I need advice please, dinoflagellates.

[kyleshaw81503]

Post pics and some short video if possible. We should be able to get you a diagnosis quickly.

 

[kyleshaw81503]

Definitely do this because there is different ways to defeat them depending on which type of dinos.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

 

[saltyhog]

Excellent pictures. These are Ostreopsis dinoflagellates.

These are the most toxic of dinos so if you aren't already doing it, start running activated carbon to reduce toxicity. They can cause losses to inverts and corals. Fish are usually fine.

This type is best treated with UV. Do not follow manufacturer's recommendations on sizing and flow for the UV however. They do not consider dinos in those recommendations. UV should be approximately one watt for every 3 gallons of tank volume (example 60 gallon tank would need a 20 watt UV). The UV should be plumbed from the display with a dedicated pump and the outflow from the UV should return to the display. Pump used should supply about 2x the tank volume per hour (example...the same 60 gallon tank would need a pump moving about 120 gph). Do not install the UV off of a manifold or in the sump. It doesn't work nearly as well. This installation will be ugly...but short term. Improvement when following this path can be literally within hours or days and resolution in as little as a couple of weeks.

It's also a good idea to dose phyto (turn UV of for an hour or so after dosing) frequently during lights on. Ok to reduce your photo period but not required. Blackouts and massive reductions in lighting not only don't help they can further stress already stressed light dependent corals. Don't do them.

 

[saltyhog]

How is your present UV set up and what size is it....if it's not according to the above directions you need to make changes to get it in line with them.

 

[kyleshaw81503]

How is your present UV set up and what size is it....if it's not according to the above directions you need to make changes to get it in line with them.

Currently running a 5w mini coralife uv sterilizer for about 2 weeks. It has helped a lot still hasn’t knocked them out but definitely knocked them down. I think I might start dosing neonitrate and neophos. I don’t know why I’m so hesitant to dose but I have to get nutrients up. But I’m afraid the tank will bounce too far in the other direction or cause a whole new issue that’s even worse.
I was thinking once I get the nitrate and phosphate up I’ll add aquavitro remediation for the beneficial bacteria don’t know if this is the right stuff my LFS suggested it.

 

[gbru316]

I think I might start dosing neonitrate and neophos. I don’t know why I’m so hesitant to dose but I have to get nutrients up. But I’m afraid the tank will bounce too far in the other direction or cause a whole new issue that’s even worse.

Do it. There's nothing to fear so long as you do it in a controlled manner.

I just had to add Neophos to a dosing pump because my tank was sucking through 0.02 ppm Po4 a day. I don't have any issues with nuisance algae.

 

[chadfish]

The bottle bacteria might work, but I used natural bacteria to repopulate my tank. See my post here on how I beat Dino’s


Thread 'New way to beat dinoflagellates'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-way-to-beat-dinoflagellates.911705/

 

[saltyhog]

Currently running a 5w mini coralife uv sterilizer for about 2 weeks. It has helped a lot still hasn’t knocked them out but definitely knocked them down. I think I might start dosing neonitrate and neophos. I don’t know why I’m so hesitant to dose but I have to get nutrients up. But I’m afraid the tank will bounce too far in the other direction or cause a whole new issue that’s even worse.
I was thinking once I get the nitrate and phosphate up I’ll add aquavitro remediation for the beneficial bacteria don’t know if this is the right stuff my LFS suggested it.

What size is your tank? That UV is only big enough for a 15 gallon tank when used for dinos. A properly sized UV will get rid of them in a very short time.

 

[kyleshaw81503]

What size is your tank? That UV is only big enough for a 15 gallon tank when used for dinos. A properly sized UV will get rid of them in a very short time.

32 gallon bio cube.

 

[saltyhog]

32 gallon bio cube.

You need a UV >than 10 watts to do the job on Ostreopsis. Aqua UV makes a good 15 watt hang on that would be an easy installation.

 

[kyleshaw81503]

Ok so I’m getting ready to dose neonitro and neophos. The neonitro bottle gives an equation bottle also says go slow. So I’m at 0 nitrate and would like to go up to 3ppm to start with. Equation is 32gal x 3ppm desired x .1261= 12.1 ml. That seems like a lot for going slow any suggestions what I should start with.

Sorry for all the questions this is all new to me.

