Dinoflagellates.

[cal_stir]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

The pods helped some but not all.

I'm dosing 3% peroxide at 30ml a day into 600gal. It has cleared the dinos on the top side of the rocks (photosynthetic), but the shaded variety is tenacious. It's receding but slowly.

I think this is killing any planktonic organisms it finds - good or bad. Since I've had more bad, I think this is resetting the stage by clearing out all the players at once. It reacts in the water column so nighttime has the most impact on the light seeking dinos that get into the column. The shaded version stay put all night, so I think I'll need to start locally targeting them with a syringe and airline.

Side effects - I can't tell since the dinos caused my snails to die anyway and my bigger fish were poisoned too. Corals seem to love it. Amazing polyp expansion.

My pods seem resilient, but I suspect their planktonic offspring are equally decimated.

I dosed 20ml per day in 200gal for 8 days starting with 72 hour blackout, after blackout I dosed when lights came on and dosed stresszyme at lights out while running a uv sterilizer 24 hr/day.
2 weeks dino free, fingers crossed, haven't vacuumed the sand bed for a week and too afraid to do a water change.
no loss of livestock, shrimps or snails.

[karimwassef]

Several large fish (Naso, Regal, Powder Blue Tang) have now died, the last two clearly from marine velvet disease (Amyloodinium). This is a dinoflagellate too.

Apparently, the conditions I set up for a thriving plankton environment worked too well and I manage to cultivate at least three distinct kinds of dino.

[DNA]

That is just sad karimwassef.

I wonder what it takes to get dinos under control.
We have collected some good info on this thread, but the solution is still hidden in the fog.
A team of researchers could come with helpful facts in couple of years, but who is going to fund that?

---

Reefers want other reefers to look at them as successful in their reefkeeping so they hide their problems.
Since I have had dinos for so long I look for them in images of reeftanks I see on the web.
Some of the best and famous tanks in the world have had a dino bloom at some point and we know dinos like to stay.

Is there an elephant in the room or is this just something that happens to someone else.
For a number of reefers a dino bloom is like an endless horde of buffaloes stampeding through.

[karimwassef]

My takeaway is that the protozoan environment is a whole ecosystem that I invited into my reef tank to help feed my corals in the belief that it would represent a healthy natural biological agent.

I intentionally did not skim at night. I intentionally removed all physical filtration (no socks or sponges), and I intentionally avoided UV, ozone or other oxidizing agents that could hurt the planktonic stages.

I have to admit that I naively thought the good guys would win in a closed ecosystem where I didn't control the rules of engagement. Unfortunately, the bad guys were more adept here.

The answer is to nuke the protozoan ecology or help the good guys reclaim the space.

My fast answer is to kill all and then reseed. UV + peroxide + ozone.

It's a disease, not algae or a chemical imbalance or nutrient excess. So, it needs hard medicine, not lower nutrients and water changes.

Once it's 'sterile', I'll look at adding live rock and re-establishing a healthy bio fauna.

Speaking of diseases, copper kills protozoans but kills reefs too - I think some study here would be useful... Silver? Other metals?

[karimwassef]

Cal_stir - you're on this track. What size UV did you get? Who from?

[cal_stir]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

Cal_stir - you're on this track. What size UV did you get? Who from?

I have a coralife turbo12 36watt, purchased used off canreef forum.
I manually removed the dinos with aggressive blowing off the rocks and vacuuming the sandbed, my micro fauna was already decimated so I wasn't worried about that.
I pumped the water back into the system through a 5uM sediment filter thus avoiding the water change, I haven't done a WC for over 3 months now.
I got them to where there was only a couple patches forming on the sand bed daily.
I skimmed wet 24 hrs a day and added bacteria supplements daily.
I run the UV 24/7 @ 500 gph, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere NOT to run UV with ozone.
A few days after H2O2 treatment I added ecomatter (critters).
During and after the treatment I have been adding API stresszyme bacteria supplement as it is supposed to coat the fish and help protect them.
I am going to add a pod package after the holidays.
I don't want to say I have won the battle, and jynx myself, but it is looking promising.

[Squidmotron]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

In terms of doing nothing - I think we do things but call them 'nothing'. Did you feed more instead of less? Did you allow algae to grow without ripping it out? Did you do less water changes?

