Is this Dinoflagellates?

[Just John]

This has descriptions of the different types of dinos as well as microscope photos, if you decide to get one. It's worth downloading for the future, because you will likely get them again at some point (sorry for that bad news)

 

[Lavey29]

On my 660g I treated once over 2 years ago and it never returned
In my 135g , I saw it starting in July and stopped it before it progressed and that too never returned
The bacteria used was micro bacter 7 but the bacter XLM is even better

With over 30 years of experience, you knew enough to know that unless your parameters are kept reasonably stabil in the right areas, problems will never go away. I have no problems with your reactive suggestions to remedy the situation which will be effective but unless you fix the core problem the tank will struggle.

 

[vetteguy53081]

With over 30 years of experience, you knew enough to know that unless your parameters are kept reasonably stabil in the right areas, problems will never go away. I have no problems with your reactive suggestions to remedy the situation which will be effective but unless you fix the core problem the tank will struggle.

Consensus says that running low po4 and no3 are triggers. While they can be, I run my tanks at phosphate.01 and .02 respectively and nitrate at .2 smaller tank and .4 respectively
I’ve seen high nitrates trigger the same and especially cyano

 

[Lavey29]

Consensus says that running low po4 and no3 are triggers. While they can be, I run my tanks at phosphate.01 and .02 respectively and nitrate at .2 smaller tank and .4 respectively
I’ve seen high nitrates trigger the same and especially cyano

Obviously there are exceptions because each tank is unique in its own ways and once a tank is fully mature and established certain parameters may tweak to keep that balance. I've experienced the bottomed out problems and the majority of help me with algae threads are generally set ups less then few years old with low nutrients and still running chemicals to lower nutrients even more. My tank is only 9 months so I'm a novice but read a lot from you experienced guys and the overall factor in my early struggles dealt with bottomed out nutrients. Now that's been corrected, the tank is night and days better, not perfect, not mature but at least I can see progress with using little to no chemicals media just my fuge and skimmer now. I wish I had a huge tank like you but perhaps one day when I have enough experience.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Obviously there are exceptions because each tank is unique in its own ways and once a tank is fully mature and established certain parameters may tweak to keep that balance. I've experienced the bottomed out problems and the majority of help me with algae threads are generally set ups less then few years old with low nutrients and still running chemicals to lower nutrients even more. My tank is only 9 months so I'm a novice but read a lot from you experienced guys and the overall factor in my early struggles dealt with bottomed out nutrients. Now that's been corrected, the tank is night and days better, not perfect, not mature but at least I can see progress with using little to no chemicals media just my fuge and skimmer now. I wish I had a huge tank like you but perhaps one day when I have enough experience.

Great comments and I did one day say someday I’ll have a big tank. You will too, it starts with hope.
If you’re not aware, I am elegible to stop working in 27 weeks. Shortly after, I’m resuming my planning to relocate to Florida and have a 1500g awaiting my arrival. That there is my dream tank and will be final tank
Happy holidays

 

[Kongar]

Dinos suck. Looks like dinos to me. Have you found the megathread yet? That's worth reading. Lots of different types that respond to different treatments. Welcome to the club of dino depression - just remember you'll eventually win, but it might take a very long time, and every tank seems to be different.

Good luck.

 

[Just John]

Great comments and I did one day say someday I’ll have a big tank. You will too, it starts with hope.
If you’re not aware, I am elegible to stop working in 27 weeks. Shortly after, I’m resuming my planning to relocate to Florida and have a 1500g awaiting my arrival. That there is my dream tank and will be final tank
Happy holidays

Wow! That's big! Where in FL?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Wow! That's big! Where in FL?

My house is in Doral, but tank is in Medley, Fl

 

[Just John]

My house is in Doral, but tank is in Medley, Fl

Too far for me to bring over a 6-pack and ask to see your tank.

 

[Duncan62]

Everything is just a bandaid fix unless you address the underlying water parameter problems. All your coral will die. Your alk is to low you mag is to high and your nitrate and phosphate are 0. You will have never ending tank problems until you correct these areas. Some of the steps people mentioned will help but the tank problems will never go away.

Double 0s is a guarantee you will have an outbreak of dinos. Feed your system more. Use some flakes in the mix. Good source of phosphate. It won't go away overnight but it will resolve if you get your nutrients in balance. Those beneficial bacteria need food. Good luck.

 

[Duncan62]

I’m talking about 36+ Years in hobby and Dino- well over a dozen years. I owned a pet store with many tanks and had to fight this stuff. Experience with Dino- yes
Experience equals advice and generally respectful advice, not smart comments

Experience sure helps. Lol I'm a 40 + vet myself. Some people don't think advice without a string of links is valid. One PhD insists nitrite isn't bad for your fish till it kills them. I value tried and tested methods. Lots of these guys can't start a tank without chemicals. Thanks for you input. Some of us understood what you meant. You'd think someone with a tank that size would not need such simple advice.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Experience sure helps. Lol I'm a 40 + vet myself. Some people don't think advice without a string of links is valid. One PhD insists nitrite isn't bad for your fish till it kills them. I value tried and tested methods. Lots of these guys can't start a tank without chemicals. Thanks for you input. Some of us understood what you meant. You'd think someone with a tank that size would not need such simple advice.

