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Unread 06/05/2014, 10:52 PM   #226
GQuinn
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Any updates from anyone?


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Unread 06/05/2014, 10:56 PM   #227
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sigh mine appear to be getting worse...


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Unread 06/06/2014, 01:35 AM   #228
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I have even less dinos than last update.
Cyano is still going strong but only half so compared to two weeks ago.
My display tanks algae is at around 25% from its high.

It's been five weeks since I lost most of the dinos and by the rate things are going it could be a clean tank in another five.
The immediate change in the corals was amazing so there is no doubt about the ill effect dinos have on them.
They colored up in a few days and growth that had been none before was noticed.

The most drastic action I did was to turn off the calcium reactor.
Three days later the dinos crashed.

The changes that brings is less calcium, alkalinity, Magnesius and CO2 entering the tank.
There was also a 0,1 drop in pH. I'd expect that odd drop instead of a raise to be because of alkalinity drop.
I had been doing measures before to lessen the amount of CO2 entering the tank that could have been working well.

Last weekend and the one before I measured Ca at 350 and alk at 5.5.
I did a 20% water change then and fired up the Calcium reactor again at low flow rate of CO2 and effluent, without any changes to the dinos.

Like many complex things there is a combination of elements that can cause a certain situation.
The reactor going down could have been the last in what pushed the dinos away.
I can't say it's a solution yet, but if you have nothing else to try, go ahead and let your parameters go low and see how it goes.


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Unread 06/06/2014, 05:41 AM   #229
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Not much to report on my end. Still undefined about what I have is dinos or cyano. I Bought a microscope but I don't have it yet, hopefully on Saturday. Can't wait to take a look at this thing.

This week I reduced the photo period to 6 hours to see what happens. I have not noticed a significant change in the past 4 days. Maybe a bit more, likely because I only syphoned the stuff just once.

I won't do my weekly water change this week. I'm trying to change just 1 or 2 things at the time so I can correlate "I did this, it resulted on that" sort of thing. We'll see.


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Unread 06/06/2014, 06:20 AM   #230
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I'm not willing to say I've beaten my dinos yet, but it's been over a month since I've seen them. But then I took drastic measures and the tank chemistry is probably still settling down.


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Unread 06/06/2014, 08:54 AM   #231
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Same here, the bloom has al but disappeared but now I am seeing a stringy red turf in one small spot. Have no ideas around what caused the change since I gave up fighting them and maintained consistent normal husbandry.


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Unread 06/06/2014, 10:04 AM   #232
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I want to thank everyone for their input. I have been battling this also for the last few months, although mine never got to plague proportions. I did lights out two different times during this period and this seems to knock them down and out, but eventually they came back after the first lights out. The second time I used hydrogen peroxide with the lights out and removed my sand bend as this is where they always seem to start. So far so good, but it has only been a week.


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Unread 06/06/2014, 10:11 AM   #233
jedimasterben
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Ugh, can these *******s travel through air??



The only things that have come from the infested tank that weren't acid washed or bleached were my maxi anemones, and those were dipped in peroxide and attached to no substrate before putting them into the new tank. No shared equipment (like nets or anything), I always thoroughly washed my arms if I touched the dino holding tank. I just don't get it, and I hope I'm wrong, but this is how the last plague happened - it started only on the tips of a gorgonian and went to **** from there.


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Unread 06/06/2014, 11:16 AM   #234
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jedimasterben. In my tank there were dinos literally in every drop of water and they also attach to fish and corals.
I would not be surprised if they can survive a trip through fish and coral guts and it only takes one to start a plague.


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Unread 06/06/2014, 12:01 PM   #235
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Unfortunately true. We'll see what happens.


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Unread 06/06/2014, 12:26 PM   #236
Adrnalnrsh
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"The Brown Plague"


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Unread 06/06/2014, 05:29 PM   #237
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Alright,I thought i had beat them but unfortunately they came back. They are not as bad as they were but the fact i have any is a bit depressing.They restarted with just some bubbles on the rocks but turned back into my familiar foe.I have tried alot of things to beat them over the long time i have been dealing with them. I will go over them as to show the different things i have tried.
1. I dosed kalk slurry at night so my ph would not drop.This worked pretty well which caused me to install a kalk reactor.
2.I dosed peroxide,this was not very effective in my case
3.I changed out all filters on my r/o unit and even disinfected the unit itself. I have made sure to keep up on these changes as i have heavy iron which turns the sediment filter red after about a month.
4.I ordered the expensive ultra algae x. This stuff worked for me while i was dosing,however once i did a water change and turned the lights back to a full cycle i would see signs of it returning.
5.I tried lights out periods.This only works for a short time then the dinos come back.
6.The closest i have come to ridding myself of them was a lights out period of 48 hours then i would start dosing the ultra algae x and shorten my light cycle to like 5 hours total.This worked for about a month after the last algae x dose but once i did water changes and turned lights back up they came back.I have one more thing to try and then i may be out of answers.I am going to dose mb7 hoping the bacteria will out compete the dinos.-Kieth


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Unread 06/15/2014, 09:02 AM   #238
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Yeah, mine are definitely back again and picking up speed quickly. I'll probably try to fight them a while longer - manual removal, tighter mechanical filtration and maybe a new salt mix - but I suspect I'm going to be nuking the tank before the end of the year if not sooner. WTH.


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Unread 06/15/2014, 09:36 AM   #239
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Same with me. I'm on dose #7 of Algae X. My tank is 125 G, minus rocks and sand I guessed about 100 G net water, so I'm dosing 20 ml every other day. Darn dinos seem to be laughing at it. It seems to be working on other algae types though. No water changes for the past 2 weeks, lights down to 6 hours. I've also been dosing mb7. I keep syphoning them from the sand, but as soon as lights come on, they come back every day.
Not sure what else to do. I'll finish the Algae X treatment but my expectations are pretty low at this point.