I personally think these actions all help the biology stabilize. (Except water changes, I still believe that's just good any time). I'm thinking of introducing chaeto into my main DT to outcompete with them.

Let's drill down and see if I can figure out more. Sadly, most of these are not very scientifically done.

(BTW, I live in Dallas as well. I notice dino outbreaks are very common here and I wonder if something about our water is at all related.)

Things that I think had little to no effect:

1) Feeding: While feeding, I tried phases wherein I fed very little for weeks and it didn't seem to have a noticeable effect. I tried feeding a lot to establish other algae to outcompete dino. I tired solidly for at least a month with each, but probably more. Didn't really do much that I could tell in this time frame.

2) Protein Skimmer: I have always run a protein skimmer and have never taken it offline. It is a Super Reef Octopus 250.

3) UV Sterilizer: I tried this for awhile. It didn't "solve" the problem, but mine was undersized anyway. Not a great experiment.

4) Ozone: Never tried.

5) Macroalgae. I have this is in a well-lit sump. Caulerpa and cheato. Tried increasing the light cycle. This actually grew VERY LITTLE while dino was active. Once dino died out, it's growth exploded. My conclusion was that dino is more effective at getting nutrients from the water. Caulerpa noticebly outcompetes the cheato.

6) Lights out. Lights out visually works for quite awhile. The longer you do lights out, the longer it takes for the dino to reappear. In my most desperate phase I went for 14-15 days. Some coral died (surprisingly few however). The dino was out for a long awhile, but it came back. I think this just delays the process.

7) Hydrogen Peroxide. This did absolutely nothing for me. Nothing at all. Even with 3 times the suggested dose for several weeks. I am absolutely amazed that so many people reported this working. This didn't really do much to my coral either, except they were annoyed right after dosing. I would say the overall effect on the tank was zero.

8) pH. This was an early experiment. And man it sucked. I killed some pumps using kalk for this and maintaining a high pH for a long time. No effect.

9) Flow. Tried insane levels of flow. Tried very litttle. It didn't really do anything.

Things that may have had some effect:

1) Water & RO/DI. The water in the Dallas area is suspicious to me. It was especially bad last year and the year before as measurements showed. My RO/DI filters were dying out quickly. Like in 6-8 weeks quickly. It may be tangentially related to the drought. Before my "dino die out", I had replaced all filters with brand new filters. And religiously, I had replaced them again not 2 months later. Mainly because I bought extra filters in bulk. When I think back on it, my dino did not last far past this phase.

2) Sand bed. I had added sand over the course of the previous year. I had also replaced the sand bed once entirely because of my belief that nutrients in the sand bed may have contributed to dinos. After this replacement period, dinos exploded visually. The population seemed to visually double. This made no sense to me because things like silicates would help DIATOMS and not DINOS. This is when I bought my microscope to verify that in fact what I was seeing with dinos. It was very obviously dinos, although other things were present. During this time, I came across a paper that most of the specifies of dinos we find in our tanks consume these diatoms. So it may just be an alternate food source. I resolved to not add/replace sand again until the dinos were gone.

3) Nutrient increase. I think actually the nutrient increase is a RESULT of a the dinos disappearing and no the cause of it, but eventually there was a nutrient increase. However, when I deliberately had tried to increase them it did not seem to work in the past. Just food for thought. I think dinos would make an excellent filtration system for our tanks, if but only they could be isolated.

4) Water changes. My water changes were less religious during the phase where dinos were dying out. But did happen every 6 weeks or so. And instead of buying water from my local store during bouts of laziness, I used my filter-replaced RO/DI and made 100% of all my water to perfect spec.

[Amphiprion]

Originally Posted by DNA

If my dinoflagellates would all die at once I got to collect them and drain the water off they would for sure fit into a small cup.
More likely I'd think they could all be pressed into a volume not more than couple of sugar cubes.

The 2 or 3 months of cyanobacteria have passed.
The outcome is different this time. The dinos are only in their preferred spots now, but denser so I estimate their population to be about the same.

I'm doing a monthly time lapse shots for coral growth comparison.
There are only two species of Acropora that are not showing any signs of growth.
One of them being A. Tenuis.

I know my bloom would easily fill a cup--and I only have 40 gallons. I broke everything down yesterday, so I'll get a pic to show just how bad it got. Couple that with all the Lyngbya and you'll get even more.

