Ostreopsis Dino?

[MadTownFess]

Can someone confirm that's the type I have? Thanks in advance

 

[Mykesocalreef]

My guess would be yes, mine were identical and was the confirmation I was given.

 

[MadTownFess]

My guess would be yes, mine were identical and was the confirmation I was given.

How did you get rid of them?

 

[Mykesocalreef]

uv light, dosed nitrates and phosphates. I believe mine started when my nitrates went to unreadable via redsea test kit. Right after I plumbed my two tanks together. They were gone in about 48 hours.

 

[brandon429]

if you have a nano, take it apart and clean them out of the whole system all at once. we have 20+ page threads on the action

not a water change, literally taking the reef apart, cleaning it, setting it up back as new, though it is technically ____ days old already. excluding every cell of the invader but keeping all the other items we want. not hard

if you have a large tank, then the inevitable delay allows massing time/standard battle continues

hoping this is nano, an opt out option awaits. for a large tank, they will opt directly in to a full on invasion. all based on gallons, not species. anything that can be drained 100% into a brute can I consider a nano, so I guess fifty gallons and below are better off being cleaned vs taking risks with time/allowed mass

 

[saltyhog]

Yes that is definitely Ostreopsis.

I will have to disagree with brandon a little. Unless you are ready to completely start over....meaning you don't use any of your present live rock, sand, corals, inverts. If you do you will undoubtedly transfer some dinos back in to the system. In short I don't believe there is much way to keep these guys out of our systems. I suspect almost all tanks have some. They cause problems when conditions are right for them to dominate. Most commonly that is very low PO4, NO3 and lack of biodiversity.

The good news is Ostreopsis goes in to the water column at night and is therefore one of the easier dinos to control and possibly even eradicate. UV is by far the most useful tool. Recommend 1 watt for every 3 gallons of system size and run water through it at 1-3 times total system volume. Raising NO3 and PO4 with non organic dosing (not overfeeding) is also very important. Dosing silicates to increase diatoms (which can compete with the dinos as well as be a food source for increasing predators that eat dinos) can also help. Let me know if you need further clarification on these measures (how to implement)

I literally had my dinos disappear almost over night with the addition of UV.

 

[MTBake]

Agree with @saltyhog on this one.

I battled the same dinos. Dosing nitrates and phosphates along with UV got rid of them for me. It took 3 months of dosing and uv to rid them from my tank.

 

[MadTownFess]

Yes that is definitely Ostreopsis.

I will have to disagree with brandon a little. Unless you are ready to completely start over....meaning you don't use any of your present live rock, sand, corals, inverts. If you do you will undoubtedly transfer some dinos back in to the system. In short I don't believe there is much way to keep these guys out of our systems. I suspect almost all tanks have some. They cause problems when conditions are right for them to dominate. Most commonly that is very low PO4, NO3 and lack of biodiversity.

The good news is Ostreopsis goes in to the water column at night and is therefore one of the easier dinos to control and possibly even eradicate. UV is by far the most useful tool. Recommend 1 watt for every 3 gallons of system size and run water through it at 1-3 times total system volume. Raising NO3 and PO4 with non organic dosing (not overfeeding) is also very important. Dosing silicates to increase diatoms (which can compete with the dinos as well as be a food source for increasing predators that eat dinos) can also help. Let me know if you need further clarification on these measures (how to implement)

I literally had my dinos disappear almost over night with the addition of UV.

I really want to run UV, the problem is my tank is an AIO, so I dont really have room to put another pump, unless I literally put it in the DT. The dinos are not out of control, but they are definitely present. Do you know if dosing Hydrogen Peroxide will kill the Ostreposis kind?

 

[MTBake]

I really want to run UV, the problem is my tank is an AIO, so I dont really have room to put another pump, unless I literally put it in the DT. The dinos are not out of control, but they are definitely present. Do you know if dosing Hydrogen Peroxide will kill the Ostreposis kind?

Fwiw, peroxide seemed to knock them back for a couple days at most. They came right back while I was dosing peroxide.

