Dino ID

[Seahorse25]

Does anyone know what type of DINO this is and how to treat it?

 

[taricha]

That's got some features you don't normally see in the hobby.
More pics? Video?
Pic of brown area it came from?

 

[Seahorse25]

Here is a picture of it in the tank. I remove it at sunset and it doesn't come back until 9:30am the next day. It starts out as a dusting and quickly becomes sheets of brown stuff. By midday it has overtaken my entire tank and then I repeat the process. I remove by filtering through a filter sock.

 

[Wampatom]

How are you sure it is a type of dino rather than A type od cyanobacteria?

 

[Seahorse25]

I put it under a microscope and it looks like a dino, and aggregates like a dino

 

[ScottB]

Agree with taricha that is an odd shape. What are your nutrients like? NO3 and PO4.

You could try the basic test:
- Take a sample of the gunk and some tank water
- Shake vigorously in a jar
- Pour this through a coffee filter or similar in a clear glass vessel and leave this under some strong light for an hour

If it clumps back together, that is typically a dino indicator.

What magnification level was this image taken?

 

[Seahorse25]

Attached is a video. Yes, I did the coffee filter test above and it did clump back together. I'm not exactly sure on the magnification but my guess is 2500.

 

[Seahorse25]

Video doesn't work, sorry.

 

[taricha]

That's got some features you don't normally see in the hobby.
More pics? Video?
Pic of brown area it came from?

I should have been clearer.
I'm fairly certain it's a dino, just with some features we don't normally see.

 

[Seahorse25]

New

video attached

 

[Seahorse25]

Dino Video

 

[Robert Binz]

Here is a picture of it in the tank. I remove it at sunset and it doesn't come back until 9:30am the next day. It starts out as a dusting and quickly becomes sheets of brown stuff. By midday it has overtaken my entire tank and then I repeat the process. I remove by filtering through a filter sock.

I don’t think this is Dinos. I get this same stuff when cycling new tanks. I think it’s Cyano or a slimy diatom

 

[Seahorse25]

Another video,

 

[Seahorse25]

The tank is about 6 months old. How do you get rid of diatoms to cyanobacteria? Chemiclean?

 

[ScottB]

It is dinos. It is not cyanobacteria, they look totally different under the microscope. The swim pattern is ostreopsis like, but the shape is a bit more round than typical ostreopsis. Magnification is not high enough to discern species comfortably.
What are your nitrates & phosphate levels?

If you have a UV (1 watt per 3 gallons) run it into and out of display. As slow has you can without overheating the bulb.
Get nitrates and phosphates to 10 and .1 or more.
Do not dose aminos

Only large cell Amphidinium will avoid the UV.

 

[Seahorse25]

It is dinos. It is not cyanobacteria, they look totally different under the microscope. The swim pattern is ostreopsis like, but the shape is a bit more round than typical ostreopsis. Magnification is not high enough to discern species comfortably.
What are your nitrates & phosphate levels?

If you have a UV (1 watt per 3 gallons) run it into and out of display. As slow has you can without overheating the bulb.
Get nitrates and phosphates to 10 and .1 or more.
Do not dose aminos

Only large cell Amphidinium will avoid the UV.

My phosphates are .25 and my nitrates are 0. I also think it is ostreopsis or coolia but I they aren't perfectly spherical so I am going with ostreopsis. I have tried to manually dose nitrates with bright well neonitrates chemical but I can't get a reading. After dosing more than half the bottle I got a reading once and then it disappeared the next day. I have been using UV but they are mostly in the sand bed. I will try to turkey baste them around the tank. I have one UV in the sump but it had no affect then added a second to the main display and it seems to help but I they still won't die.

 

[ScottB]

My phosphates are .25 and my nitrates are 0. I also think it is ostreopsis or coolia but I they aren't perfectly spherical so I am going with ostreopsis. I have tried to manually dose nitrates with bright well neonitrates chemical but I can't get a reading. After dosing more than half the bottle I got a reading once and then it disappeared the next day. I have been using UV but they are mostly in the sand bed. I will try to turkey baste them around the tank. I have one UV in the sump but it had no affect then added a second to the main display and it seems to help but I they still won't die.

I know many have used neonitrate with good result. Try to get a different nitrate test kit. I now use Nyos kit and prefer it over Red Sea pro nitrate.

@taricha you have any reason to think these are amphidinium? Hanging out in the sand bed and all?

 

[taricha]

@taricha you have any reason to think these are amphidinium? Hanging out in the sand bed and all?

people trying to trip us up lately with weird clues and special cases!
the pic in post 1 shows an asymmetric cell that clearly has a theca (armor) in fact, it has texture on the theca that you sometimes see in electron microscopy of prorocentrum. There are some prorocentrum types that are asymmetric, though we don't see them in the hobby.
But the mass of cells on the sand, video in post 11 shows symmetric cells tightly hugging the sand like often happens in Large cell amphidinium or the types of prorocentrum we usually see. I don't think whatever is in the first post is the issue.

I think it's most likely prorocentrum of some kind. The sand pics show some slight whispy-ness above the sand grains.