I am ordering some densely covered live rock and sand via air freight in hopes that diversity will be high enough. I completely dumped all plants I had left and all corals will soak in a more concentrated peroxide dip prior to addition. Fish will receive freshwater dips prior to being added to the new system, as well. Of course, everything else will be sterilized with bleach and hydrochloric acid.

[karimwassef]

Squid - I think there's something to Dallas water too. My DI dies every 2 months - maybe it's my RO too. You should come take a look at my tank and compare notes sometime. Local chapter of the dino support group.

The LFSs don't complain though. I've taken my water in for testing and they said my levels are perfect. No N or P, solid pH, dKH and Ca. No copper, etc. That's why I don't think it has anything to do with water chemistry.

It's like having the flu. The air in my house is great, but I still have the flu. I can change my air filter or open all the windows - the virus is still there. I can eat more or less, exercise or not, bathe or not. Ignoring everything I do, it persists.

This is why sterilization looks to be the answer. I got the coralife 12x last night (independent choice but nice to have feedback ), so we'll see. I've upped my H2O2 also to 50ml.

[DNA]

A potential control on Ostreopsis dinoflagellates.

I keep reading published papers from scientists and today I found something interesting written by A. ISMAEL and Y. HALIM from Alexandria in Egypt.
They found a link between ocean temperatures and Ostreopsis cell count. Being the highest at 28°C.

This is low risk and very easy to try out, but the effect could be indirect and delayed so adjust your tanks temperature very slowly over weeks or months.
Their data it clear, but I'd expect a reduction rather than a cure.
I've tried various temperatures before without any noticeable results, but may have not kept it going long enough.

If i'ts Ostreopsis, you have to take a look.
Here is the original paper. http://www.medit-mar-sc.net/index.ph...ticle/view/300

[karimwassef]

I run my tank cool 73-75F (23-24C), without noticing a benefit. But I might not have that strain or the fauna in the test region.

More likely, I have competing dino species that alternate over different temperature ranges. LOL.

[karimwassef]

Here's a quick impromptu poll (if the OP doesn't mind):
Who was running a right sized UV sterilizer when the dinos bloomed?
Karimwassef : no (clearly)

[Amphiprion]

I did not use a sterilizer and never have on my personal systems.

[karimwassef]

Originally Posted by Amphiprion

I did not use a sterilizer and never have on my personal systems.

Neither have I. This infestation has made me reconsider.

[cal_stir]

I never ran one before the bloom and will probably take it off line if I get things back to normal.
I decided to try it because of another thread on this forum.

[yeldarbj]

Originally Posted by Squidmotron

Let's drill down and see if I can figure out more. Sadly, most of these are not very scientifically done.

Things that I think had little to no effect:

2) Protein Skimmer: I have always run a protein skimmer and have never taken it offline. It is a Super Reef Octopus 250.

3) UV Sterilizer: I tried this for awhile. It didn't "solve" the problem, but mine was undersized anyway. Not a great experiment.

5) Macroalgae. I have this is in a well-lit sump. Caulerpa and cheato. Tried increasing the light cycle. This actually grew VERY LITTLE while dino was active. Once dino died out, it's growth exploded. My conclusion was that dino is more effective at getting nutrients from the water. Caulerpa noticebly outcompetes the cheato.

6) Lights out. Lights out visually works for quite awhile. The longer you do lights out, the longer it takes for the dino to reappear. In my most desperate phase I went for 14-15 days. Some coral died (surprisingly few however). The dino was out for a long awhile, but it came back. I think this just delays the process.

7) Hydrogen Peroxide. This did absolutely nothing for me. Nothing at all. Even with 3 times the suggested dose for several weeks. I am absolutely amazed that so many people reported this working. This didn't really do much to my coral either, except they were annoyed right after dosing. I would say the overall effect on the tank was zero.

8) pH. This was an early experiment. And man it sucked. I killed some pumps using kalk for this and maintaining a high pH for a long time. No effect.


Things that may have had some effect:

3) Nutrient increase. I think actually the nutrient increase is a RESULT of a the dinos disappearing and no the cause of it, but eventually there was a nutrient increase. However, when I deliberately had tried to increase them it did not seem to work in the past. Just food for thought. I think dinos would make an excellent filtration system for our tanks, if but only they could be isolated.

