I'm Not Sure it Gets Any More Scary Than This

[Second Shot]

Yeah if your about to throw everything out, do a search for twilliards bleach dosing thread. Showing promise for people that have tried everything.

 

[cale0721]

Good evening Cale! It's quite depressing.... came home from work about an hour ago to 4-5 inch dino threads growing off my LR, sand and corals... I'm just about done

Hang in there!

Looking at your pictures it seems we are in the same boat. my tank is only around 5 months old after i had to restart it due to moving. My bottle of dino X comes in Monday and I'm going to dose it while doing a 3-4 day black out to see if that has any results. I've tried metroplex and 3 day black outs which didnt help much. I tried doing some hydrogen peroxide but it seemed to make my PH bottom out and I wasnt a fan of that. so we shall see how this dino x does.

 

[Birddog]

Look into bleach dosing. If you are at the tank break down stage there is not much downside. It's discussed in the last third of this thread.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...ible-cure-follow-along-and-see.253917/page-89

Thanks, I'll look into this immediately.

Yeah if your about to throw everything out, do a search for twilliards bleach dosing thread. Showing promise for people that have tried everything.

Thanks as well... I was not aware of the bleach thread. Interesting my wife suggested I try bleach as well... last ditch effort prior to chucking in the neighborhood of $3-4K worth of corals not to mention the equipment.

Hang in there!

Looking at your pictures it seems we are in the same boat. my tank is only around 5 months old after i had to restart it due to moving. My bottle of dino X comes in Monday and I'm going to dose it while doing a 3-4 day black out to see if that has any results. I've tried metroplex and 3 day black outs which didnt help much. I tried doing some hydrogen peroxide but it seemed to make my PH bottom out and I wasnt a fan of that. so we shall see how this dino x does.

Actually, the photos are old, it's much worse now and no matter what I try it seems to make them worse. I still don't have it quite figured out how they got started, but it all started immediately after I did two things;

• Purchased several new SPS
• Started to dose Vibrant

Vibrant dosing has stopped as of a week ago... if I dose it they spread like wild fire... without a doubt vibrant is an accelerator
Dino X has also caused them to blossom to a new level of infestation and therefore I have stopped dosing Dino X as well and as I have mentioned I am at my breaking point... honestly may very well quit

 

[Bdog4u2]

Again thank you all for your thoughts and experiences... I had another long week at work (4:30a - 7:00p M-Sa) and finally have my project there off the ground. My reef project (Dino's) is better, but I'm not completely over the hump yet. Last Sunday I took some pretty drastic measures. Although I have Dino's throughout the tank their incidence / severity on my live rock and corals is relatively low. My frag rack was a Dino magnet and therefore I removed it and all the frags on it.

Yes this a photo with my frags in the toilet... pretty sad and distasteful, but I've got to regain control and my frag rack and frags on it would grow a hundred 3-4 inch Dino threads on a daily basis. (RIP RR Aussie Gold, Pink Lemonade, Pink Stylo, Blue Tenuis, BC Spainbow, PC Rainbow, RMF Jareds Rainbow, ASD Rainbow Milli, BC Pearly Cadaver )



Thanks for the input of a lower lower temperature set point. I have been employing this as well as lowering nutrients, shorter photoperiod, micro bubbling, short interval filter sock changes, manual removal, Vibrant and peroxide!



Good morning RN77! I have been dosing Vibrant on Wednesdays and Sundays in the evenings, and daily with peroxide in the mornings. Not sure 100%, but I'm firing all barrels at it and starting to see a reduction.


Thank you Willz!


Me Too... It was the foundation of my approach

I would've dipped the frags instead f chucking them.

 

[Bdog4u2]

Thanks, I'll look into this immediately.



Thanks as well... I was not aware of the bleach thread. Interesting my wife suggested I try bleach as well... last ditch effort prior to chucking in the neighborhood of $3-4K worth of corals not to mention the equipment.



Actually, the photos are old, it's much worse now and no matter what I try it seems to make them worse. I still don't have it quite figured out how they got started, but it all started immediately after I did two things;

• Purchased several new SPS
• Started to dose Vibrant

Vibrant dosing has stopped as of a week ago... if I dose it they spread like wild fire... without a doubt vibrant is an accelerator
Dino X has also caused them to blossom to a new level of infestation and therefore I have stopped dosing Dino X as well and as I have mentioned I am at my breaking point... honestly may very well quit

My buddy had a bad case of dinos.
We got rid of the sand, removed rocks and slushed them around n sea water, dosed peroxide, and stopped doing water changes and they disappeared when nitrates increased

 

[Birddog]

I would've dipped the frags instead f chucking them.

