Dinos killing corals. What do I do?

[Courtney Dudoussat]

Okay, I have out of control dinoflagellates. What do I do? Should I try phyto or go straight to emptying the tank and scrubbing it all?
I’m pretty sure my Xenia is dead and isn’t coming back. I lost my lawnmower blenny. Tank was set up in September, moved to the living room in December. There’s weren’t any signs of diatoms until the Dino’s popped up, but I did have cyano and used chemiclean to get rid of the cyano.
I keep getting mixed infor on whether or not to do a water change... I’m going out of mind with this

 

[Billldg]

#reefsquad

 

[saltyhog]

I share your pain Courtney.

What are your current parameters....especially your nitrate and phosphate (include what test you are using for these)? Do you have access to a microscope? Have you confirmed the diagnosis of dinos previously?

Raising nutrients to NO3 5-10, PO4 around 0.1 certainly is recommended.

Microscopic pictures are important not only to confirm the diagnosis but to identify the species. Different species have some differences in what seems to work for them. Many get in the water column at night and are susceptible to UV light.

Anything you can do to increase biodiversity is thought to be helpful (pods, bacterial cultures, etc.). Have you posted in or read the first page of this thread in the Nuisance Algae forum? https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/

 

[Courtney Dudoussat]

I share your pain Courtney.

What are your current parameters....especially your nitrate and phosphate (include what test you are using for these)? Do you have access to a microscope? Have you confirmed the diagnosis of dinos previously?

Raising nutrients to NO3 5-10, PO4 around 0.1 certainly is recommended.

Microscopic pictures are important not only to confirm the diagnosis but to identify the species. Different species have some differences in what seems to work for them. Many get in the water column at night and are susceptible to UV light.

Anything you can do to increase biodiversity is thought to be helpful (pods, bacterial cultures, etc.). Have you posted in or read the first page of this thread in the Nuisance Algae forum? https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/

I will test again but when I last tested (a week ago?) nitrates were really high, around 50ppm- using Red Sea test kit. I don’t have a test for phosphates or a microscope but I’m 99% sure it’s dinos. Looks like brown hair algae with lots of bubbles. It almost disappears when lights are out for a few hours and then reappears when lights come back on. This tank doesn’t have a sump, I have free floating chaeto in it though and I’ve seen a few pods crawling in the sand. I was thinking of doing the ICP test but I’m not sure how much longer my tank has and that can take a few weeks
I turned on the whites to take this pic

 

[saltyhog]

Does it blow off the rocks easily with a turkey baster? Is it on the sand?

The part on top of the rock doesn't look like just dinos to me...could be hair algae plus dinos. That web like looking stuff on the lower rock does look like dinos but other things could appear that way too. The fact that it goes away at night could be dinos (I know from experience ostreopsis can do that) but other things can do that as well.

Let's see if one of our resident dino experts can help.

@reeferfoxx

 

[Courtney Dudoussat]

Does it blow off the rocks easily with a turkey baster? Is it on the sand?

The part on top of the rock doesn't look like just dinos to me...could be hair algae plus dinos. That web like looking stuff on the lower rock does look like dinos but other things could appear that way too. The fact that it goes away at night could be dinos (I know from experience ostreopsis can do that) but other things can do that as well.

Let's see if one of our resident dino experts can help.

@reeferfoxx

This is 9 hours after lights out. Some parts come off the rock easy but not the stringy stuff

 

[Hemmdog]

I had the same issue a month ago and I set up my tank in September as well. It’s almost all gone now. Do not add chemicals at any sight of something off. That could of wiped out some micro fauna that was previously competing with your dinos. Now they have no competition.

 

[evoreefer1320]

Any quick fixes with dino's only seems to make them worse. I had luck with running UV that kept them away for awhile. Then a different type of Dino that didn't go into the water at night came in. The UV didn't help with this type at all. One thing i think anyone that has delt with them before will agree that algae is your friend. Stop skimmer and water changes up your feeding. Once algae comes in they will slowly go away it will take some time though. Best of Luck!

 

[RMS18]

You could try this link - some are making way using Ulva Seaweed

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...tuca-be-the-answer.528649/page-2#post-5501093

I can tell you from experience, i had a really bad Dino outbreak in a past system. I spent 6-8 months "managing" it, i tried it all even bleach dosing. In the end i torn it all down and started from scratch and that was the best decision i made. I had a strain of dinos that mainly occupied the sand and was resistant to h202, dino-x, metro, increased po3 and po4, black out, UV and like i stated above bleach.

 

[O'l Salty]

I'm not convinced you have Dino's. But if you do I would suggest running some carbon because Dino's can be toxic and kill corals and fish. I used a UV sterilizer and my Dino's disappeared within a couple days. Your best bet is to get a microscope to determine if it is Dino's and what type they are.

 

[Aquatic Bobs]

I'm pretty sure I'm having the same exact problem with my tank. I have this brown slimy algae that is growing all over everything. Just started 5 days ago and keeps getting worse everyday in my 75 gallon tank. I also have no sump but I do have a Cascade canister filter and a hang on back protein skimmer. My tank is about 4 months old and some people are telling me it's just part of the natural cycling of the tank but the longer I let it go the worse it keeps getting! I keep blasting it off my rocks and coral but obviously it has no place to go other than to settle back on top of them. I just ordered some gfo and a hang on back Tumblr to hopefully remove excess phosphates and nitrates. I've heard people say that you need to feed your fish and coral more to produce more beneficial bacteria that competes with the algae and I've also heard people say you need to stop feeding. I've heard people say that you need to turn your lights off for 3 days and I've heard people say that it doesn't matter cuz you're not addressing the actual issue. So I'm kind of stumped myself but I'll let you know if I find out anything that works especially the gfo.. by the way I set up a 29 gallon saltwater tank a few days after my 75 gallon and so far the only algae that's grown in there is a little bit of green algae on the glass.