I will also be dosing phosphate, phosphate currently at 0ppm. Equation 32 x .02ppm desired x 3.785= 2.42 ml.

should I go less to start with maybe half the equation idk what do you guys think?

also should I add the aquavitro remediation bacteria now or wait for a little bit?

 

[Dan_P]

Ok so let me give a quick run down of the tank. Tank has been set up for 8 months or so. I have run into dinoflagellates due to low nutrients in the tank. Confirmed dinoflagellates under micro scope.

Been stuck at 0 phosphate, 0 nitrate for……. Well probably since day 1. Been trying to raise nitrate and phosphate for the past 2 months.

I recently purchased the Hanna checkers for both nitrate and phosphate. Nitrate reading 0.00 and phosphate is starting to raise first test was 0.01 and second test 0.02. So I do have movement on the phosphate finally.

I’ve taken everything offline filtration wise. Turned off skimmer, taken out carbon until recently due to the smell haha. I did add the carbon back in. Removed filter floss, Removed Cheato which I think started all the low to no nutrient problems. I’ve done 1 water change in 2 months.

I’m using rodi water and salinity is always 1.024.

I recently installed a UV sterilizer, only been up for 4-5 days. I have noticed a slight slow down in growth of dinoflagellates on rocks in the mornings but still coming back just not as bad.

I’ve been using a turkey baster to blow off the rocks twice a day and been sucking up the big pieces and straining the water through filter floss and back into the tank.

I really didn’t want to dose anything but I’m getting to the point of thinking maybe I should?
Should I dose some kind of bacteria to combat the Dino’s?
I don’t know what to do. Anyone have any advice on how to win the battle would be greatly appreciated?

Are you also paying attention to your next issue, green hair algae? It looks like you have quite a bit already.

 

[kyleshaw81503]

Are you also paying attention to your next issue, green hair algae? It looks like you have quite a bit already.

Scraped it off all the rocks mostly. Clean up crew consists of emerald green crab, 5 astraea snails, 1 blue legged hermit, 2 scarlet hermits. Wish I could have an algae eating tang or some fish but I am out of room unfortunately.

 

[kyleshaw81503]

Ok so I wanted to post some pictures of the tank before I start dosing and hopefully will be able to post an amazing after picture in the near future haha. Probably wishful thinking.

 

[ELChingonsReef]

I just finished my battle with dynoflaglates. It took about a month to get rid of it. First thing and most importantly TURN DOWN YOUR LIGHT INTENSITY. Shorten the time your lights are on. A hour maybe two hours. Turn off skimmer when dosing bacteria. Alternate between Dr Tim's waste away and something like microbacter 7 or whatever bacteria you prefer. Manually remove as many dinos as you can. Add a good UV sterilizer. Turkey baste your base rock when the lights go off . The dynos will get trapped in your filter socks when you Turkey baste . Pull out your filter socks a few hours later. Run no filter socks all night because it helps get your nutrients up and the dinos go through the UV sterilizer easier if your UV is in the sump like mine is. I ran no socks or skimmer until the next morning. Change filter socks every day dose bacteria run UV lower your lights and they will go away in weeks instead of months.. thats been my experience

 

[ELChingonsReef]

Also test nitrates and phosphate every day.

 

[ambrosius007]

Following

 

[kyleshaw81503]

Ok so almost 3 week update. Still have a ways to go, but it might be working I hope haha. I’ve started dosing phosphate and nitrate. im using a UV light I keep on 24/7. I use turkey baster to blow everything off 2x daily. After blowing everything off I hold a filter sock over my power head turned up to full blast (AI Nero 3) and let the power head blow a majority of the chunks into the filter sock. Then wash filter sock under hot water to kill off all the stuff in the sock. I try to replace the filter floss daily forget every now and again haha.

looks like I’ve run into cyano outbreak now so I’ve started dosing beneficial bacteria. Stuff is called remediation can’t remember who makes it some brand owned by Seachem I think. I made sure to turn off the UV for a few days while they attach to the surfaces in the tank. Kind of waiting to see if the beneficial bacteria will win out the battle before I turn the UV back on. The bottle says wait 3 days before you turn back on the UV. I also used a syringe full of a product by seachem called pristine and I’m injecting it underneath the cyano mat deep into the sand.



any more suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[kyleshaw81503]

I did a 10 gallon water change , I hadn’t done one in a month, since I’ve been trying to get my nutrient levels up.