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Unread 06/15/2014, 12:08 PM   #240
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Where'd you get the Algae X, mandrieu? You're not far from me, but I can't find it anywhere locally (or online either, for that matter). In combination with the blackout it worked pretty well for me for a while, so I might consider another round with it.

You know, you mention dosing MB7 and I've been dosing Prodibio - but I'm starting to wonder if dosing bacteria is a good idea in this situation. We know that there's a symbiotic relationship between certain types of dinos and certain types of bacteria, which is why I asked a few pages back whether a broad-spectrum antibiotic or UV might be helpful. At this point I've been reduced to a bare-bottom fish-only system, so if it wrecks the biological cycle I don't really care anymore. Heck, I'm not even convinced that dumping a gallon of bleach or muriatic acid into the tank would be a permanent cure.


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Unread 06/15/2014, 12:24 PM   #241
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Yeah, I've been fighting this thing for 6+ months. I'm not giving up... Anyway, I got Algae X online from Barrier Reef Aquariums, but it seems to be out of stock right now. Regardless, I've followed the instructions precisely and I don't see any improvement so far. I'm on dose number 7 and I plan to finish the treatment but my expectations by now are not that high. If this fails, I have no idea what else to try.
At some point I thought it might no be dinos, but got a cheap microscope and I was able to ID the nasty bug.
But I'm not giving out, I'm not going bare bottom, and I'm not trashing my tank. There has to be a way to beat this sucker. LOL - I was just reading a thread where someone claims to have beaten dinos using Ich-attack from Kordon. Go figure...


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Unread 06/17/2014, 07:56 PM   #242
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Not sure how I missed this thread for so long, luckily it seems Potsy and Jedimasterben have been passing on many of my thoughts.

I'm still identifying algae people mail me if any of you need help with the ID side of things. I'm also looking for "Guinea pigs" for an idea I want to try (especially if you have a microscope of your own).

I've been posting my photos and videos at algaeid.com and youtube. I still don't have pictures of all 4 major groups of dinos I've found in marine aquaria. I'd also love to add other pest algae just to round out the site a bit.

I didn't see much discussion here about the toxins produced by these guys and wanted to make sure everyone is taking proper precautions.

Ostreopsis sp. makes palytoxin. This is a toxin all reefers should be familiar with as palythoas and zoanthids produce this toxin and there are stories every year of hobbyists nearly killing themselves by mishandling these corals. Amphidinium isn't really thought of as highly toxic, but I've talked to too many reefers with Amphidinium blooms who have experienced personal health effects when killing these that I think we should treat Amphidinium with respect as well.

The dinos won't release the toxin until they die, so before starting any eradication procedures you should make sure the area around the tank is well ventilated, and have carbon ready to run. It would be a good idea to keep everyone (including other pets) away from the tank and wear gloves and a mask if you are getting a lot of dino die off.

I know we as hobbyists often get pretty blasé about safety when working in our tanks, but please stay safe. These organisms can hurt and even kill you if you are killing enough of them at once.


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Unread 06/17/2014, 08:08 PM   #243
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Pants, good to see you contributing. My impression is that you really know your stuff about dinos and we all appreciate your input.


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Unread 06/17/2014, 08:12 PM   #244
jedimasterben
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Compared to any of us, he's the god of dinos. Now if he could just toss down a few lightning bolts and smite all of the problem ones in our tanks


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Unread 06/17/2014, 08:27 PM   #245
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Here's an interesting finding...

I had a mild bloom of ostreopsis a while back (sample identified by Pants) that for whatever reason subsided on its own. As an experiment, I placed some of the dino in a quarantine tank I had running and left it in the dark. Several months later I put a sample of quarantine tank water and silt under the microscope and found ostreopsis happily spinning about.

If you have an infestation of this species, lights out isn't going to work.

As I wrote before, all new additions to my tank get a quick dip in freshwater for a few seconds. My experiments show that dinos die instantly when exposed to freshwater. I can see the inflated and burst ostreopsis cells under the microscope after a few drops of freshwater in the petri dish.


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Unread 06/17/2014, 10:22 PM   #246
Surly
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Potsy View Post
If you have an infestation of this species, lights out isn't going to work.
Hopefully chlorine bleach will workly nicely, though. I'm nuking my tank as soon as I can find a new home for my fish.


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Unread 06/18/2014, 06:00 AM   #247
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Quote:
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Hopefully chlorine bleach will workly nicely, though. I'm nuking my tank as soon as I can find a new home for my fish.
Make sure that bleach gets in every nook and cranny of your display, every pump, pipe, etc.

I dumped a gallon of bleach in my display to get rid of a dark maroon fuzzy red algae. I battled it for months but it thrives in low nutrient conditions and concentrates bromide in its cells so that no herbivore will touch it. Interesting thing is that prior to the sterilization of the tank, I had trouble with LPS whereas in a previous tank they'd grow like weeds. After the bleach, they started to do well.


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Unread 06/18/2014, 06:10 AM   #248
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Pants, thanks for reminding us on the toxicity issue. I've been really careless about it, which is not good. So are you saying the toxic effects of the die off extend to the air outside the tank (you mention ventilation in your post)?


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Unread 06/18/2014, 06:58 AM   #249
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Yes, that's correct. I had fairly serious reactions to die off. Pants ID'd Amphidinium in my samples. My symptoms included temporary hearing loss - severe muting of all sound for a few days.


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Unread 06/18/2014, 09:17 AM   #250
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Yes, that's correct. I had fairly serious reactions to die off. Pants ID'd Amphidinium in my samples. My symptoms included temporary hearing loss - severe muting of all sound for a few days.
WOW that is a scary thought


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