Diatoms or what else?

[aqva]

I’m struggled with amphidinium dino so I start battling them dosing silicates (sponge excel) to cause a diatom bloom
On the back glass there is brown algae growing so I collect some little pieces to observing at the microscope
First thing I noticed is that once inside the container the brown algae will regroup (like dinos)
I put a drop on the glass slide and this is the result:

here you can see how it regroups

More detailed pictures:



I searched online diatoms pictures but they’re kinda symmetrical
I don’t think they’re diatoms, I noticed a sensible diminishing dino population, I only hope they aren’t an another type of dino

what do you think is that?

 

[Jekyl]

@vetteguy53081

 

[vetteguy53081]

Seems like diatoms. Diatoms are a brown algae that typically appear in a reef tank that has just completed its cycle but they can also appear in an established reef tank. They can cover sand, rock, pumps, glass, you name it. Diatoms look ugly but in most cases they are harmless so the key is to not panic when they appear.
Diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also consume dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to jump start a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. The best way to prevent this from happening is to filter water through a RODI unit, although you can still get a diatom bloom when using RODI if the cartridge that removes silicates expires.
Diatoms are typically harmless to a captive reef and can be beaten once their food source expires. Once you put the kibosh on the source, the outbreak should last a couple of weeks so just be patient and it will pass.

For major outbreaks you may want to consider the three day blackout. Diatoms are easily wiped from the glass with a mag float, a turkey baster or a toothbrush can access other areas of the tank. Be prepared for them to re-establish themselves quickly, they are likely to be able to resettle and have exponential growth rates.

To prevent their return, practice good aquarium husbandry by doing regular water changes, keep the substrate clean, don’t overfeed the fish, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and rinse out filter socks and sponges on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.

 

[taricha]

these are diatoms. The "leaf" pattern shape is the chloroplast part. The outline of the cell is much harder to see.
See diatoms like entomoneis for example.

 

[aqva]

these are diatoms. The "leaf" pattern shape is the chloroplast part. The outline of the cell is much harder to see.
See diatoms like entomoneis for example.

That's really good news, I hope I found the right way to get rid of dino.
The "leaf" pattern was making me think they arent diatoms cause online I only found pic of diatoms with "geometric" shape

 

[Polyp Punk]

Any update on your tank? I’m also dosing sponge excel to get rid of Dino’s. Been the hardest battle man. I see an explosion of brown algae on my glass but I don’t have a microscope to confirm if it’s the diatoms or Dino’s growing on the glass. My Dino’s were not growing as much on the glass until I started dosing the silica which is why I’m hoping it’s the diatoms so I’m not touching them. How much silicate are you doing in your tank?

 

[aqva]

Any update on your tank? I’m also dosing sponge excel to get rid of Dino’s. Been the hardest battle man. I see an explosion of brown algae on my glass but I don’t have a microscope to confirm if it’s the diatoms or Dino’s growing on the glass. My Dino’s were not growing as much on the glass until I started dosing the silica which is why I’m hoping it’s the diatoms so I’m not touching them. How much silicate are you doing in your tank?

Sadly my tank is a disaster
I dosed in total a bottle (60 ml) of excel, I had a diatoms bloom but it didn't work cause I still have dinos on sand bed
I don't know if I should have continued dosing it, In my sump I noticed a good amount of sponges growing on glass.
Hair algae starts growing on rocks and now they're going away slowly doing nothing, I also have a lot of cyano but they don't worry me, in case I'll treat them with chemiclean
I also thought to remove slowly the sand bed cause dinos are hiding there
I'm maintaining good values of nutrients and this morning I started a week of lights off and peroxide dosing during night

If this doesn't work I would try another time with silica dosing for a longer period for sure, if this won't work I have a bottle of fauna marin dino-x and if also those method doens't work I'll bleach out everything and restart
The dinos in my tank was my noob mistake, I dosed carbon and bottomed out phosphates... never again

I had brooklynella that killed me a lot of fishes, I was about to throw all away. It was a hard period, it's my first saltwater tank and I have no experience so I won't give up, freshwater in my experience was way easier

 

[Polyp Punk]

I am literally in your exact position bro. Like literally word for word exact. I jus don’t have cyano. Did you test your brown algae on the glass ? I noticed an explosion on my glass of the brown algae but I don’t have a microscope to confirm if it’s the Dino’s or diatoms.