 

[O'l Salty]

I'm pretty sure I'm having the same exact problem with my tank. I have this brown slimy algae that is growing all over everything. Just started 5 days ago and keeps getting worse everyday in my 75 gallon tank. I also have no sump but I do have a Cascade canister filter and a hang on back protein skimmer. My tank is about 4 months old and some people are telling me it's just part of the natural cycling of the tank but the longer I let it go the worse it keeps getting! I keep blasting it off my rocks and coral but obviously it has no place to go other than to settle back on top of them. I just ordered some gfo and a hang on back Tumblr to hopefully remove excess phosphates and nitrates. I've heard people say that you need to feed your fish and coral more to produce more beneficial bacteria that competes with the algae and I've also heard people say you need to stop feeding. I've heard people say that you need to turn your lights off for 3 days and I've heard people say that it doesn't matter cuz you're not addressing the actual issue. So I'm kind of stumped myself but I'll let you know if I find out anything that works especially the gfo.. by the way I set up a 29 gallon saltwater tank a few days after my 75 gallon and so far the only algae that's grown in there is a little bit of green algae on the glass.

The worst thing you can do is run GFO. You want your nutrients, nitrate and phosphate higher to feed other kinds of algae to out compete the Dino's. Usually the dinos come right back after lights out. You will need a microscope to determine what kind of dino's you have and then formulate a treatment. I had osteoporosis dinos and a UV sterilizer killed them all within days.

Short video of them under the microscope. They are the little gold things.

 

[satttheman]

One pic looks like you may have some bryopsis on that rock. A 3-4x dose of Fluconazole will knock out the bry and dinos. Only probably is if you a a fuge. I was having those problems in my main display and transferred some coral to my two frag tanks. Causing me to fight dinos in three systems. 2 systems I used fluconazole knocked out the bry and dinos. My display I didn't want to take my scrubber offline and stress things out more so I added a Aqua UV. Still fighting them both in my display.

 

[ducklady]

I had the same issue for months done endless water changes still comes right back. I turned off my skimmer for 1 month and did no water changes. I did add 5 drops of silicate and now it seems to be gone. All my corals look awesome and my sand no longer turns nasty brown. Good luck

 

[George Willings]

Raise nitrates and phosphates. Also, look up the thread are you tired of fighting Dinoflagalletes. The brown slimy crude with bubbles is Dino's.

 

[Gribbliest]

Lots of good advice here, but the most important part is diagnosis...

No point in trying to fight something that hasn't been identified imho.

 

[Courtney Dudoussat]

Hey guys. I ended up doing a 3 day black out (a half butt one at that, just didn’t run tank lights) cause I figured it couldn’t hurt. Lights ran for 4-5 hours today and my rock looks brand spanking new with a little hair algae... I’m not depending on it not coming back though. Glass is still nasty but my snail is cleaning it and water is a bit discolored but that could be due to the glass. And I’m gonna have to move the tank again to make room for the 180... I swore I wouldn’t move it again. It’s a nightmare.

 

[ReefClown61]

I thought that I would chime in hear with a different approach. I too suffered dino's for well over a year. I have tried EVERY suggestion that was mentioned here and more. None of it worked for me. All I ended up doing was causing more trauma to my tank and causing all of my corals, invertebrates and fish to suffer from all of the chemicals and every other trial listed in this thread. I lost a lot of things in my tank except Dino's!! I was at my wits end. I almost tore everything down to start over but a thought came to me. What about using freshwater aka DI to kill the dino's. I don't have RO but I assume it would work also. The process was to flood the dino's with freshwater on the sand bed where the majority of mine were. I just siphoned the freshwater from a small bucket held high above the tank with airline tubing so I could control the flow rate and basically washed the whole sand bed. I very slowly moved the airline tubing back and forth and in and out of tight areas flooding as much of the sand as possible. I have a reefer 250 and needed about a gallon of water to make it from one end to the other. I noticed that it was starting to take effect quickly and the dino's were less pervasive, however being stubborn little things they kept coming right back. I did this daily for weeks. I then went to every other day and then to 3 times a week and then to once a week. It's been about a month or so with little to no dino's and I'm soon to rid of the little nasties forever. Like I stated at the beginning. This is a way different approach then what the whole of the internet was suggesting to do. I have never come across this suggestion anywhere. It was a royal pain in the butt to do this daily and I again almost gave up but perseverance paid off. I hope I never suffer that again!! Maybe someone else with dino's can prove this way to be effective so I don't look like some kind of psycho and then post the results here!

 

[KTTX]

I had the same issue for months done endless water changes still comes right back. I turned off my skimmer for 1 month and did no water changes. I did add 5 drops of silicate and now it seems to be gone. All my corals look awesome and my sand no longer turns nasty brown. Good luck

What silicate did you add?

 

[Rakie]

Not a great picture. Those don't look like dinos. I've seen bryopsis covered in bubbles -- it seems you have a lot of bubbles in your water. Could be something different.

Try to get better pictures as step 1.