Dino/cyano ID

[CRABDADDY]

Hello,

Been struggling for a few months with what I thought was cyano. I recently treated the tank with chemiclean, which seemingly had no effect whatsoever on the stuff. Could someone tell me if this might actually be dinos?

 

[glb]

The first pic looks like cyano but the second looks like dinos to me. Dosing Chemiclean requires a big water change after. If it’s dinos, I don’t think Chemiclean will work. I have plenty of experience with cyano, dinos not so much. Hopefully someone else can chime in to help you treat it if it’s dinos. Good luck!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello,

Been struggling for a few months with what I thought was cyano. I recently treated the tank with chemiclean, which seemingly had no effect whatsoever on the stuff. Could someone tell me if this might actually be dinos?

This may be diatoms and not cyano or dino. best is to blow loose with a turkey baster and siphon all up.
See how soon it returns and what color it is.
Generally low phos will contribute to dino whereas High phos will contribute to Cyano

 

[CRABDADDY]

So, my phosphates were high (0.35) a couple months ago. Reduced it down to 0 with GFO. Phosphates are at 0.02 right now and have been in the 0.01-0.03 range for a month or so. If I blow it away with a turkey baster it's back within a few hours. These pictures were taken about 24 hours after I fully siphoned the sand until it was white. In the first pic, under blues it looks reddish, under whites in the second pic it looks brown.

 

[CRABDADDY]

Any other opinions on this? I'm not 100% sure what I'm dealing with here and I'd like to get an ID before I start planning on what I need to do to address it. Thank you to anyone willing to assist!

 

[LeftyReefer]

Any chance you have a microscope?

 

[Reeferbadness]

Hi there, first thing is don't panic. Chemiclean does not work on Dino's and should only be used as a last resort for cyano. I have 2 tanks (180g and 200g) and have had my share of both dino's and cyano in both tanks. Best is to blast with turkey baster regularly and siphon out if possible. Keep an eye on PHos as well as other parameters (no **** right) and possibly increase flow in the tank. A little cyno isn't the end of the world, same with some dino's. For dino's, if really bad and you don't have a refugium, try using Vibrant. You can also add a UV sterilizer to help keep them (and Ich along with other plagues) at bay.

 

[CRABDADDY]

I unfortunately don't have a microscope. I've heard it's worthwhile getting a cheap one. I might look into that. If it helps, it sort of clumps together when I blow it off the sand.

I've been doing daily manual removal, although I had covid a few weeks ago and fell behind because of how sick I was. The manual removal does seem to make some difference if I do it daily or multiple times a day, but it still regrows very quickly.

I do have a very cheap uv sterilizer. I'm not sure if it's garbage, or if it's helping. I heard from someone it's not really worth it unless you get a good one.

 

[CRABDADDY]

As for flow, I had 2 powerheads running, but I think it was a bit much for my LPS. I removed one of them a couple days ago and they look happier. Not ideal if this is cyano, but it'll have to do.

I did use chemiclean about a month ago and it did seem to help reduce the gunk in the tank, but this time around it didn't have any noticable effect. The stuff that's in there looks the same, so I don't think it's a new algae/bacteria.

 

[Screwgunner]

Take a turkey baster and suck some up put in a glass and shake it up to separate the cells put in a window with sun light if it clings back together you have dinos.