hoping to ride it out with high nutrients / UV. My fiancé would kill me if I bought a microscope lol I do kno it would help tho

 

[saltyhog]

Yea I’m guessing my move / introducing a new sand bed + new sump allowed the Dino’s to come back due to uninhabited space, I’m hoping to ride it out with high nutrients / UV. My fiancé would kill me if I bought a microscope lol I do kno it would help tho

You need a different fiance!

I didn't note the part about a new sand bed. Yep, that provided a new, unoccupied space. Hopefully it's still the same UV sensitive species.


If it doesn't work...get the scope. A lot cheaper than losing just one coral.