They were just smallish frags and they were absolutely infested.... did a dip on them approximately 2 weeks prior to chucking. If you think that's bad you should see what I'm about to chuck next... arguably I've got a Rainbow crush chalice that i bought for $300 that worth a couple of thousand that's about to be "chucked"

 

[Maritimer]

I'd imagine that if you asked around, you might find a reefer or three willing to take on the challenges of the corals you're about to "chuck", and be grateful for the opportunity. Something to consider.

(I can't imagine that frags & plugs are much good for your plumbing, either!)

~Bruce, wishing there was some easy, reliable way to deal with the dreaded dinos . . .

 

[Bdog4u2]

They were just smallish frags and they were absolutely infested.... did a dip on them approximately 2 weeks prior to chucking. If you think that's bad you should see what I'm about to chuck next... arguably I've got a Rainbow crush chalice that i bought for $300 that worth a couple of thousand that's about to be "chucked"

Bummer. chuck it my way

 

[badd]

Look into bleach dosing. If you are at the tank break down stage there is not much downside. It's discussed in the last third of this thread.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...ible-cure-follow-along-and-see.253917/page-89

I can say I used this unorthodox method..it has cleared me from dinos.. I cant even find one under a scope..

 

[sowellj]

Vibrant did nothing to my dinos. H2O2 also did not work. Blackouts and reduced photo period worked temporarily. Following my last blackout (10 days ago), I quit dosing vibrant and H2O2. I purchased some pods and phyto and started dosing them. I acquired different samples of live rock rubble from folks. I dosed a little phosphate and nitrate. The goal is to 'dirty the tank up', increase biodiversity, and outcompete the dinos.

Thus far, it seems to be working. I still see dinos under a microscope, but they are not visible in the tank. We'll see.

 

[chris@nemos]

John,

At this point, Kevin recommended you draining your tank, and spraying Peroxide on the rocks, sand and coral.
Then filling it back up.

 

[Birddog]

I'd imagine that if you asked around, you might find a reefer or three willing to take on the challenges of the corals you're about to "chuck", and be grateful for the opportunity. Something to consider.

(I can't imagine that frags & plugs are much good for your plumbing, either!)

~Bruce, wishing there was some easy, reliable way to deal with the dreaded dinos . . .

Hello Bruce! You're right about the plumbing... not smart on my part, but thank god it hasn't caused any problems. Additionally you're likely correct on other reefers willing to take on the challenge. My problem is that ethically I could not, nor would not want to be responsible for the complete obliteration of someone else's tank. I would not wish these on public enemy number one! They're incredibly frustrating and like an aggressive cancer.

John,

At this point, Kevin recommended you draining your tank, and spraying Peroxide on the rocks, sand and coral.
Then filling it back up.

Good evening Chris!
I hope you're well and hope you had a fabulous day! I cannot thank you and Kevin enough for your support and thoughtful suggestions as I'm fighting this. Actually, trying 3 ml of 8.25% AI bleach dosed 2x per day.... whoa! Started dosing on Sunday and after 2 1/2 days I may be making progress thanks to @sowellj . It's a bold move, but honestly Chris either the bleach will cause the tank to crash (or possibly improve), cause it's surely a complete melt down if the Dino's continue to progress. If the bleach fails... I'll drain and crop dust with peroxide. You're the best!

 

[badd]

To soon to jinks myself..but in my 46bf ..1.5ml x2 daily for 3 days.. has mine looking good..even with scope...I did find one in 5 samples.. so I dosed 0.75ml once..just as precautionary. .

 

[Birddog]

Some thoughts, ramblings and a hypothesis. I think Vibrant is a product that works and is capable of removing nuisance algae very effectively. I had very little algae in my reef several months ago, but I thought I would try Vibrant to clean up a few tiny patches of algae being the type A that I am. Once I cleared my reef of all competition, the Dino invasion started. Initially they were not bad for the first two weeks, but they really started to take off. What was my response... more Vibrant. This really ensured the uncontested march of Dino's in my reef with their proliferation occurring at a rapid pace... again no competition and better yet, my nutrients in the water column were falling. I then proceeded to aggressively apply GFO for the reduction of phosphate. Now that I had a pretty sterile tank I was ensuring that further reduction of nutrients would provide possibly a better environment for the Dino's. I then started to dose peroxide.... yea let me wipe the tank clean of all microbiology! Each step along the way I would try something and it appears for a day or two to work, but the little sons-o-guns keep bouncing back with ever increasing incidence and severity.... the ever tightening death spiral of my tank.

My thoughts... I think many of us, if not all of us, have Dino's, or at least the cysts in our tanks...I believe they're ubiquitous. In a healthy ecosystem they come and go and we never notice their presence because of other microfauna competition. Give them an artificial edge and they'll reek havoc dependent upon the biotypes you have.

