I'm assuming this is the dreaded dinoflatellates?

[mikez104]

My 40 breeder has been up for since the beginning of the year and was started with dryrock. I've had several corals and they were doing great then started to shrivel and die. I've tried water changes and running carbon thinking that there was something in the water that was doing it. So I started reading around and found out about dinoflatellates. This stuff looked like algae to me but I'm guessing that's what I have. I have a very low bioload. Just two small fish and two small corals because I got tired of killing things in my tank.

I scraped some of the brown snot looking stuff off and put it under the microscope and this is what it looks like.

So I just do the 3 to 5 day blackout and hydrogen peroxide dosing assuming that is what this is?

 

[mikez104]

So reading more, I think I have Ostreopsis or at least it looks a lot like what I found in this thread. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellate-identification-guide.671466/

To anyone who is trying to ID, I suggest this thread. Very nice PDF that taricha put together. Now to figure the best path to kill this stuff.

 

[Cory]

Yes definitely dinos. What kind of scope? Id get a uv sterilizer than mess with peroxide. Uv worked for me.

 

[mikez104]

What watt/gallon did you go with? I read 1 watt per 3 gallons but some this one I'm looking at is 8 watt and says its good up to 70 gallons.
Aqua Ultraviolet

8 Watt Advantage 2000 UV Sterilizer with Hanger Spout​

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes it is .
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%) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 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) 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

 

[Cory]

What watt/gallon did you go with? I read 1 watt per 3 gallons but some this one I'm looking at is 8 watt and says its good up to 70 gallons.
Aqua Ultraviolet

8 Watt Advantage 2000 UV Sterilizer with Hanger Spout​

I bought a cheap one (24 watt green killing machine) to see if it works. It did! (150 ish total gallons). Afterwords since i was convince i bought a lifegard pro max 90w. Awesome uv. Love it. Its been a year and bulb replacement time. Dinos are slowly starting in the sump. But not in the tank. The uv is on my return pump to the tank (runs 1400gph though it approx)

 

[dwest]

You can’t go by manufacturers info for dinos. The 1 watt per 3 gallons should work for ostreopsis. Run it directly in the tank.

 

[mikez104]

I bought a cheap one (24 watt green killing machine) to see if it works. It did! (150 ish total gallons). Afterwords since i was convince i bought a lifegard pro max 90w. Awesome uv. Love it. Its been a year and bulb replacement time. Dinos are slowly starting in the sump. But not in the tank. The uv is on my return pump to the tank (runs 1400gph though it approx)

I'll look around then. BTW, the scope is an OMAX 40x -2000x and I just held my phone to the eyepiece (obviously lol).

 

[mikez104]

So this is where I'm getting confused. Do I pick a method and go with it or do both? I read dose peroxide and I also read use UV.

 

[Simon Reefing]

I used peroxide and a UV. Dosed the peroxide at night. I also raised the temp of my tank. I would only recommend doing this after you read on it though since some corals will have a negative effect. All of this and I beat it in a month and half. Also took my sand out and went bare bottom. My nutrients bottomed out. Although taking my sand out was over a longer course of time

 

[mikez104]

Ok, I can pick up one of those green killing machines locally tomorrow. I'll do that and start the blackout and peroxide tonight. Thanks people!

 

[Simon Reefing]

That’s what I use I have left it on since then it’s great for the price honestly best of luck!

 

[mikez104]

That’s what I use I have left it on since then it’s great for the price honestly best of luck!

Thanks! I'm a man on a mission now. I was pretty bummed out but I can do this!

 

[Cory]

I chose to keep my green killing machine as a backup unit. I wont use it long term because ive seen threads of some rust inside it. Thats why i got a lifegard. I used the green killing machine for 1 month though.

I dosed peroxide to kill dinos. I did some serious over dosing. I used 30% food grade stuff. I dosed 10ml per day. On my 150 gallon. Thats a big difference between 3% and 30%. The 30% will bleach your skin white. Did it kill the dinos? Yes. And other stuff too like my corals. My fishes skin bubbled from it, but no harm was done to them. Would i use peroxide in the tank again? Never! Its too dangerous. You need to control dinos with uv. It represents the open ocean allowing all things a chance to grow. Imo. Peroxide killed them but they always came back days later. With uv been gone a year. Now the bulbs expired, slowly coming back in the sump.

 

[mikez104]

I chose to keep my green killing machine as a backup unit. I wont use it long term because ive seen threads of some rust inside it. Thats why i got a lifegard. I used the green killing machine for 1 month though.

I dosed peroxide to kill dinos. I did some serious over dosing. I used 30% food grade stuff. I dosed 10ml per day. On my 150 gallon. Thats a big difference between 3% and 30%. The 30% will bleach your skin white. Did it kill the dinos? Yes. And other stuff too like my corals. My fishes skin bubbled from it, but no harm was done to them. Would i use peroxide in the tank again? Never! Its too dangerous. You need to control dinos with uv. It represents the open ocean allowing all things a chance to grow. Imo. Peroxide killed them but they always came back days later. With uv been gone a year. Now the bulbs expired, slowly coming back in the sump.

 

[mikez104]

No clue what happened with that last post of mine :/. Anyway, I don't have any 30% and yeah, that seems a bit harsh. The fish were getting exfoliated lol. I'll use the lower strength to get a jump on it. I have a torch that I really like and it looks really bad. I'll dose some regular peroxide tonight and get the UV tomorrow.

 

[Cory]

No clue what happened with that last post of mine :/. Anyway, I don't have any 30% and yeah, that seems a bit harsh. The fish were getting exfoliated lol. I'll use the lower strength to get a jump on it. I have a torch that I really like and it looks really bad. I'll dose some regular peroxide tonight and get the UV tomorrow.

Lol. Id strongly suggest waiting for the uv. The peroxide will kill everything, pods, green algae, dinos. Shrimp especially. Peroxide should inly be used outside the tank on rocks or frag plugs. Trust me you need biodiversity to compete with dinos, not reduce it. I had a tank full of brown dinos and green spots of starting hair algae. After a few hours of dosing, it was like i cleaned the glass. Imagine that.

 

[mikez104]

Lol. Id strongly suggest waiting for the uv. The peroxide will kill everything, pods, green algae, dinos. Shrimp especially. Peroxide should inly be used outside the tank on rocks or frag plugs. Trust me you need biodiversity to compete with dinos, not reduce it. I had a tank full of brown dinos and green spots of starting hair algae. After a few hours of dosing, it was like i cleaned the glass. Imagine that.

Oh hell, I don't want to kill my shrimp . Maybe I'll just get the UV tomorrow and start by turning off everything but some blue lights.

 

[992gnt]

I just went through this. Picked up the 24w Green Killing Machine and saw a noticeable difference in 24 hours, and 2 weeks later there is virtually no sign of them. My setup is around 95 gallons total, and I put the UV right in the display.

 

[mikez104]

I just went through this. Picked up the 24w Green Killing Machine and saw a noticeable difference in 24 hours, and 2 weeks later there is virtually no sign of them. My setup is around 95 gallons total, and I put the UV right in the display.

That's awesome! I will be there first thing tomorrow to pick it up. Did you do a blackout on the tank? If so, how long?