Squid, I think you made some good points of interest in this posting. I'd like to add some of my results using these methods to your points.

2) Skimmer: Always skimmed during my battle with ostreopsis. They didn't disappear until a couple months after taking my skimmer out.

3) UV: Tried it. Aqua UV 25w run with a Maxijet 900. It slowed them down but did not eliminate the problem. I don't think it's the answer because you are killing off the good with the bad. I even tried running it for a week at a time and then dosing various forms of bacteria.

5) Macro algae: Similar results. Algae stopped growing while the dinos were in bloom. I eventually had to remove the macro algae because they were just serving as another host for dinos to cover. I had both dragon's breath/flame algae and chaeto.

6) Lights out: good short term effect, but not a solution

7) Peroxide: no impact

8) pH: elevated with kalk and even dumped kalk slurries, no impact on the dinos and stressful on my coral

What finally worked??? Nutrient increase. No skimmer. Grew algae on a DIY turf scrubber and tried to get it established anywhere else I could. No water changes for about 2-3 months. Lots of mechanical filtration with a diatom filter. I tried to maintain nitrates and phosphate at low but measurable levels to benefit algae growth. I even, at times, dosed iron, nitrate, silicate, and potassium (all typical ingredients of fertilizer). I also added amino acids. Eventually, the dinos diminished and disappeared. I stopped dosing the extra nutrients and started water changes again. I've been dino free for about 3 months now and my sps have finally started to thrive. I have no doubt that there are still dinos there but some other life form is keeping them at bay.

[karimwassef]

Why would you take the UV off?

[yeldarbj]

I took my UV off because it wasn't able to cure the dino problem. It just allowed my a bit more time between mechanical filtration.

[karimwassef]

So never having used a UV sterilizer, I've been reading up on it and the flow rate and power level need to be dialed in to kill different organisms. High flow just kills bacteria, medium = free flowing algae, slow = parasites.

Also they need to be free floating (obviously), some manual work will likely still be part of the cleanup.

[Royce7586]

welp my dinos are back..... they almost nuked my tank before i switched tanks.

I've ordered Ultra Algae X its my last hope out of everything this is the worst thing in this hobby and it fills me with dread knowing whats next if i cant stop it hopefully its works.

[Amphiprion]

Originally Posted by Royce7586

welp my dinos are back..... they almost nuked my tank before i switched tanks.

I've ordered Ultra Algae X its my last hope out of everything this is the worst thing in this hobby and it fills me with dread knowing whats next if i cant stop it hopefully its works.

Out of curiosity, what did you do when you switched tanks--i.e. what steps/precautions did you take? The reason I ask is because I'm essentially doing the same thing.

[Surly]

To all the folks here who saw their dino bloom end - or won the battle via some other means after a prolonged period of time - did you have issues with palytoxin given off by them? How did you deal with it?

Respiratory issues from red tides are well documented. I was convinced it was bothering my eyes and I've heard other people have had issues such as temporary deafness with dino blooms in their aquaria. Concern over my family's health was what caused me to resort to nuking the tank, not lack of patience.

[karimwassef]

All my snails died, a sea hare and fish but I haven't experienced anything.

I have 2 bags of GAC (2 lbs each) that I recently changed. That's the prescribed response to removing the toxins.

[karimwassef]

Royce - what did you try or not try before tearing down the tank?

[Royce7586]

Last time I had dinos it had been going on for about 2 months and had almost killed alot of my lps. I was moving to a new place so when doing the move I threw away all my old sand and cleaned out the tank really well, well my rocks and life stock were in buckets.

I left it bare bottom and set the tank back up. The dinos on the rocks died off and my tank was good again! I had to have a 10g set up for my pistol and goby. 4 or 5 months after not having the dinos I bought a 55g and transfered everything into it and put sand back in.

I do think there is a for sure connection between when the tank is going from being a new tank and having all the nasty green algae and such to the point when that dies off that is when the dinos will come in

Last time i tried everything in this thread other then the ultra algae x before trashing my sand bed. So I'm going to try this bottle of snake oil that I had to order from canada cause apparently no US companies stock it. If it doesn't work I guess I will try removing my sand bed again which sucks cause I have a pistol shrimp. When I get the fauna marin I'll let you guys know if it works or not.