Quote:
Originally Posted by DNA
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The square is still there.
Last year I did jet another of my brilliant tests.
I siphoned off the top layer of sand into a bucket and let it dry out killing loads of dinos.
Some months later I dumped all the sand back into the tank, knowing there were lots of toxins going in with it. A Royal Gramma and a pair of Mandarins died in the days that followed. Much of the dino population disappeared as well.
The square test and the dead dino tests are virtually the same.
I'm theorizing that Ostreopsis dinoflagellates can't tolerate their own toxins.
This is the limiting factor on dino densities I've been looking for since day one.
Did we just reach another milestone?
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Most of the authors (Borneman, Calfo, Fenner) I've read on dinos say the bloom will burn itself out. That would be consistent with your toxin theory, and what happens in nature. Sure isn't happening in my tank though. Possibly 'burn out' doesn't happen until every living thing in there is dead and the nutrients are gone. Many natural dino blooms are seasonal- we may not have the cues, light or temp or whatever, that tells them to knock it off.
You lost fish that depend heavily/solely on pod population. Significant? Or were they just the smallest fish you had? I would have predicted worsening of dinos as the sand might have contained cysts.
Scraping and siphoning anything in my tank has been very dangerous; I've had animals die every time I got carried away with cleaning. You didn't have success with the recycled skimmate additions though, did you? I tried it on my tank and it made things much worse immediately.
The most frustrating thing is we just don't know if everyone on this thread is dealing with the same genus of dinos. Both of us seem to have more toxicity problems than 'usual' and measures others have had good success with aren't working. Do you know your dinos are Ostreopsis? I'm borrowing a scope Wed. with some luck I'll get some pics up for id.
Ivy on a rainy cold Labour day