Nuclear option

[Scooter902]

A little about me. A couple years ago I was running a 250gal SPS system. The maintenance became overwhelming so decided to take a break and sold everything off. About 8 months ago I decided to get back in.

40b display.

40l for a sump.

Reef octopus 160 skimmer.

WP40 for flow and mag 9 return pump with a manifold for reactors.

T5 lighting.

Only fish I have are 3 small chromis. A few chalices, zoas, acans, and Duncan's are it for corals. Feed very little to the fish.

Parameters are all stable.

About 4 months ago I ended up getting Dino's from some where. No idea where I got it. I used all dry rock and have only added a few corals.

For the last four months I have being patient and making sure my water was clean and stable. Unfortunately they seem to be getting worse not better.


At this point I am considering getting out again. I have done a lot of research and nothing seems to work.

SO before I start selling stuff off does anyone have any suggestions I could try. It's ok if it's a little risky because my other option is getting out completely.

Few pics.

One weird thing is corals seem to be doing fine. Good color an decent growth. Go figure.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/04/azatyjyb.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/04/yseze9yt.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/04/ga4e3a9a.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/04/ygery7u2.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/04/gedyqa5a.jpg

[disc1]

Parameters are all stable.

And the numbers are...
?
?
?
?

RODI or tap water?

Water changes? How big how often?

[NastyZ]

This worked for me

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2352985&highlight=how+to+beat+dino

[nmbeg]

Just saw an interesting thread about RODI reservoir being a bacterial swamp--perhaps check the TDS of the water in your reservoir.

[Scooter902]

Cal 425
Alk 10
Mag 1350
Amon 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate very low

Can't test for phosphate.

I have no visible algae, cyano, or diatoms.

[jimmyj7090]

What have you tried to fight the dinos?

Elevated PH?
Blackout?
Peroxide?

[Angelos Christo]

I was ready to give up too but Fauna marin's Algeax worked for me. Problem finally solved.
Good luck.

[Potsy]

It's hard to tell from the photos if those are indeed dinos. Are they gone or reduced in presence when you turn your lights on? Are there any snotty strands of filaments? Do they easily blow off the rocks? Any dead snails?

Don't give up. A 40 gallon is an easy tank to restart if it should come to that. When transferring livestock back to the tank, a few seconds in a freshwater dip will kill dinos (I've verified this with my microscope). With a restart, bacterial additive like dr. Tim's, and few dips, the dinos will vanish for good.

[Scooter902]

Yes they are stringy and gooey. I fairly sure they are Dino's. I have been reef keeping for awhile now and this first I have had something like this.

I have tried a 3 day lights out but that seemed to have no effect. Are there any examples of peroxide actually working?

Have not tried elevated PH because when I was doing research it was always mentioned but I couldn't find a single case where that actually fixed it.

[Scooter902]

This worked for me

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2352985&highlight=how+to+beat+dino

Thanks NastyZ. Looks like you threw the boom at them. I think I will try the same.

[jimmyj7090]

Yes they are stringy and gooey. I fairly sure they are Dino's. I have been reef keeping for awhile now and this first I have had something like this.

I have tried a 3 day lights out but that seemed to have no effect. Are there any examples of peroxide actually working?

Have not tried elevated PH because when I was doing research it was always mentioned but I couldn't find a single case where that actually fixed it.

I've used elevated PH via carefully contolled 24/7 kalk dosing to kill off dinos in two seperate systems.

I have heard many people say that they have been successful with peroxide dosing, but personally that approach scares me so if I had to do it again I would try elevated PH first.

[Potsy]

The problem with blackout periods is that if your particular strain of dinos is "mixotrophic," that is only partially photosynthetic, it would take a LONG time to kill them off. The strain I dealt with was ostreopsis, a mixotrophic species. Originally, they went away on their own, but when I restarted my tank much later, I had a larger, more invasive bloom. Tried peroxide, lights out, siphoning, and nothing worked. Since it's only a 50 gallon and had few corals in it, I just put the livestock in the quarantine tank, and poured bleach in the display tank. After neutralizing the bleach with sodium thiosulfate and completing the cycle, I dipped all snails, coral, and fish in freshwater for a few seconds, killing the dinos, and placed them back in the tank. No dinos ever since.

