Dinos killing corals. What do I do?

[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. I was always envious of the people that had luck with some of the suggestions listed here and in videos, but 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 top 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. This is about how much make up water the tank uses daily anyway. 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 post the results here!

 

[George Willings]

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.

Back wall and glass, that is 100% not bryopsis, but looks very much like Dino's. After a closer look (with my glasses on this time) the bubbles on the rocks very much look like bryopsis. There is a combination of things got ng on. Fixing the rock and combating the brown crude is not going to be fun for the OP. Absolutely 100% needs a microscope and though. I cannot even begin to explain how useful that will be for anyone with a reef tank.

 

[Rakie]

Back wall and glass, that is 100% not bryopsis, but looks very much like Dino's. After a closer look (with my glasses on this time) the bubbles on the rocks very much look like bryopsis. There is a combination of things got ng on. Fixing the rock and combating the brown crude is not going to be fun for the OP. Absolutely 100% needs a microscope and though. I cannot even begin to explain how useful that will be for anyone with a reef tank.

I was only looking at the rocks. That looks like it could be dinos on the glass, but it would be on regular algae, and very young dinos at that strands are waaaay short to properly ID for me.

 

[George Willings]

I was only looking at the rocks. That looks like it could be dinos on the glass, but it would be on regular algae, and very young dinos at that strands are waaaay short to properly ID for me.

The probable Dino's look to be ostreopsis to the naked eye, well the beginning of it. Looks all to familiar to me. The last dino bloom I went through that is how it started and looked just like it. Ended up losing every coral I had except for a real GSP. My anemone pretty much went into hibernation. Now I keep a serious eye on phos and nitrate. Which reminds me, need more reagent for my nitrated test kit. Phos I use Hana instruments ULR now.

 

[engja123]

I had a similar problem a few months ago. As crazy as it may sound, in addition to siphoning out as much as I could daily for about a week, I completely turned off my blue light and just went to white light. Within about 3 weeks, my rocks were perfectly clean. I picked up the tip from another poster on another forum. I can't explain the why or if it was just dumb luck... but it worked.

I do agree with others to up your feeding and turn off your skimmer. I think part of the recent uptick in similar reported problems stems from people trying to run ultra low nutrient tanks.

 

[Courtney Dudoussat]

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.

These are photos I took about a week ago
My lawnmower blenny also died (it was dead dead, cuc we’re eating it). By time I get the canopy/lights off the body disappeared. Not sure if that could have worsened it. I’m also in the process of making a diy algae scrubber to bring nitrates down. I tested two days ago and they were hovering around 50

 

[Courtney Dudoussat]

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.

Sorry for the double reply. Went through the photos I posted online and weren’t saved on my phone. Here’s one that “screamed” dinos to me

 

[Hans-Werner]

The black filamentous "algae" on the left could be Lyngbya, a cyanobacterium. The brown films may be dinos or diatoms or cyanobacteria. Very hard to tell without a microscope.

 

[Hot2na]

Silicates...try rowaphos or add an algae scrubber online temporarily...

 

[reeferfoxx]

I’m also in the process of making a diy algae scrubber to bring nitrates down.

Not sure this will work. You stated you had nitrates hovering around 50? You are most likely phosphate limited. You really need to get a phosphate checker. Hanna ULR phosphorus checker is what most recommend. Also a $10 microscope off amazon will help ID.
The patches on the rock could be lyngbya but could also be green hair algae with dinoflagellates. I will say the dino Coolia spp. thrive in nitrogenous environments but not uncommon for prorocentrum to grow along side. Increasing phosphates maybe all you need to do.

 

[RandalV]

I have been battling this crap for 8 months. I put a UV Sterolizer it helps. Now I have a mild outbreak again so I have turned all my lights off except for the UV on my AI’s , running them at 20% . Has anyone tried this with any success?

 

[Peng]

Might be beneficial to dose different strains of phytoplanktons to naturally compete against dino

 

[George Willings]

I have been battling this crap for 8 months. I put a UV Sterolizer it helps. Now I have a mild outbreak again so I have turned all my lights off except for the UV on my AI’s , running them at 20% . Has anyone tried this with any success?

That will do absolutely nothing as that has been done and tried.

 

[George Willings]

Might be beneficial to dose different strains of phytoplanktons to naturally compete against dino

That will not help either, it will raise your ammonia levels as they die due to the Dino's though. There is a HUGE thread on her all about Dino's. I suggest EVERYONE read it.

 

[Peng]

That will not help either, it will raise your ammonia levels as they die due to the Dino's though. There is a HUGE thread on her all about Dino's. I suggest EVERYONE read it.

Helped many people win the fight against ostreopsis ovata with blend phyto dosing especially with Thalassiosira weissflogii. No ammonia level increase noticed.

 

[Chad3407]

Dose bleach and be done with it.

 

[George Willings]

Helped many people win the fight against ostreopsis ovata with blend phyto dosing especially with Thalassiosira weissflogii. No ammonia level increase noticed.

I had ostreopsis in my 32 BC with 2 AI Prime HD's. It did all of NOTHING. You know what did help? Putting a UV Sterilizer and raising my nitrates and phos. Not raising the level of UV light emmiting from my Primes.

 

[Peng]

I had ostreopsis in my 32 BC with 2 AI Prime HD's. It did all of NOTHING. You know what did help? Putting a UV Sterilizer and raising my nitrates and phos. Not raising the level of UV light emmiting from my Primes.

Did you try the specific species? There's more than just dosing phyto. Keeping a traceable nutirent level is also important. However that does not mean you can just say it won't work. I've been reading the dino thread on this forum and helping people fight off dino longer than you have registered on this website. Each persons case is different and conditions are different too. It's way too absolute to claim certainty that one will work and one won't. I made a simple suggestion here something for the OP to try out. I can recall a handful of people who have tried UV + increase NO3 PO4 with no reduction in dino population.

 

[ducklady]

What silicate did you add?

Silicate sponge growth I got it from bulk reef supply.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

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

What is the active product in chemiclean?
A new system has to find its balance, using up the available nutrients and building materials should be done by as much competitors as possible. As most systems have a skimmer finding this balance may be difficult as some building materials are removed constantly and selective.
It can not be avoided cyano's to become part of the competing community, they should be. Products able to remove cyano's will also influence other growth and help in creating an unbalance.
Certainly in a new system the coral holoboint must have the time to develop, have time to install its own nitrogen and carbon cycle etc.. Adding products which may disturb or interrupt normal competition may also prevent the development of a balanced coral holoboint for newly introduced corals or mess up an existing balanced holoboint.
Dino's killing corals!? The lack of it in the coral holoboint will certainly do.