ID request

mmakay · May 6, 2020

Assumed this was cyano at first until i did a little research. Saw that my Phosphate were at zero, so I did the shake and strain test and it was obviously Dinos. They seem to stay almost exlcusively on the sand. I don't notice any night/day fluctuation. The CUC isn't dying in droves, so I suspect they are on the low end of the toxicity scale. I finally got my hands on a microscope, and here are the results. These are the super easy ones to get rid of right?

hdsoftail1065 · May 8, 2020

SPR1968 · May 8, 2020

I can’t ID the strain, but a potentially easy fix is a 3 day blackout, and increase flow to all affected areas, it does depend on the strain but it’s worth a try.

mmakay · May 8, 2020

I don't know if these help any. Taking photos or video is tough without any sort of adapter.

mmakay · May 10, 2020

Based on what I could find, I believe this to be large cell Amphidinium. If that could be confirmed, I would appreciate it.

bobssecrtsn · May 10, 2020

These are proroectrum dino's

bobssecrtsn · May 10, 2020

I have them too, here is my thread, im on day 5 of what im doing, and they are slowing going away. in the AM theres none to be seen on the sandbed. but a few hours of my only BLUES on theres a slight light dusting on the bed. It was worse before.

Guide to rid of my Prorocentrum Dino’s

Hi everyone, A little history of my tank. AquaUV 25 watt 24/7 130g total volume Santa Monica rain ATS 24/7 Aquamaxx q3 skimmer Filter fleece roller 30lbs Live rubble from a 6 year old est. tank in sump 35lbs caribsea life rock ( I will never purchase this again ) 40lbs of dead rock ( muratic...

www.reef2reef.com

mmakay · May 10, 2020

bobssecrtsn said:
These are proroectrum dino's

What makes you think that? According to www.algaeid.com those aren’t known to bloom in aquariums, and trust me, mine are in FULL BLOOM.

“I frequently identify Prorocentrum species in people’s marine aquariums, but have never known of a bloom. In the wild these algae often form harmful algae blooms, so I am providing images in case they do occasionally cause problems in home aquaria.

These look very similar to Amphidinium, but can be distinguished by a much larger size and generally less movement.”

https://algaeid.com/identification/

bobssecrtsn · May 10, 2020

from the cells you posted it looks like them.

bobssecrtsn · May 10, 2020

in your 5 second video, Do they move slow? or fast? check out the video thats in that document.

mmakay · May 11, 2020

bobssecrtsn said:
in your 5 second video, Do they move slow? or fast? check out the video thats in that document.

That document was made me think they were large cell amphidinium. In my observation, they seem to swim just like the video. I wish I could get a better (longer) video, but I’ve had no luck. Too much coffee, maybe. I need to come up with a way to stabilize the phone.

They aren’t killing my snails, and are staying mostly in the sand. Other clues that led me to amphidinium.

mmakay · May 17, 2020

The battle continues, but there have been changes. I've started dosing Silicates, and my latest samples show a swing in the population. There are still plenty of Dinos, but there are now a fair number of diatoms, too. I hope this is a good sign!