Dinoflagellates and Vibrant

[ggNoRe]

Unfortunately it looks like I got the case of the dynos! After wondering why my sps frag was dying away I realized my nutrients dropped to 0.00 phosphates 1 nitrate and my rocks quickly became covered in dynos. I have already started increasing feeding heavily as well as tuned down my skimmer and decreased lighting period for my chaeto. I have a bottle of Vibrant sitting around that I never used. Question is should I start dosing this as well or just monitor things closely and hope to beat them without?

I just received 6 new sps frags and I would really hate to lose them!

 

[dwest]

I would not treat the tank with vibrant. You’ve done some good things to increase nutrients. In fact, I would remove the cheato refugium at least for now.

I see a snail in there. If snails are alive then you might not be dealing with dino. Do you have a microscope to help ID?

Your rock looks pretty new. Your tank might just need more time.
I hope those frags are OK. They look nice!

 

[ggNoRe]

I would not treat the tank with vibrant. You’ve done some good things to increase nutrients. In fact, I would remove the cheato refugium at least for now.

I see a snail in there. If snails are alive then you might not be dealing with dino. Do you have a microscope to help ID?

Your rock looks pretty new. Your tank might just need more time.
I hope those frags are OK. They look nice!

Thank you!

I don't own a microscope. Just assuming as nutrients are low and it looks just like the pics I see on google. Slime covered rocks with bubbles trapped inside. I see strands on the water surface as well as a few small strands that get loose in the water column and when they wrap around the coral I can tell the corals do not like it.

I did end up dosing a little Vibrant (about 1/4 of the recommended dose). Also tested phosphates at .03 last night. Unfortunately nitrates are even lower at around .5 - 1. Have some Brightwell Nitrate and phosphate otw but will not dose unless I feel I really need to. Tracking nitrates and phosphates daily. This morning things looked a lot better. New SPS frags doing well. Could just be from lights being off over night. Also plan to not clean glass for a while and just let film algae grow to compete with the dinos.

 

[saltyhog]

If it is dinos, Vibrant will only make it worse IMO. Really important to get a microscopic ID. If you have GAC I would go ahead and run it.....can't harm and if it is a toxic dino may help prevent further coral loss.

 

[ggNoRe]

Got ICP test but sample was taken on 4/4/21

Salinity	30.26 PSU	35.00 PSU	-4.74 PSU		Show
Carbonate hardness	7.56 ° dKH	7.50 ° dKH	+0.06 ° dKH		Show
Set elements
chloride	17362 mg / l	16244 mg / l	+1118 mg / l		Show
sodium	8403 mg / l	9024 mg / l	-620.9 mg / l		Show
magnesium	1518 mg / l	1079 mg / l	+438.7 mg / l		Show
sulfur	929.4 mg / l	754.8 mg / l	+174.6 mg / l		Show
Calcium	439.5 mg / l	345.4 mg / l	+94.16 mg / l		Show
potassium	299.9 mg / l	334.7 mg / l	-34.78 mg / l		Show
bromine	50.58 mg / l	54.97 mg / l	-4.38 mg / l		Show
strontium	7.27 mg / l	6.56 mg / l	+0.71 mg / l		Show
boron	3.72 mg / l	3.61 mg / l	+0.11 mg / l		Show
fluoride	0.72 mg / l	1.07 mg / l	-0.34 mg / l		Show
Trace elements
lithium	216.1 µg / l	139.5 µg / l	+76.66 µg / l		Show
Silicon	168.1 µg / l	82.04 µg / l	+86.03 µg / l		Show
Iodine	19.57 µg / l	53.33 µg / l	-33.76 µg / l		Show
barium	28.94 µg / l	8.20 µg / l	+20.74 µg / l		Show
molybdenum	10.98 µg / l	9.84 µg / l	+1.14 µg / l		Show
nickel	2.33 µg / l	0.41 µg / l	+1.92 µg / l		Show
manganese	nn	0.82 µg / l	-0.82 µg / l		Show
arsenic	nn	1.23 µg / l	-1.23 µg / l		Show
beryllium	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
chrome	nn	0.41 µg / l	-0.41 µg / l		Show
Cobalt	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
iron	4.57 µg / l	0.41 µg / l	+4.16 µg / l		Show
copper	nn	0.41 µg / l	-0.41 µg / l		Show
selenium	nn	0.41 µg / l	-0.41 µg / l		Show
silver	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
Vanadium	nn	1.23 µg / l	-1.23 µg / l		Show
zinc	6.40 µg / l	1.64 µg / l	+4.76 µg / l		Show
tin	25.33 µg / l	0.41 µg / l	+24.92 µg / l		Show
nutrient
nitrate	1.37 mg / l	2.00 mg / l	-0.63 mg / l		Show
phosphorus	7.74 µg / l	12.31 µg / l	-4.57 µg / l		Show
phosphate	0.02 mg / l	0.04 mg / l	-0.01 mg / l		Show
Pollutants
aluminum	7.45 µg / l	0.08 µg / l	+7.37 µg / l		Show
antimony	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
Bismuth	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
lead	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
cadmium	nn	0.16 µg / l	-0.16 µg / l		Show
Lanthanum	nn	0 µg / l	+0 µg / l		Show
Thallium	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
titanium	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
tungsten	nn	0 µg / l	+0 µg / l		Show
mercury	nn	0 µg / l	+0 µg / l		Show

RODI sample showed high in silicon:

Silicon

792.5 µg / l

0 µg / l

+792.5 µg / l

 

[saltyhog]

With your silicone level that high it's even more important to get a microscopic ID. This could just be diatoms or it could be dinos/dinos+diatoms . You will need to add a "silicone buster" to your RO/DI regardless.

 

[ggNoRe]

Yea no doubt. Been having issues with my di filters going bad. Replaced both of them and should be good going forward as far as silicates. Dinos, as expected, were worse when I got home from work today. The gyre I ordered came in. It's blasting dino bubbles everywhere! Overall whether the flow helps fight dinos or not I think overall it will be great for the overall health of my tank and their is a lot better circulation and no dead spots. Turned off reds, greens, and whites from my leds and raised temp slowly over past 2 days from 78-80. Really hope I can stop this infestation in it's tracks soon. As long as it doesn't continue to grow rapidly I should be able to save my corals. But if not things might get grim.