Dino ID. Looks like Amphidinium

[vetteguy53081]

I turned off the skimmer for the first 4 days and ran an air pump into the return to pump O2 in the tank during those days. Basically an O2 scrub during the first 4. Indeed changed out the socks every day but later read that a 200 micron sock won’t pick them out of the water. Which is why I went out and bought a 5 micron sock for the siphon removal. And my Dinos stay off the rocks and glass and stay on the sand bed.

Sandbed requires blackout and the CO2 will help Ph bt not dino. You want to collect as many cells as you can hence the peroxide which works as an oxidizer

 

[Lavey29]

Got pics of your sandbed?

 

[Ziggy17]

Almost lost track of the thread original purpose was for ID. I looked up a bunch of Dino sp on algae ID. I’m not sure it’s procentrum. See images. This is why I’m leaning toward Amphidinium . My dinos are the bottom image.

 

[Ziggy17]

Got pics of your sandbed?

I’ll snap one tomorrow morning. Just looks like rust. No snot bubbles or carpeting.

 

[taricha]

Almost lost track of the thread original purpose was for ID. I looked up a bunch of Dino sp on algae ID. I’m not sure it’s procentrum. See images. This is why I’m leaning toward Amphidinium . My dinos are the bottom image.

Correct. This is a form of large cell amphidinium.

 

[Ziggy17]

Got pics of your sandbed?

As you can see, it’s not super out of control at this point, just annoying on parts of the sand bed.
I bumped my PO4 up to .18 ppt and I’ll do my best to keep it in the .15 range. I don’t have Si but I did have left over Marco rock, so I added a bunch of new pieces in the fuge to help add some Si for a diatom takeover.

 

[Ziggy17]

Correct. This is a form of large cell amphidinium.

Thank you sir. This strain has a very distinctive Darth Vader type mouth at the top. Kinda looks cool under the scope, but what a PITA……

 

[Lavey29]

As you can see, it’s not super out of control at this point, just annoying on parts of the sand bed.
I bumped my PO4 up to .18 ppt and I’ll do my best to keep it in the .15 range. I don’t have Si but I did have left over Marco rock, so I added a bunch of new pieces in the fuge to help add some Si for a diatom takeover.

Really seems minor at this point. I would siphon sand daily into a 5 micron sock and maybe squirt some MB clean onto the sand once a week. I also think pods are great for cleaning the sand. I've got some patches in low flow areas of my sand here and there like you. Although not perfect to look at it hasn't impacted my corals or inhabitants at all so I just let nature run its course and see what the next tank evolution looks like. You have an open layout so siphon should be easy but only do like 25% per day in case any gas is released.

 

[Uncle99]

I agree, however I see that swing almost every other day. Some days it’s .09 others it goes down to .03. I test every morning at 7am with a Hanna checker. I think the swings are related to my phyto dosing regiment.
I should add that I’ve been dosing microbacter7 for 2 months daily. 15 mls per dose. I’ve also dosed Dr Tim’s one and only to establish various bacteria To the system.

It’s a numbers game , you keep the Dino’s low as possible while your good guys are populating through stable waters and nutrient availability.

They will be stubborn, but in the end, they lose.

 

[Lavey29]

It’s a numbers game , you keep the Dino’s low as possible while your good guys are populating through stable waters and nutrient availability.

They will be stubborn, but in the end, they lose.

Agreed, they lose in the end but never actually leave the tank huh. They just lie in wait ready to strike again when a moment of weakness is detected.

 

[Uncle99]

Agreed, they lose in the end but never actually leave the tank huh. They just lie in wait ready to strike again when a moment of weakness is detected.

Good point!

 

[Ziggy17]

Good point!

It’s super weird how they arrived in the first place. they didn’t hitchhike to the tank, they literally just appeared.

I used dry rock and dry sand. I hadn’t added anything until the 3rd month, but they had already arrived and thrived Before I added the first 2 fish which were my clowns… I was making my own RODI water, so really seems they appear out of thin air, like diatoms do. So every tank must have them, it’s just a question of biodiversity, nutrients that determine if they proliferate or not.

 

[Uncle99]

It’s super weird how they arrived in the first place. they didn’t hitchhike to the tank, they literally just appeared.

I used dry rock and dry sand. I hadn’t added anything until the 3rd month, but they had already arrived and thrived Before I added the first 2 fish which were my clowns… I was making my own RODI water, so really seems they appear out of thin air, like diatoms do. So every tank must have them, it’s just a question of biodiversity, nutrients that determine if they proliferate or not.

No clue as to source, but I see them appear almost overnight if conditions favor them. They seem to enjoy unstable waters with 0 nitrate and/or phosphate. The good guy stuff likes stable water chemistry and reasonable nutrient availability. Then over time, they outcompete the bads for territory.

The first time I thought they were just there forever, but, about a month or so into my daily removal, I noticed they were not as much, then over weeks, they just go less and less.

Haven’t seen them in over 3 years now.

 

[Ziggy17]

No clue as to source, but I see them appear almost overnight if conditions favor them. They seem to enjoy unstable waters with 0 nitrate and/or phosphate. The good guy stuff likes stable water chemistry and reasonable nutrient availability. Then over time, they outcompete the bads for territory.

The first time I thought they were just there forever, but, about a month or so into my daily removal, I noticed they were not as much, then over weeks, they just go less and less.

Haven’t seen them in over 3 years now.

There’s a happy ending without having to tear down a tank or do a chemical nuke to get rid of them. It’s just patience, that seems to be the silver bullet for them. Fix the nutrient issue and then wait. I read posts about doing RIP cleans and using Dino X or vibrant and other drastic methods… but these guys exists in abundance in the ocean, but you don’t see people pulling out all the sand and rocks from the ocean to start from scratch. Mine came because I was told that zero phosphates was a good thing, and once the tank cycled and PO4 was still zero, it was Dinopalooza…. Ahh well, live and learn, and thanks for sharing your positive outcome.

 

[vetteguy53081]

There’s a happy ending without having to tear down a tank or do a chemical nuke to get rid of them. It’s just patience, that seems to be the silver bullet for them. Fix the nutrient issue and then wait. I read posts about doing RIP cleans and using Dino X or vibrant and other drastic methods… but these guys exists in abundance in the ocean, but you don’t see people pulling out all the sand and rocks from the ocean to start from scratch. Mine came because I was told that zero phosphates was a good thing, and once the tank cycled and PO4 was still zero, it was Dinopalooza…. Ahh well, live and learn, and thanks for sharing your positive outcome.

When we see zero readings, automatically we assume this is the cause but by the time you see zero numbers, its because the dino has consumed the po4 and no3 and are multiplying and in turn many dose no3 and po4 to bring numbers up not realizing they are feeding these flagellates even more.
Its biological deficiencies that are causing the dino structure
I also just saw your better images of cells and agree its Large cell Amphidinium

 

[Ziggy17]

When we see zero readings, automatically we assume this is the cause but by the time you see zero numbers, its because the dino has consumed the po4 and no3 and are multiplying and in turn many dose no3 and po4 to bring numbers up not realizing they are feeding these flagellates even more.
Its biological deficiencies that are causing the dino structure
I also just saw your better images of cells and agree its Large cell Amphidinium

Agreed, unfortunately during cycling, i didn’t bother checking PO4, just focussed on my NO2 NO3 and NH3. once I figured out the brown wasn’t diatoms, the Dinos we’re having orgies all over the place..

And I appreciate you taking the time to ID.