So where am I... I'm now dosing my tank with bleach. Yep bleach, because my reef is so overrun with Dinos that I have no other option other than starting completely over. My Dino's are toxic, they're killing everything and this is my last ditch effort. My educated guess is that if somehow I can reduce their population significantly, then reinoculate my system rapidly post bleach dosing with beneficials and diversity, maybe I'll have a shot. My wife is so kind... she says if it's a total loss that she has no problems with the restart expenditures. For me if I can't cure this I think I will be done due solely to the fear of this occurring again.

So, I'm 2 1/2 days into bleach dosing. Clearly it's having an affect and I'm seeing a true reduction. No bubbles, no threads, and the mat is receding. Let's see what the next week brings....

 

[Birddog]

To soon to jinks myself..but in my 46bf ..1.5ml x2 daily for 3 days.. has mine looking good..even with scope...I did find one in 5 samples.. so I dosed 0.75ml once..just as precautionary. .

That's awesome great to hear your positive progress!

 

[badd]

This is kinda a last ditch effort. ..but its a reef cancer..and I wished I had before pics..but it was so ugly... I was ashamed lol.. but from the purple corline growing on my front glass..to my snails being clean of brown snott..I would do it monthly if I had to.. lol

 

[Birddog]

It's been about a month and a half since my last update and things have improved. I have been reluctant to update because within the battle to win the war there have been further set backs, losses and even a few relapses. I'm not superstitious, but honestly I'm afraid to say I have won the war. What has given me the upper hand? Bleach and the thread started by @twilliard ... thank you sir! I've had to dose bleach 4 different times over the past 7 weeks. I started with dosing 3ml every 12 hours for 4 days(my reef and sump contain a total of 55 G of water) and they disappeared only to reappear about 4-5 days later. I then dosed at 3ml every 24 hours for a week, again they disappeared. I've had two additional relapses but quickly controlled the Dino's immediately with 3ml of bleach. It's been about 10 days and I see no evidence of the scourge! I have started to increase the intensity of my lights and although my SPS were browned out with no PE, the colors are returning and there's some PE.

The Positives

• Elimination of Dinos... as @badd mentioned above " Reef Cancer"
• The ability to restock my reef with snails, and have them live!

The Negatives

• Loss of Mandarin, as mentioned in the Dino cure thread, fish are not tolerant...although my pair of Clarkii Clowns faired very well and drink cyanide as a cocktail.
• An explosion of hair algae... I can deal and live with this pretty easily. My new CUC crew is on the job as I write!
• I did not lose a single coral, but I've had some nice SPS mini colonies reduced to frags. I am certain this was not due to the bleach as the colonies were better than 1/2 dead from the Dino's prior to any bleach entering the tank.

 

[badd]

It's been about a month and a half since my last update and things have improved. I have been reluctant to update because within the battle to win the war there have been further set backs, losses and even a few relapses. I'm not superstitious, but honestly I'm afraid to say I have won the war. What has given me the upper hand? Bleach and the thread started by @twilliard ... thank you sir! I've had to dose bleach 4 different times over the past 7 weeks. I started with dosing 3ml every 12 hours for 4 days(my reef and sump contain a total of 55 G of water) and they disappeared only to reappear about 4-5 days later. I then dosed at 3ml every 24 hours for a week, again they disappeared. I've had two additional relapses but quickly controlled the Dino's immediately with 3ml of bleach. It's been about 10 days and I see no evidence of the scourge! I have started to increase the intensity of my lights and although my SPS were browned out with no PE, the colors are returning and there's some PE.

The Positives

• Elimination of Dinos... as @badd mentioned above " Reef Cancer"
• The ability to restock my reef with snails, and have them live!

The Negatives

• Loss of Mandarin, as mentioned in the Dino cure thread, fish are not tolerant...although my pair of Clarkii Clowns faired very well and drink cyanide as a cocktail.
• An explosion of hair algae... I can deal and live with this pretty easily. My new CUC crew is on the job as I write!
• I did not lose a single coral, but I've had some nice SPS mini colonies reduced to frags. I am certain this was not due to the bleach as the colonies were better than 1/2 dead from the Dino's prior to any bleach entering the tank.

Yes the GHA.. I was glad to see it..GHA could have covered my whole tank...as long as dinos was gone.. I still dose one 1.5ml with every other WC.. just to make sure.. Just now getting rid of GHA.. still have a few spots.. but snails and fox face kept it mowed down..
I think my fox face drinks cyanide for breakfast lol.. when the dinos was really bad.. he was sucking up dino strings like crazy..
I have discovered I did lose 2 emerald crabs.. never found them..
I still wont say I'm 100% cured.. because as soon as i do.. some mutant dino will appear

 

[Birddog]

I still wont say I'm 100% cured.. because as soon as i do.. some mutant dino will appear

I know exactly what you're saying and feel the same! Glad to hear about your success!

 

[Kentech5]

Quite the thread. Just read through it all. Thanks for sharing it all. Ive never had a dino outbreak but hopefully if I ever do Ill have some idea how to fight it and maybe some idea of what aggravates it.