 

[aqva]

I am literally in your exact position bro. Like literally word for word exact. I jus don’t have cyano. Did you test your brown algae on the glass ? I noticed an explosion on my glass of the brown algae but I don’t have a microscope to confirm if it’s the Dino’s or diatoms.

I just took a sample from the front glass and I made a video (sorry for the bad quality)

As you can see I have diatoms (a different type from the first bloom), HGA, cyano and healthy dinos


This is what I have in my tank, every tank is different so I cannot say what are the brown algaes on your tank

 

[Polyp Punk]

I just took a sample from the front glass and I made a video (sorry for the bad quality)

As you can see I have diatoms (a different type from the first bloom), HGA, cyano and healthy dinos


This is what I have in my tank, every tank is different so I cannot say what are the brown algaes on your tank

a pic of your front glass where you took the sample from would help me a little to compare if it looks like the same in my tank.. i cant get a microscope right now so thats my best option lol

 

[aqva]

a pic of your front glass where you took the sample from would help me a little to compare if it looks like the same in my tank.. i cant get a microscope right now so thats my best option lol

Sure

This is the front glass this morning
Sorry for the late reply but I think we have some time delay

you can see mostly HGA, brown algae (diatoms + dino) are less evident in the picture, due to I’m doing the lights off period, fortunately I don’t have corals so I can do it

I forgot this thing: maybe the most rilevante fact that stop me to bleach out everything is that I had same dinos on QT tank, where now I have the rescued fishes, when I set up there were a little dino bloom and now I can’t see nothing of them. They disappeared, this encourages me to continue the fight
In the QT tank I have one rock from the main tank, the only difference is that I don’t have lights (but it arrives direct sun light) and don’t have sand
Probably one mistake it was that I never syphoned the sand bed so dino now can find nutrients from detritus on the sand bed

 

[Polyp Punk]

Sure

This is the front glass this morning
Sorry for the late reply but I think we have some time delay

you can see mostly HGA, brown algae (diatoms + dino) are less evident in the picture, due to I’m doing the lights off period, fortunately I don’t have corals so I can do it

I forgot this thing: maybe the most rilevante fact that stop me to bleach out everything is that I had same dinos on QT tank, where now I have the rescued fishes, when I set up there were a little dino bloom and now I can’t see nothing of them. They disappeared, this encourages me to continue the fight
In the QT tank I have one rock from the main tank, the only difference is that I don’t have lights (but it arrives direct sun light) and don’t have sand
Probably one mistake it was that I never syphoned the sand bed so dino now can find nutrients from detritus on the sand bed

Hey how is the battle going ? I’m starting to see alot of diatoms I believe… my tank is filthy right now. I’m praying the diatoms will overtake everything.. I just can’t tell if it diatoms on the sand or the Dino’s still. Also not sure when I can start cleaning up the tank. Any update on your tank?

 

[aqva]

Hey how is the battle going ? I’m starting to see alot of diatoms I believe… my tank is filthy right now. I’m praying the diatoms will overtake everything.. I just can’t tell if it diatoms on the sand or the Dino’s still. Also not sure when I can start cleaning up the tank. Any update on your tank?

Yesterday was the 10th day of blackout, I observed a sample took from the glass and from the sandbed
On the glass I saw dead HGA, some diatoms and dead cyano no signal of dinos
From the sand bed I saw some detritus, some little piece of dead HGA and no dinos
Sometimes I clean the rocks from dead HGA and today I would clean the glass too

I wouldn't celebrate too early but in one hour of microscope observation I didn't see any dino

*finger crossed*

 

[Dan_P]

I’m struggled with amphidinium dino so I start battling them dosing silicates (sponge excel) to cause a diatom bloom
On the back glass there is brown algae growing so I collect some little pieces to observing at the microscope
First thing I noticed is that once inside the container the brown algae will regroup (like dinos)
I put a drop on the glass slide and this is the result:

here you can see how it regroups

More detailed pictures:



I searched online diatoms pictures but they’re kinda symmetrical
I don’t think they’re diatoms, I noticed a sensible diminishing dino population, I only hope they aren’t an another type of dino

what do you think is that?

Did the slide dry out while taking the picture?

 

[aqva]

Did the slide dry out while taking the picture?

Nope I put algae and water into a glass test tube then with a syringe a put a drop into the slide, It wasn't dry
Those were the first type of diatoms, now I have another type with triangle shape