I run my uv in my display tank. It's a little unsightly. I'd rather see the uv than dinos though.

 

[saltyhog]

I really want to run UV, the problem is my tank is an AIO, so I dont really have room to put another pump, unless I literally put it in the DT. The dinos are not out of control, but they are definitely present. Do you know if dosing Hydrogen Peroxide will kill the Ostreposis kind?

I completely understand. I resisted doing it for a long time because of what @MTBake said. In my case it literally cost me all of my SPS and several high end zoas. Try the nutrient elevation, biodiversity and silicates but be ready to act quickly if they start causing your corals to be stressed!

I would also recommend running carbon and changing it weekly while treating by any means. Ostreopsis release toxins when stressed/killed that can harm corals and inverts(as I'm told). My corals certainly looked much better after starting GAC when I was treating.

 

[MadTownFess]

I completely understand. I resisted doing it for a long time because of what @MTBake said. In my case it literally cost me all of my SPS and several high end zoas. Try the nutrient elevation, biodiversity and silicates but be ready to act quickly if they start causing your corals to be stressed!

I would also recommend running carbon and changing it weekly while treating by any means. Ostreopsis release toxins when stressed/killed that can harm corals and inverts(as I'm told). My corals certainly looked much better after starting GAC when I was treating.

How would you suggest adding biodiversity? I was thinking about ordering Pods from AlgaeBarn. What would be your thoughts in an AIO UV Sterilizer? I only have a 45 gallon tank, and the one I linked seems like it would fit in the back of MaxE170. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...m1-20&linkId=971a70b67f3839309866f5f577258470

 

[saltyhog]

How would you suggest adding biodiversity? I was thinking about ordering Pods from AlgaeBarn. What would be your thoughts in an AIO UV Sterilizer? I only have a 45 gallon tank, and the one I linked seems like it would fit in the back of MaxE170. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...m1-20&linkId=971a70b67f3839309866f5f577258470

Pods are good, adding a piece of live rock from another source, adding bacteria (like Microbacter7, Fritz Turbostart,etc) would also be ways to add biodiversity. I wish I could tell you about that particular UV unit but I'm not familiar enough with it. I will say it is adequately sized for your tank.

 

[MTBake]

How would you suggest adding biodiversity? I was thinking about ordering Pods from AlgaeBarn. What would be your thoughts in an AIO UV Sterilizer? I only have a 45 gallon tank, and the one I linked seems like it would fit in the back of MaxE170. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...m1-20&linkId=971a70b67f3839309866f5f577258470

That's the same UV I'm using. It does work ok. There are better units out there but they're also a lot more expensive. This one will make a difference in the dino population. I've also heard good things about the Jeboa units. I cant comment on those though as I've never used one.

Best to combat these things early. They can get a strong hold in our tanks which makes them harder to eradicate. The sooner you start the fight, the better, imo.

 

[MadTownFess]

That's the same UV I'm using. It does work ok. There are better units out there but they're also a lot more expensive. This one will make a difference in the dino population. I've also heard good things about the Jeboa units. I cant comment on those though as I've never used one.

Best to combat these things early. They can get a strong hold in our tanks which makes them harder to eradicate. The sooner you start the fight, the better, imo.

Just ordered it, I have been battling these for a few months now, need to try something different. They are in "control" at the moment, so I think this one will suffice to finish them off. With me having an AIO system without a sump, going the not AIO system like the Jeboa isn't really an option. I think I got them when my phosphates were at 0 the first few months of the tank, when I was stupidly running GFO. I have since got my levels to be non-zero (5 ppm Nitrate, .02 phosphate), so I think if I can kill them all, my tank is now in a good place where the conditions are no longer ideal for them to bloom. Fingers crossed, I have lost too many corals already, and to be honest this hobby as been nothing but disappointing so far....I want to actually get excited to watch something grow, rather than watch everything slowly die

 

[JAMSOURY]

I also used the green machine on ostreo. Cleared mine up pretty quickly

 

[MTBake]

