Amphidinium Dinoflagellate Treatment Methods

[Semper.Reefing]

Ive attempted to remove Amphidinium for a few months now. Ive done a few routines and over the past few months added a lot of bio diversity to my tank. It seems no matter what i do they come back. Ive nearly vacuumed out a third of my sand bed. Im curious if anyone has taken out all their sand and had good results. If so, did you add sand back? I plan on dosing Si as soon as i can get some as well.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

I removed al my sand and added some live rock and cleaned the rock daily with a turkey blaster. I also added biopellets; my dino’s seemed to be gone but I’m still waiting to add my sand back.
Removing the sand cured 90% of my problem.

Did you ever add your sand back? Did your Dinos come back?

 

[Semper.Reefing]

So an update to my Amp battle. Been dosing silicate for about 2 weeks. I’m up to 45 drops a day with a .25 ish ppm range on the Salifert kit. I’m for sure seeing diatoms starting to take over in some parts of my sand bed. I’m not cleaning my glass anymore and hopefully it’ll speed things up. I’ve also been feeding phytoplankton from algae barn along with some other beneficial bacteria from them. I’ve also been dosing nitrates as mine were bottomed out. Finally after a bottle of Neo Nitro and a week of dosing “Seed” I’m starting to read 5ppm nitrate. I’m going to continue to raise them to about 10ppm. My phosphates have been steady around .47 which I’m leaving alone until I get other things in check.

fish are happy and corals seem to be doing good.


you can see the front of the tank is the light brown dusting now vs the side pic where it’s dark brown where I believe the Dino’s still are.

Are you using spongexcel? How many drops did you initially start with and how much did you ramp up a week?

 

[Cwentz758]

Are you using spongexcel? How many drops did you initially start with and how much did you ramp up a week?

yes I used spongeexcel from Brightwell, I started with 5 then went to 15 and didn’t notice and change on my Salifert test then bumped to 30. Noticed .1 on the test then .25 after a week but I wasn’t getting a diatom bloom so I hit it with 10ML a few days and diatoms went crazy.
I let them stay on the glass for a few days before I couldn’t look at it anymore. But after a few days my SPS sticks started dying FAST I lost a birds nest in days and the other followed suit a week later. My zoas and GSP look good. My hammers look ok they arnt as full as they used to be but they’re out.

once my SPS started dying I quit dosing the silicate. I did a water change, and I was like I would rather deal with brown sand than kill my tank. So I’ve just been dosing my ALK and Nitrates to keep them up and now it’s been about a month, I’m seeing less and less dark brown sand. Still have diatom bloom though without dosing.

I’m also seeing the coralline making a comeback on the rock which makes me happy.

so my after thoughts were.
1. Did I really need to dose SI or anything at all (except NO3 and AlK) I tried algae barn stuff and SEED.
2 maybe I should have just got the Nitrates detectable since I believe they bottomed out causing the Dino’s in the first place. Then let the tank recover on its own (if it would actually do that)

 

[Semper.Reefing]

yes I used spongeexcel from Brightwell, I started with 5 then went to 15 and didn’t notice and change on my Salifert test then bumped to 30. Noticed .1 on the test then .25 after a week but I wasn’t getting a diatom bloom so I hit it with 10ML a few days and diatoms went crazy.
I let them stay on the glass for a few days before I couldn’t look at it anymore. But after a few days my SPS sticks started dying FAST I lost a birds nest in days and the other followed suit a week later. My zoas and GSP look good. My hammers look ok they arnt as full as they used to be but they’re out.

once my SPS started dying I quit dosing the silicate. I did a water change, and I was like I would rather deal with brown sand than kill my tank. So I’ve just been dosing my ALK and Nitrates to keep them up and now it’s been about a month, I’m seeing less and less dark brown sand. Still have diatom bloom though without dosing.

I’m also seeing the coralline making a comeback on the rock which makes me happy.

so my after thoughts were.
1. Did I really need to dose SI or anything at all (except NO3 and AlK) I tried algae barn stuff and SEED.
2 maybe I should have just got the Nitrates detectable since I believe they bottomed out causing the Dino’s in the first place. Then let the tank recover on its own (if it would actually do that)

Thanks for the feedback. I’ve been dosing 20ml of NO3 daily and still around 10ppm. PO4 tested at .08 last night. My Alk has been stable around 8.3 the past week. I still may give the spongexcel a **** to induce a diatom bloom. I’ve already lost all of my birds eat and montipora so I don’t have much else to lose at this point.

 

[Cwentz758]

Thanks for the feedback. I’ve been dosing 20ml of NO3 daily and still around 10ppm. PO4 tested at .08 last night. My Alk has been stable around 8.3 the past week. I still may give the spongexcel a **** to induce a diatom bloom. I’ve already lost all of my birds eat and montipora so I don’t have much else to lose at this point.

Ya once the bloom started there’s been no need. I have to wipe the glass every morning.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Need some advice. I’ve done a couple Dino treatments. The last one I did knocked them back pretty good (so I thought). Few days later they came creeping back. The first time after a treatment my NO3 spiked to 20ppm then bottomed our along with PO4 and they came back in full force. After this treatment I started to dose NO3. I may have over down it because it’s around 60ppm with .18ppm PO4. They say “raise your nutrients” but I know there’s more to it. Im going to start dosing spongexcel on Thursday when it comes in. Should I vacuum the Dino’s that came back?

i also borrowed a microscope from a friend but it’s only 10x and I can’t get a solid ID. I ordered a new one on amazon. I do believe I have amphidium.

