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View Full Version : After six years I'm done with this hobby... Dinoflagellates


Roggio
04/06/2015, 12:27 PM
I have spent close to 7-8 thousand dollars setting up my system. I recently lost corals I had grown for years and several fish. Turns out I have dinoflagellates. I removed what little coral I had left and put black garbage bags around my tank to keep any light out. It was lights out on my tank for over a week (almost two) I did a 200 gallon water change and added a completely new sand bed (my system is 550 gallons total volume) the sand bed alone was a 300 dollar investment. I've had the lights back on for a few days and my tank is covered in dinoflagellates again... I run GFO, a SRO 500 skimmer, have a 40 gallon fuge, carbon. I'm done, I cant spend anymore money in this hobby just to watch my pets die.

I have tried everything to get rid of this stuff and it is impossible. it grows no matter what and slowly kills everything. It looks like **** too. I have spent countless hours reading how to get rid of this **** and I'm done investing money.

chefbill
04/06/2015, 01:15 PM
sorryu to hear about it. I understand discouragement, but there is a way to beat everything.

toothybugs
04/06/2015, 01:38 PM
I went through a dino blitz and hydrogen peroxide did 'em in. Lights out didn't, H2O2 did. Plus for the cost it's hard to beat. For a system your size, a month of dosing might run you 20 bucks tops.

Potsy
04/06/2015, 01:48 PM
I had ostreopsis dinos two years ago. They are partially photosynthetic and hibernate indefinitely without light. Rather than engage in a prolonged battle, I just reset the tank. Experimenting with my microscope, I found that dipping all new additions in freshwater for a few seconds will kill any dino stowaways.

domvert
04/06/2015, 01:49 PM
I went through this for about 4 months- I had to do multiple 3-4 day lights out but what I think did it in was ULTRA ALGEA X- two treatments and it was cured

Reef Frog
04/06/2015, 02:06 PM
I would second the idea of using full tank hydrogen peroxide treatment before pulling the plug on the hobby. During & after treatment I suggest a heavy water change schedule and detrius removal so the dead cellular material's contents can not be recycled into the next generation. Also keep running the GFO and GAC and change it out frequently.

Seriously, this should work for you with minimal side effects. (It can be hard on some shrimp & inverts).

pakirri
04/07/2015, 10:19 AM
It all depends on the type of Dyno you have. Right now, I have ostreopsis (confirmed by Greg who I consider an expert on Dynos, his username is Pants) and I have tried multiple methods on getting rid of them like lights out, peroxide, microbe lift bacteria, ultra algae X, etc and none have worked. I have a small tank, total water volume is around 35 gallons.

ReefsandGeeks
04/07/2015, 11:08 AM
I'm having the same problem now, but it's only recently gotten bad. I've added GFO, skimming wetter, and started peroxide yesterday. If you're honestly considering quiting the hobby, you could do increasing levels of peroxide. Even removing your corals, and dipping the rocks directly in it. Being that it's cheap, I'd do that before quiting. especialy with such an investment in the hobby. I do have a fire shrimp and snails, but if the peroxide does work without killing off my coral, I'll just have to accept what losses i get. A chance to get some new pet snails. I wouldn't replace the shrimp though. My shrimp always seem to hide indefinently.