Protist Identification

[eraserhead187]

Hey all,

I am recovering from a nasty outbreak of Ostreopsis ovatum. They seem to be pretty much gone now, but I just wondered if anyone could tell me what these guys are. The first one, I believe is amphidinium. They are always moving, but not too fast. The more spherical ones are the ones I am not sure about. They move fast. They don't seem to be a problem, there is really not much crap on the rocks or the sand any more. Luckily, I didn't lose any livestock during this outbreak other than a few snails. Thanks for the help!

 

[sfin52]

@taricha any thoughts.

 

[taricha]

first: yep. Amphidinium.

second:
Coolia! (check if the movement matches these vids to be sure.)
@reeferfoxx vid I think.

A couple of vids of mine.

 

[eraserhead187]

Oh yeah, that's absolutely it. Do these buggers cause any issues? They kind of cute, really. As long as they don't take over my tank and release all sorts of nasty toxins like the Ostreopsis, I'm okay with them. That was a nightmare. I guess I was extremely fortunate though, they didn't kill anything but some snails. Corals and my nem are getting happy again, and I have only been able to find the lone stray ostreopsis hanging around the tank. I'm still keeping up my treatment regimen though, at least for another week or so, just in case. I do NOT want them back.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[taricha]

Do these buggers cause any issues? They kind of cute, really. As long as they don't take over my tank and release all sorts of nasty toxins like the Ostreopsis, I'm okay with them

Yeah, these are dinoflagellates and though lower toxin, they still do a number chemically on the tank. The same things you are doing for Ostreopsis will be effective for coolia.
Amphidinium you will need another removal approach, since they never leave the sand.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Oh yeah, that's absolutely it. Do these buggers cause any issues? They kind of cute, really. As long as they don't take over my tank and release all sorts of nasty toxins like the Ostreopsis, I'm okay with them. That was a nightmare. I guess I was extremely fortunate though, they didn't kill anything but some snails. Corals and my nem are getting happy again, and I have only been able to find the lone stray ostreopsis hanging around the tank. I'm still keeping up my treatment regimen though, at least for another week or so, just in case. I do NOT want them back.

Thanks so much for your help!

You'll need to maintain nutrients(0.10 and 5-10) and UV if you don't have it. It might get nasty looking for a month or two but I suspect you'll end with one of species remaining. If you have a lot of hair algae and one type of dino remaining with high nutrients, stop dosing and let your levels fall. That was something I had to do with coolia. I left the tank alone for a month without doing anything but feeding fish. Try and keep that as a last resort.

 

[eraserhead187]

You'll need to maintain nutrients(0.10 and 5-10) and UV if you don't have it. It might get nasty looking for a month or two but I suspect you'll end with one of species remaining. If you have a lot of hair algae and one type of dino remaining with high nutrients, stop dosing and let your levels fall. That was something I had to do with coolia. I left the tank alone for a month without doing anything but feeding fish. Try and keep that as a last resort.

Thanks for the advice! Yes I am just recently running UV, just arrived last Friday, and I forgot to plug it in before I left the office for the weekend, of course. Last night would have been the first full night of it running. so when the lights pop on here in a bit, we will see if it made any progress. Luckily I don't have much algae in the tank right now, I managed to wipe most of it out when I treated for the dinos initially. Took a few different approaches, as you can imagine. Those Ostreopsis are nasty nasty.