Absolutely but all good. Cant say we seen it all, but to a small degree- we have

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

What test kits are you using?

I'm using

Phosphate = Aqua one Kit
Nitrate = Fluval kit
KH only = Salifert Kit
Ammonia = Salifert Kit
KH, MG, CA = Rikka Kit
Salinity = Refractometer

Temperature around 26 Celsius on chiller. (It's summer here in Australia)

I will look into getting a better test kit for phosphate and look into the parameters you sent.

I was trying to get KH a bit higher though my friend told me is better having stability and raise it slowly.

Also I will follow your tip on the UV.

I have some live phytoplankton in a bottle in the fridge that i got from a local. Would dosing it also help?

After manual removal of the excess it does look quite better i guess I will just chip it away.


Thanks for the help.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'm using

Phosphate = Aqua one Kit
Nitrate = Fluval kit
KH only = Salifert Kit
Ammonia = Salifert Kit
KH, MG, CA = Rikka Kit
Salinity = Refractometer

Temperature around 26 Celsius on chiller. (It's summer here in Australia)

I will look into getting a better test kit for phosphate and look into the parameters you sent.

I was trying to get KH a bit higher though my friend told me is better having stability and raise it slowly.

Also I will follow your tip on the UV.

I have some live phytoplankton in a bottle in the fridge that i got from a local. Would dosing it also help?

After manual removal of the excess it does look quite better i guess I will just chip it away.


Thanks for the help.

No Phyto for now. Just having lights off will help tremendously. I was at work earlier trying to get tommorows work done also so I can have off monday which I accomplished. Here is what I generally recommend and has worked for numerous people:
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

 

[Duncan62]

No Phyto for now. Just having lights off will help tremendously. I was at work earlier trying to get tommorows work done also so I can have off monday which I accomplished. Here is what I generally recommend and has worked for numerous people:
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

Water change often exacerbates dinos. Your just doing more nutrient reduction. Run uv at night. Feed tank. Blow off rocks and sand before at lights out. I never do a Blackout but it does speed up the process and most times it's OK with corals. Gradually increase nutrients and the dinos will recede. There is no quick fix but it can be managed by simply feeding your animals. Best wishes and merry Christmas. Send us a pic in a couple week of your beautiful dino free tank!

 

[Duncan62]

Consensus says that running low po4 and no3 are triggers. While they can be, I run my tanks at phosphate.01 and .02 respectively and nitrate at .2 smaller tank and .4 respectively
I’ve seen high nitrates trigger the same and especially cyano

Agree with cyano, but I'm many years of this my opinion is the p04 at 0 is the trigger. My tanks measure the close to the same. I keep p04 a little higher though occasionally over feeding. I use algea as primary filtration so it works for me. The downside of algea is also its efficiency. Don't feed or harvest and you got double zeros.

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

Thanks guys. I did reduce the lights though i might not do a blackout yet.

I'm doing a lot of manual removal and siphoning the excess at night, keeping uv on at night and dosing the hydrogen peroxide.

And i did order some of the microbacter7 to dose though as it's Christmas time will only arrive in January. Good to have in hand though.

Changing that filter socks quite often as they are getting dirty with the algae.

Sadly my Tunze osmolator is playing up so i had to turn it off and do manual top ups. The sensor is not working properly and it's filling until it gets to the float valve and gives high pitched noise which is a pain.

Do you guys recommend me to get some macroalgae or chaeto?

I have a refugium empty and a spare kessil. I could set it up on the sump, do you think this would help me control the dinos ?

Thank you again.

 

[Duncan62]

Thanks guys. I did reduce the lights though i might not do a blackout yet.

I'm doing a lot of manual removal and siphoning the excess at night, keeping uv on at night and dosing the hydrogen peroxide.

And i did order some of the microbacter7 to dose though as it's Christmas time will only arrive in January. Good to have in hand though.

Changing that filter socks quite often as they are getting dirty with the algae.

Sadly my Tunze osmolator is playing up so i had to turn it off and do manual top ups. The sensor is not working properly and it's filling until it gets to the float valve and gives high pitched noise which is a pain.

Do you guys recommend me to get some macroalgae or chaeto?

I have a refugium empty and a spare kessil. I could set it up on the sump, do you think this would help me control the dinos ?

Thank you again.

No macro yet. Lack of nutrients is the problem. Blackout might speed up initial removal but if nutrient imbalance is corrected they will return. Feed tank. Run uv at night. Achieve balance and the will disappear.