Can anyone give me an idea on what I should do? Small water change? What until my spongexcel gets in? Not dosing anymore NO3 until it comes down a little as I’ve been checking it everyday.

 

[vtecintegra]

Started with dry rock and was at zero on phosphate, 2 on nitrate. 130 gallon tank. Mine had completely taken over the rock and sand. Frustration reached its peak and I declared war. I siphoned out the sand, started dosing nitrate and phosphate, bought 10# of live rock, and dumped in about 20 ml of water glass. The sand removal made a big hit against them. It stunk and looked like a swamp. I can still see some with a microscope, but way fewer numbers now. I've got mostly diatoms and a long skinny cell brown algae. Letting the system drop down to .1/10 and for the water glass to be consumed. At that point I'll know if the battle has been won when the diatoms and algae subside. Oh, I put in 13 banded trocus. They do a good job where every they are eating, but I could use another 10. I also scrub the rocks with a sonic scrubber battery powered brush.

Many so no water change, it fuels them with trace elements. I tend to believe they need to be out competed with diatoms, algae, or bacteria that may possibly need trace elements also. So I level the playing field and have been doing water changes.

 

[unklez]

Is this amphidinium dino? Used my friend dandon's toy microscope.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Started with dry rock and was at zero on phosphate, 2 on nitrate. 130 gallon tank. Mine had completely taken over the rock and sand. Frustration reached its peak and I declared war. I siphoned out the sand, started dosing nitrate and phosphate, bought 10# of live rock, and dumped in about 20 ml of water glass. The sand removal made a big hit against them. It stunk and looked like a swamp. I can still see some with a microscope, but way fewer numbers now. I've got mostly diatoms and a long skinny cell brown algae. Letting the system drop down to .1/10 and for the water glass to be consumed. At that point I'll know if the battle has been won when the diatoms and algae subside. Oh, I put in 13 banded trocus. They do a good job where every they are eating, but I could use another 10. I also scrub the rocks with a sonic scrubber battery powered brush.

Many so no water change, it fuels them with trace elements. I tend to believe they need to be out competed with diatoms, algae, or bacteria that may possibly need trace elements also. So I level the playing field and have been doing water changes.

Did you vacuum all of your sand out?

 

[taricha]

Is this amphidinium dino? Used my friend dandon's toy microscope.

I don't see any dino cells there?

 

[vtecintegra]

Did you vacuum all of your sand out?

All of it.

 

[Chris Wells]

Hey ALL, Just received new microscope to ID dinos. This looks like amphidinium based on ID chart created by @taricha ..thank you for that.
Please confirm ID.
I raised No3 and P04 and quit changing socks a few weeks ago already and just ordered SpongeExcel. They are not too bad yet and haven't got any worse since I elevated nutrients. I am running UV 12 hours nightly just because I have it, even though it sounds like it may be of no use for this type if I am right.

Question: I have been turkey basting sand at night to try to get them into the water column to possibly run thru UV. Should I leave them alone and just add the Silicate dosing?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[bevo5]

hey all. My microscope really sucks but I was wondering if anyone could help with an Id. I feel like I’m battling these suckers and I want to make sure.

My nitrates are between 3-5 and phos is .08. I ordered a silicate test which will come in tomorrow. Pending the positive id, my plan is to get nitrates up around 10? And raise phos? Is that the standard first step now?

I’m mostly seeing it on sand but some brown patches on rocks and today for the first time I saw some stringy bubbly stuff - which is freaking me out.

Tank is all lps and fish. How dangerous is this stuff to fish? Thanks all.

 

[bevo5]

And would someone be kind enough to link to the product y’all are using to dose silicates? I’m very confused by this as water glass seems to be pretty industrial? I just want to use the right thing! Thanks.

 

[vtecintegra]

Sodium Silicate 4 Ounces 1 Bottle

The item for sale is 4 Ounces (113 Grams) of Sodium Silicate (Na2 + SiO2 + H2O). Sodium Silicate, also known as Water Glass, is 41% Sodium Silcate and 59% distilled water. For dry Silica Gel, check out our other listings. Our bottles are made of durable P

www.loudwolf.com

I used that. Pure and cheap. Probably should use a Hanna to monitor the level, but I didn't.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

And would someone be kind enough to link to the product y’all are using to dose silicates? I’m very confused by this as water glass seems to be pretty industrial? I just want to use the right thing! Thanks.

Technical Grade Sodium Silicate Solution or Water Glass, 16oz for sale. Buy from The Science Company

Sodium silicate (water glass) is a clear, colorless liquid with a viscosity of 42 degrees Baume. Used in soaps, detergents, adhesives and in waterproofing.

www.sciencecompany.com

This is what I ordered as recommended by Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[bevo5]

Hey thanks - before I checked back in this thread I ordered some SpongExcel.

I'm hoping it's just an overpriced version of what y'all posted. Should I put it aside and just go with one of the two listed above?

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Hey thanks - before I checked back in this thread I ordered some SpongExcel.

I'm hoping it's just an overpriced version of what y'all posted. Should I put it aside and just go with one of the two listed above?

I wet with Spongexcel becuase it was on amazon prime and i could get it quick. I ordered 32oz of the product in the link i posted above for back up when i run out of spongexcel.

 

[paulsz]

It looks like I have small and large cell variations of this.

For the small cell, could UV be the answer? And then for the large cell just do some manual removal and raise nutrients in the tank?