Dinotoxin affect on corals?

[Reef_prop88]

Just a question that crossed my mind since I am dealing with a small dinoflagellate issue due to low phos/nitrates (Surprise Surprise). Do dinotoxins have a big impact on corals or mainly just CUC that eats it?

 

[Crazeh]

I think it can depend on the strain of dinos, with some worse than others. In my experience my corals took more damage from being smothered by the dinos rather than toxins. I ran without carbon for a few weeks whilst I was running Dino X, but make sure you're running carbon to help with the toxins, and replace regularly. I certainly lost a few snails.

 

[Reef_prop88]

Good advice. Thank you. My bigger snails are the only thing to take a hit as the Dino’s aren’t horrible. I’ve ordered neonitro and Neophobia to get my levels up and straighten things out asap.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

While I would not minimize concern about the toxin themselves, smothering may be a bigger issue, as mentioned above:

Coral mortality associated with dinoflagellate blooms in the eastern Pacific (Costa Rica and Panama)

Coral mortality associated with dinoflagellate blooms in the eastern Pacific (Costa Rica and Panama) on JSTOR

Héctor M. Guzmán, Jorge Cortés, Peter W. Glynn, Robert H. Richmond, Coral mortality associated with dinoflagellate blooms in the eastern Pacific (Costa Rica and Panama), Marine Ecology Progress Series, Vol. 60, No. 3 (February 22 1990), pp. 299-303

www.jstor.org

" The copious amounts of mucus associated with C. catenatum, present in the water column to 1-3 m depth, and adhering to coral colonies, suggested that coral death was caused by smothering"

 

[Sarlindescent]

I have lost corals due to smothering from dinos and cyano. Not sure how much impact the toxin had. But the thing to remember with literally everything is the poison is in the dose. Even consuming too much water can kill a person. Additionally, copper is required for coral growth, but pour 1ml directly into someone's tank and watch everything die. So, my best practice is to siphon out as much as I can before any chemical treatment. If there is an impact from the toxin, you can greatly reduce the impact by having less of it.