[rant] Dino warfare is getting to me

[magikfly]

I've been battling dino's for over a month after my nutrients bottomed out. I tried blackouts, upped my feeding and hooked up a 55W UV. Nothing worked until I used Dino-X. After that cyano popped up ofcourse, so I resumed WC's and GFO usage. Long story short, the dino's are back. :mad::mad:
So now I'm gonna come at it from all angles; UV, H2O2, Dino-X, 4 day blackout, Fauna Marin's Reef therapy+reef blend, and about a million live pods. Some corals will likely take a hit but this nuisance needs to die once and for all.
/end rant

 

[Mikedawg]

I've been battling dino's for over a month after my nutrients bottomed out. I tried blackouts, upped my feeding and hooked up a 55W UV. Nothing worked until I used Dino-X. After that cyano popped up ofcourse, so I resumed WC's and GFO usage. Long story short, the dino's are back. :mad::mad:
So now I'm gonna come at it from all angles; UV, H2O2, Dino-X, 4 day blackout, Fauna Marin's Reef therapy+reef blend, and about a million live pods. Some corals will likely take a hit but this nuisance needs to die once and for all.
/end rant

I feel your pain; it's a war, not just a battle. Good luck and please post details about the strategy that worked for you.

 

[JAMSOURY]

I've been battling dino's for over a month after my nutrients bottomed out. I tried blackouts, upped my feeding and hooked up a 55W UV. Nothing worked until I used Dino-X. After that cyano popped up ofcourse, so I resumed WC's and GFO usage. Long story short, the dino's are back. :mad::mad:
So now I'm gonna come at it from all angles; UV, H2O2, Dino-X, 4 day blackout, Fauna Marin's Reef therapy+reef blend, and about a million live pods. Some corals will likely take a hit but this nuisance needs to die once and for all.
/end rant

Yeah, I hate dino’s. More importantly, did you id which type you have?

 

[Jonathan Troutt]

Just goes to show what works for one will not work for another. A uv sterilizer got rid of them entirely for me. I feel your pain though man. They suck hard core

 

[magikfly]

Yeah, I hate dino’s. More importantly, did you id which type you have?

The first I didnt ID since I didnt have a microscope, now I've got aphidium it seems mixed with cyano.

 

[magikfly]

Just goes to show what works for one will not work for another. A uv sterilizer got rid of them entirely for me. I feel your pain though man. They suck hard core

I don't want to tear the tank down, got it just the way I like it. But if this doesn't work out, I'll consider that option.

 

[dwest]

The first I didnt ID since I didnt have a microscope, now I've got aphidium it seems mixed with cyano.

Sorry. I’ve dealt with dino twice in my long career. I’ve also read most of the big dino threads. Amphidinium are really tough.

I am concerned about gfo. What happened in my tank was that I stripped nutrients to very low levels because of heavy gfo usage. The only thing that could grow was dinos.

I would start by getting back measurable nitrates and phosphates by not using gfo or other nutrient removers. I would stop the chemical warfare as well. I don’t recall much success with those long term. You may have success dosing silicates to encourage the growth of diatoms.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/amphidinium-dinoflagellate-treatment-methods.365850/

 

[magikfly]

Sorry. I’ve dealt with dino twice in my long career. I’ve also read most of the big dino threads. Amphidinium are really tough.

I am concerned about gfo. What happened in my tank was that I stripped nutrients to very low levels because of heavy gfo usage. The only thing that could grow was dinos.

I would start by getting back measurable nitrates and phosphates by not using gfo or other nutrient removers. I would stop the chemical warfare as well. I don’t recall much success with those long term. You may have success dosing silicates to encourage the growth of diatoms.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/amphidinium-dinoflagellate-treatment-methods.365850/

I stopped GFO and carbon usage as soon as I noticed they'd returned. The idea is during the blackout, when they're mostly floating around, to kill them with UV, H2O2 and Dino-X. I don't like chemical warfare in my tank as well, but dino's are too tough to expect results from just balancing nutrient levels and other indirect influences

 

[ZoWhat]

IMO

Throw CHEMICLEAN at it. Follow the instructions to the "T"

Best tip is to take the top off your skimmer, remove any skimmer drain line and dial your skimmer to the 100% MAX overflowing right back into the tank water / sump water

It should look like a SW bubble volcano overflowing like crazy

THIS OXYGENATES your tank so your fish dont suffocate from lack if O2 as Chemiclean does its thing.

