ID Request

[Brofessor]

My tank's been setup for about 5 or 6 months now and this stuff just started forming everywhere 2 weeks ago. It started as a brown film on the sand and now its started growing in tufts on the rocks and glass.

I've been using tap water for water changes and top off but I ordered a RODI filter 2 weeks ago and it finally arrived today. Also have a protein skimmer but no mechanical filtration.

Parameters as of 2 days ago:
dKH: 8.4
Mg: 1280
pH: 8
NO2: 0
NO3: 15-20
NH3: 0
Ca: 420
Salinity: 0.025
Temp: 78.4F

 

[davescj]

If it's brown, might well be diatoms. Tap water can have nutrients that feed the diatoms (RODI will help with that, but so will time).

But it looks a bit like cyanobacteria. Do you have food flow? Cyano doesn't like flow. I would up the water changes, using RODI. Anything decomposing in the tank, including fish food? The nutrient load is coming from somewhere, which is feed the out break.

 

[Naboria79]

It look to me that you have dino.

 

[Dolelo96]

I can’t tell by the picture. Can you get a clearer shot? Using tap water in your tank is not a good idea. The chemicals and contamination are bad for the tank and it’s inhabitants..That is most likely the cause of the algae. Is your salinity 0.025 or is that a typo?

 

[C. Eymann]

Looks like tge dreaded dinoflagellates

 

[andrewey]

Looks like dinos to me. Do you have access to a microscope? If you don't, I'd be happy to ID the type of dino or other organisms you have if you can get me a sample.

 

[Brofessor]

I can’t tell by the picture. Can you get a clearer shot? Using tap water in your tank is not a good idea. The chemicals and contamination are bad for the tank and it’s inhabitants..That is most likely the cause of the algae. Is your salinity 0.025 or is that a typo?

I'm one of those dumb people who thinks I'm the special exception to everything until it turns out I'm not. That's why I finally broke down and bought an RODI filter now.

With salinity, yeah, I meant 1.025.

And I can try getting better pictures tomorrow. It's been lights out for an hour now.

 

[Brofessor]

Looks like dinos to me. Do you have access to a microscope? If you don't, I'd be happy to ID the type of dino or other organisms you have if you can get me a sample.

I've got an old microscope from the 70s that I picked up at a yardsale. It goes up to 400x, so hopefully that's good enough. Could you give me a link to some picture of what I should be looking for?

 

[Brofessor]

If it's brown, might well be diatoms. Tap water can have nutrients that feed the diatoms (RODI will help with that, but so will time).

But it looks a bit like cyanobacteria. Do you have food flow? Cyano doesn't like flow. I would up the water changes, using RODI. Anything decomposing in the tank, including fish food? The nutrient load is coming from somewhere, which is feed the out break.

I think the flow is good? This is a 36gal corner tank with 2 Hydor Koralia Evolution 750s. The shape makes it hard to get perfect flow.

I haven't seen my 3 peppermint shrimp in about a week, but that's not unusual. They're pretty timid. If they did die, it'd be hard to tell because my pistol shrimp likes to drag everything that's not bolted down into his tunnels.

 

[andrewey]

Halfway down the first post is a link to different species and their photos.

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I don't know what percentage of folks had luck battling dinos with any of the methods in the old Dino thread but it's obviously a very low percentage, so I'd like refresh folks on the natural alternatives and lay out three areas of info: some of the factors that contribute to a dino outbreak...

www.reef2reef.com

400x will be plenty for an ID! Once you know what species, it's easier to try and tackle the problem instead of guess/check.

 

[Dolelo96]

You should look up your cities water quality report. You’d be surprised what’s in the water

 

[Brofessor]

It look to me that you have dino.

Looks like tge dreaded dinoflagellates

If so, what's the course of action? Got my protein skimmer running, just got an RODI filter, and for the past 2 weeks I've been doing a 25% water change about every 4 days. Only used to do water changes about every 10 days.

 

[Brofessor]

You should look up your cities water quality report. You’d be surprised what’s in the water

They actually just issued a 'boil water advisory' a week ago... Wondering if the RODI will be enough to get around that.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It is dino and can be beat as I fought and quickly won a battle.
First thing is to cut the white lights completely for 4-5 days. Apply clean filters to the system . Since you have coral , reduce blue down to 5%. Each night add 1ml of peroxide per 10 gallons and during the day add 1ml of bacteria supplement such as Bacter 7.
Use a turkey baster each day and night and apply quick burst to the dino and net it up or force dino to the filters. Each day wash those filters and DO NOT feed coral food or apply any NoPox as it is food/fuel for the dino. By day 3-4 you will notice the tank is turning clear and rocks are white again.

 

[Ajayabb]

If so, what's the course of action? Got my protein skimmer running, just got an RODI filter, and for the past 2 weeks I've been doing a 25% water change about every 4 days. Only used to do water changes about every 10 days.

Water changes may exacerbate the situation. You want to raise your nutrient levels specifically Nitrates and Phosphates and try to ID the Dino species

 

[Naboria79]

I'm the wrong person to ask..I got beat up by dinos. I completely torn down my system due to it. There are other people here that had beat it.

 

[Brofessor]

DO NOT feed coral food or apply any NoPox as it is food/fuel for the dino.

Oh no. I think that might have been what caused this all: I don't like my nitrates being above 20 and I started dosing that about a month ago...

I have a bottle of BioSpira. Will that be good? And is that also 1ml per 10gal?

Do I spray the H202 on the dinos? Because they're everywhere. Would dumping it in front of the blowers work, too? Also, I have no mechanical filtration.

Should I continue feeding my fish and inverts? I give my fish flakes everyday and a tiny pinch of pellets for the inverts.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a bottle of BioSpira. Will that be good? And is that also 1ml per 10gal? YES

Do I spray the H202 on the dinos? Because they're everywhere. Would dumping it in front of the blowers work, too? Also, I have no mechanical filtration.
ADD IT WITH MEASURING DEVICE (SPOON, COVETTE, ETC) DIRECTLY IN DIRECTION OF FLOW

Should I continue feeding my fish and inverts? I give my fish flakes everyday and a tiny pinch of pellets for the inverts.

YES