Amphidinium Dinoflagellate Treatment Methods

[Jason mack]

I recently got a microscope and confirmed that I have Amphidinium . So I would like to say thank you to everyone in this thread for treatment options and their experiences.

How does one know if they have small cell or large. Not that I am sure it matters all that much.

Have sponge excel on the way and will start an aggressive export schedule. I will also does NO3 as it and PO4 crashed on me (my fault, went super agressive on this tank at export and ended up too clean I think). Mine are super heavy on the sand sand (Except where my Goby turns it over) and a bit on the glass. Thankfully it hasn't messed with any corals yet.

If your dosing something like Triton or trace elements..I'd stop that as well ..as dinos will feed of the trace elements ...is my experience...

 

[Entz]

Thanks. I haven't been dosing them yet but I will make sure I am not adding anything more than I need to.

 

[taricha]

How does one know if they have small cell or large. Not that I am sure it matters all that much.

Large cell are~ 50+ microns. Small cell are like 10 to 20 microns.
Small cell are faster, better swimmers and go into the water somewhat.
Also that body shape looks more like small cell.

 

[Entz]

Large cell are~ 50+ microns. Small cell are like 10 to 20 microns.
Small cell are faster, better swimmers and go into the water somewhat.
Also that body shape looks more like small cell.

Awesome thank you. I was surprised by how much and quickly they moved.

 

[taricha]

Awesome thank you. I was surprised by how much and quickly they moved.

And for those curious, when I said "body shape" I meant more rounded and the "nose" on the front curves more sharply than is typical in the large cell type.

 

[taricha]

Dan_P is trying to grow cyano mats for test purposes. he created fairly normal growing conditions and things were going slow, so he added some ammonia - and amphidinium dinos took over the sand sample.
see link here
I don't have it fully worked out, but it's something to ponder when we consider what it is that sandbed dinos are seeking in the sand.

 

[Chad_P]

All sounds great. I'd start getting aggressive with export next. Skim hard, grow macro, vacuum etc.

Seeing more diversity in the sandbed and what I think are diatoms. Also some small worm-like things and what look like really small dinos moving fast (assuming they aren’t Dino’s)

I’m pouring in sponge excel daily trying to get diatoms after two water changes.

 

[Entz]

I am starting to see some diversity. I believe these are diatoms (hopefully)? Sorry for the somewhat blurry images, my printed camera mount needs some tweaking.

 

[David_Cool]

Has anyone gotten to the point where they began debating taking all of their sand out and just having a glass bottom? Do you think this would get rid of these guys?

 

[OpenOcean33]

Has anyone gotten to the point where they began debating taking all of their sand out and just having a glass bottom? Do you think this would get rid of these guys?

I am at this desicion right now not sure what to do, but probably depends on type you have.

 

[dwest]

Has anyone gotten to the point where they began debating taking all of their sand out and just having a glass bottom? Do you think this would get rid of these guys?

I removed my sand (as well as increased nitrates and phosphates and ran UV). I would try dosing silicates first before removing sand if I could do it all over again. Removing sand definitely helped eliminating amphidinium however.

 

[Entz]

I have definitely considered removing all the sand but I also have reasonably well behaved sand sifting Goby I am fond of. So that is the last resort step for me. I have considered removing all in the heavily infected areas and washing it though.

 

[OpenOcean33]

I have definitely considered removing all the sand but I also have reasonably well behaved sand sifting Goby I am fond of. So that is the last resort step for me. I have considered removing all in the heavily infected areas and washing it though.

I dont know if I'm right so this is just my theory if u wash the sand bed the dinos will be gone, but so will all the beneficial stuff. So if you put it back in there would be nothing to outcompete the dinos. Just my thought on the subject since one of the core treatments is biodiversity

 

[Entz]

I dont know if I'm right so this is just my theory if u wash the sand bed the dinos will be gone, but so will all the beneficial stuff. So if you put it back in there would be nothing to outcompete the dinos. Just my thought on the subject since one of the core treatments is biodiversity

That does sense to me and is a consideration. My hope would be that Diatoms/Cyano/etc would get there first and establish themselves but it is a risk of making things worse for sure. Lack of biodiversity is fueling this and letting them do what they want.

 

[OpenOcean33]

That does sense to me and is a consideration. My hope would be that Diatoms/Cyano/etc would get there first and establish themselves but it is a risk of making things worse for sure. Lack of biodiversity is fueling this and letting them do what they want.

Have you tried silicate dosing ?

 

[Entz]

yeah that is what I am doing now, along with dosing to help get my phosphates back up. I am seeing diatoms now which is awesome but they are still vastly outnumbered (and the buggers are spending more time on the glass now lol)

 

[OpenOcean33]

yeah that is what I am doing now, along with dosing to help get my phosphates back up. I am seeing diatoms now which is awesome but they are still vastly outnumbered (and the buggers are spending more time on the glass now lol)

The dinos or diatoms are on the glass ? If its dinos getcha sample it may be a different strain as mi e will switch between 3 types. And good keep dosing those silicates that's good sign

 

[Entz]

The dinos or diatoms are on the glass ? If its dinos getcha sample it may be a different strain as mi e will switch between 3 types. And good keep dosing those silicates that's good sign

Both. That picture from earlier today (Right side) was from my overflow. Not sure if its just from getting kicked up by powerheads/fish/me cleaning and getting caught in other things or its moving on its own.

It wouldn't surprise me if I have multiple types. I am thinking of running UV as I have noticed my filter floss picks up a fair amount of them (or at least it looks similar to the mats on the sand).

 

[David_Cool]

I've been dosing silicates for about 3 maybe 4 weeks now. I just made up a solution to dose phosphates today. I'm not really sure how high I should be dosing phosphate. I only have one nem and a few fish, other than snails and crabs. I figured I'd start off with .01ppm phosphate a week and go from there.

 

[OpenOcean33]

Both. That picture from earlier today (Right side) was from my overflow. Not sure if its just from getting kicked up by powerheads/fish/me cleaning and getting caught in other things or its moving on its own.

It wouldn't surprise me if I have multiple types. I am thinking of running UV as I have noticed my filter floss picks up a fair amount of them (or at least it looks similar to the mats on the sand).

Oh sorry I didn't see that picture above, im not a good id person as I can only pick out ostreopsis with accuracy the rest are kind of similar to me. I think someone else could help look @taricha @dwest,