Are these dinos?

[JosephM]

I don’t have a microscope so I can’t really get a close up picture but I’m having these long strands appear and my zoas have been staying closed or not opening all the way. It started when I had a late delivery of corals and they all died. My nitrates are ~10 and phosphates were 0.01 two days ago, dosed 0.02 ppm and added a few snails and 2 fish and tested 0.1 last night (Hanna ULR). Any ideas, this is the only thing I could think are causing my zoas to close. Or it could be adding a cover and lowering intensity and photo period of light plus raising it a few inches. Other params - alk - 9.1, calc - 450, mag 1600 (it’s tested high since I started the tank, started at 1800 when i first started testing, using IO salt). You can see a long strand in the first pic

 

[Ajayabb]

Certainly could be. That’s how mine look when they first took hold of my tank

 

[JosephM]

Certainly could be. That’s how mine look when they first took hold of my tank

i just don’t understand how. I had some dips in nutrients but they’ve remained up for a couple weeks

 

[zalick]

Looks like it to me.

 

[JosephM]

Looks like it to me.

I’ll try and borrow a microscope or purchase one.

 

[zalick]

I’ll try and borrow a microscope or purchase one.

Suck some out with a turkey baster and squirt in to a coffee filter over a white bowl. The water will be clear. After about 10 mins or so if you see stuff congregating then it's dinos.

 

[JosephM]

A

Suck some out with a turkey baster and squirt in to a coffee filter over a white bowl. The water will be clear. After about 10 mins or so if you see stuff congregating then it's dinos.

Alright thank you, I’ll try that tonight. I do want to get a microscope anyways just for fun and the future. What magnification is the best for Dino’s. Is a 1200x microscope good enough?

 

[DeniseAndy]

A

Alright thank you, I’ll try that tonight. I do want to get a microscope anyways just for fun and the future. What magnification is the best for Dino’s. Is a 1200x microscope good enough?

Yep! Overkill even. I have the simple 4x to Oil and it does fine at 40x really.

 

[zalick]

A

Alright thank you, I’ll try that tonight. I do want to get a microscope anyways just for fun and the future. What magnification is the best for Dino’s. Is a 1200x microscope good enough?

1200 is good enough. Cheap hobby ones on Amazon actually work ok

 

[JosephM]

Yep! Overkill even. I have the simple 4x to Oil and it does fine at 40x really.

1200 is good enough. Cheap hobby ones on Amazon actually work ok

Awesome, I’ll get one soon hopefully. I think it’s Dino’s too though because the second I noticed it in my tank the health of my zoas went down.