Now, the interesting part is that my quarantine tank, which has been in darkness for months, still has stray ostreopsis dinos in it. If I put a water sample under the microscope I can see a few floating around. If I put anything from that qt tank in the display without first fw dipping it, it's back to another dino bloom.

I'd just wash/bleach and restart the tank. Cycle it very quickly with some bacterial additive. Dip the livestock in RO water for a few seconds. By the time you would have possibly given up trying to eradicate them with peroxide, blackouts, and elevated pH, your tank would be restarted and restocked. Dip all incoming livestock for a few seconds, or get a microscope to check for dinos, and you'll never have them again.

[nmbeg]

The problem with blackout periods is that if your particular strain of dinos is "mixotrophic," that is only partially photosynthetic, it would take a LONG time to kill them off. The strain I dealt with was ostreopsis, a mixotrophic species. Originally, they went away on their own, but when I restarted my tank much later, I had a larger, more invasive bloom. Tried peroxide, lights out, siphoning, and nothing worked. Since it's only a 50 gallon and had few corals in it, I just put the livestock in the quarantine tank, and poured bleach in the display tank. After neutralizing the bleach with sodium thiosulfate and completing the cycle, I dipped all snails, coral, and fish in freshwater for a few seconds, killing the dinos, and placed them back in the tank. No dinos ever since.

Now, the interesting part is that my quarantine tank, which has been in darkness for months, still has stray ostreopsis dinos in it. If I put a water sample under the microscope I can see a few floating around. If I put anything from that qt tank in the display without first fw dipping it, it's back to another dino bloom.

I'd just wash/bleach and restart the tank. Cycle it very quickly with some bacterial additive. Dip the livestock in RO water for a few seconds. By the time you would have possibly given up trying to eradicate them with peroxide, blackouts, and elevated pH, your tank would be restarted and restocked. Dip all incoming livestock for a few seconds, or get a microscope to check for dinos, and you'll never have them again.

Why don't you apply same treatment to your QT? And is a few seconds really enough to kill a dino?

[M Woodhill]

Thanks NastyZ. Looks like you threw the boom at them. I think I will try the same.

dude, you don't have much things so do yourself a favor:

get a bottle of Fauna Marin Algae X, follow the manual and see what's happening

I had a very bad outbreak of dinos and it did work for me

[Potsy]

Why don't you apply same treatment to your QT? And is a few seconds really enough to kill a dino?

I easily could, but I'd like to know how long the dinos can go without light... If mixotrophic species can exist indefinitely in a cyst stage.

It appears that a few seconds is all that's needed. I got the idea from a microbiologist who specializes in dinos. Under the microscope I can see they die right away in the Petri dish when I add a few drops of freshwater.

[Scooter902]

dude, you don't have much things so do yourself a favor:

get a bottle of Fauna Marin Algae X, follow the manual and see what's happening

I had a very bad outbreak of dinos and it did work for me

Where do you buy it? Looks like BRS had it but it's been out of stock for awhile now. Sounds like some people are having success with it. I think I will try that fort if I can get my hands on some.

[Scooter902]

Started dosing algae X today. I will continue to update with pics as the treatment goes on.

[DM1975]

I've been using peroxide with some good results so far. I'm tagging along to see what the Algae X does though.

[Scooter902]

3 days into dosing and it looks like it starting to shrink back a little. Could be just wishful thinking. I will try to get some pictures tonight. Only running my light a for 4 hours so it's hard to catch the tank with the lights on.

Scott

[Scooter902]

Well I finished dosing today. Did a big water change and added carbon. I haven't updated because nothing has changed. I would say at best the algae X slowed the growth of the Dino's.

I going to give the tank a week or two to recover and then do a 5 day complete black out. Will post results then.

[Potsy]

Ultra Algae X did nothing when I had dinos. My guess is that my species - ostreopsis - go into a protective cyst stage. Do you know of anyone with a microscope?

[Scooter902]

Hey potsy. I know a guy who works in a lab. If I can get him a sample this weekend what should he be looking for?

[Scooter902]

So what would happen if I fresh water dipped all my rocks? Would the tank crash? I know the corals would live no problem.