Just ordered it, I have been battling these for a few months now, need to try something different. They are in "control" at the moment, so I think this one will suffice to finish them off. With me having an AIO system without a sump, going the not AIO system like the Jeboa isn't really an option. I think I got them when my phosphates were at 0 the first few months of the tank, when I was stupidly running GFO. I have since got my levels to be non-zero (5 ppm Nitrate, .02 phosphate), so I think if I can kill them all, my tank is now in a good place where the conditions are no longer ideal for them to bloom. Fingers crossed, I have lost too many corals already, and to be honest this hobby as been nothing but disappointing so far....I want to actually get excited to watch something grow, rather than watch everything slowly die

I've lost a lot of coral fighting these myself. I'm finally starting to see pods on my glass again. Going to give it another 2 weeks before adding any livestock to the tank.

As far as the uv goes;

I took the blue intake sponge off the unit. The dying dinos clog it up quickly. Once the population decreased my a little over half, I added it back onto the unit. I would also clean it as needed to keep it flowing good.

 

[brandon429]

Regarding the care options presented, try and locate any running pico reef on the web with an enduring dinos invasion, post back.

alternately, try not to find a large tank post regarding dinos on any forum, neat detail regarding volume/care/outcome

we're talking like five thousand or more working examples of hand guided tanks that measure for no param, stocking from the same coral areas/online sources ya'll get, that are zero invaded across genera

we did that by not following what large tankers do, and we keep the same coral. ya'll just get the better fish...examples really are searchable. try nano-reef.com, look for em-how in the world can an entire forum be dinos free among reef tanks? pico reefs forum there, goes back to 2006

that doesn't mean the job is easy or practical in large tanks, there are times you need to clean twice, due to the initial hesitation. ranges job to job. either way, you have an armada of examples to see how hand guiding works, its purely a gallonage-based assessment. our biology is exactly as stable or possibly better than the group that is constantly invaded, and, we don't have to rinse forever.

we guide initially. all the old pico reefs are totally hands off just shy of water changes occasionally. invasionless, due to willing access right at the start when it was needed the most, right when most leave the invasion in the tank to grow on purpose.

 

[MadTownFess]

Regarding the care options presented, try and locate any running pico reef on the web with an enduring dinos invasion, post back.

alternately, try not to find a large tank post regarding dinos on any forum, neat detail regarding volume/care/outcome

we're talking like five thousand or more working examples of hand guided tanks that measure for no param, stocking from the same coral areas/online sources ya'll get, that are zero invaded across genera

we did that by not following what large tankers do, and we keep the same coral. ya'll just get the better fish...examples really are searchable. try nano-reef.com, look for em-how in the world can an entire forum be dinos free among reef tanks? pico reefs forum there, goes back to 2006

that doesn't mean the job is easy or practical in large tanks, there are times you need to clean twice, due to the initial hesitation. ranges job to job. either way, you have an armada of examples to see how hand guiding works, its purely a gallonage-based assessment. our biology is exactly as stable or possibly better than the group that is constantly invaded, and, we don't have to rinse forever.

we guide initially. all the old pico reefs are totally hands off just shy of water changes occasionally. invasionless, due to willing access right at the start when it was needed the most, right when most leave the invasion in the tank to grow on purpose.

What exactly am I supposed to get out of this to help my situation? Confused.

 

[brandon429]

clearly that's a retort to the offer above my advice wouldn't help. My first post has the info. its rare for people to consider it, not a prob at all. can leave the dinos in the system and try the recommended options.

we literally have to offer 20 or 30 times to have one person fed up enough with dinos, and with the gallons to allow access, willing to simply clean the tank free of invasion. the offer comes to you from the uninvaded option set, and the large majority of reefers disagree with the offer.

 

[Ernie C]

I'm for raising NO3 and PO4, siphoning them out through a filter sock and UV. I had ostreopsis bad and lost several corals. It started off not so bad and then got worse. I got a cheap over-sized UV on amazon and have it over my display tank. Recently shut it off and watching to see if they return. Added some LFS live rock rubble to boost bacterial diversity and ordered a population of amphipods too. Been a couple of months now with things back to normal. I plan on removing the UV and keeping it ready if they ever show up again.