Once Chemiclean is over you gotta do strict WATERCHANGES for the next 4-6 weeks.

Maybe even redose the tank with Live Bacteria

 

[magikfly]

IMO

Throw CHEMICLEAN at it. Follow the instructions to the "T"

Best tip is to take the top off your skimmer, remove any skimmer drain line and dial your skimmer to the 100% MAX overflowing right back into the tank water / sump water

It should look like a SW bubble volcano overflowing like crazy

THIS OXYGENATES your tank so your fish dont suffocate from lack if O2 as Chemiclean does its thing.

Once Chemiclean is over you gotta do strict WATERCHANGES for the next 4-6 weeks.

Maybe even redose the tank with Live Bacteria

First I want to erradicate dino's, chemiclean doesnt do anything to that stuff. Cyano I can handle without chemiclean, it's pretty easy to beat.

 

[ZoWhat]

First I want to erradicate dino's, chemiclean doesnt do anything to that stuff. Cyano I can handle without chemiclean, it's pretty easy to beat.

A cool video showing that a 3 day blackout covering the tank 100% with CARDBOARD ....plus.... adding live bacteria.... beat dino quickly and easily

 

[saltyhog]

I stopped GFO and carbon usage as soon as I noticed they'd returned. The idea is during the blackout, when they're mostly floating around, to kill them with UV, H2O2 and Dino-X. I don't like chemical warfare in my tank as well, but dino's are too tough to expect results from just balancing nutrient levels and other indirect influences

Unfortunately amphidinium doesn't go in to the water column, so it's one UV isn't as effective for. As I recall, Taricha kept a culture of them in darkness for weeks with no effect.

Have you tried dosing silicates? That's another thing I'm presently doing and many have had success doing that.

 

[magikfly]

Unfortunately amphidinium doesn't go in to the water column, so it's one UV isn't as effective for. As I recall, Taricha kept a culture of them in darkness for weeks with no effect.

Have you tried dosing silicates? That's another thing I'm presently doing and many have had success doing that.

What's the idea behind dosing silicates?

 

[dwest]

What's the idea behind dosing silicates?

Silicates promote the growth of diatoms which compete with dinos.

 

[Octane13]

what size tank? Is it feasible to do large water changes? I battled for a couple months in my 40 among other issues. I tried all of the "fixes" finally got fed up tinkering and causing more issues. I did 20 gallon changes every day (largest I could do at one time) while running UV and keeping refugium light off. I focused on siphoning the sand and heavily occupied rock areas. The thought was to get as much out as possible and any free floaters kicked up by the siphon or filling the tank back up would get hit by the UV. It was a lot of work moving water around but it was clear within the first 3 days and has not returned been in 3-4 months. I did keep the UV going for some time probably 2 more weeks just to be sure.

Before
What the middle area of the tank looks like now... don't have any new full shots

 

[dwest]

what size tank? Is it feasible to do large water changes? I battled for a couple months in my 40 among other issues. I tried all of the "fixes" finally got fed up tinkering and causing more issues. I did 20 gallon changes every day (largest I could do at one time) while running UV and keeping refugium light off. I focused on siphoning the sand and heavily occupied rock areas. The thought was to get as much out as possible and any free floaters kicked up by the siphon or filling the tank back up would get hit by the UV. It was a lot of work moving water around but it was clear within the first 3 days and has not returned been in 3-4 months. I did keep the UV going for some time probably 2 more weeks just to be sure.

Before
What the middle area of the tank looks like now... don't have any new full shots

Look great!

Did you ID them? Did you try UV without water changes before you did UV with wc?

 

[acro-ed]

My experience several years ago was with Ostreopsis ovata, so it may not be directly comparable. I tried peroxide dosing and blackouts and it didn't help; they came back within a few days. What did work was getting green algae (of any sort) to grow and out-compete the dino's. I added some nasty rock from my other system's sump that was full of detritus/sponge/etc, some bottled bacteria, and some macro algae. I then turned off the skimmer and kept feeding and let it ride. The dino's died off and never returned.

 

[Octane13]

Look great!

Did you ID them? Did you try UV without water changes before you did UV with wc?

I did run uv but it only took out some of the stuff on the rocks and glass never touched the sand. Ostreopsis and possibly amphidinium but those are based on research and movement. I never got positive confirmation from any experts.