trying to get rid of dinoflagellates

[jsgarrido]

I have been battling with dinoflagellates for many month. I had first tried the 3 day no lights. Then a month has passes it would keep coming back I tried this 2 times and nothing worked. I have also tried to use API algae fix marine but by the 3 treatment my acans and open brain coral looked like they were dying and the dino was still showing so I stopped the treatment. know as you can see from the pics there is dinos in my tank.

as you can see almost all my corals have closed up .... i have to get rid of this pest fast . now in the past i used to have cheato algea in my tank(right side) and also in my refug and no algea at all.. no dinos and no hair algea see pic

this cheato was growing like crazy and i gave all of it to my local fish store. when i did this i started to see a bunch of algea everywere hair and dinos .. so i was think of sharing my progress with all of you i would be taking pics in my progress i would be placing cheato again in my display tank and see how this will help in a natural way.

 

[lukeeluciano]

I have been battling with dinoflagellates for many month. I had first tried the 3 day no lights. Then a month has passes it would keep coming back I tried this 2 times and nothing worked. I have also tried to use API algae fix marine but by the 3 treatment my acans and open brain coral looked like they were dying and the dino was still showing so I stopped the treatment. know as you can see from the pics there is dinos in my tank.

as you can see almost all my corals have closed up .... i have to get rid of this pest fast . now in the past i used to have cheato algea in my tank(right side) and also in my refug and no algea at all.. no dinos and no hair algea see pic

this cheato was growing like crazy and i gave all of it to my local fish store. when i did this i started to see a bunch of algea everywere hair and dinos .. so i was think of sharing my progress with all of you i would be taking pics in my progress i would be placing cheato again in my display tank and see how this will help in a natural way.

I am in the same boat as you!!! It started getting bad a few days ago. Here is a link that I found too. It is really frustrating that sometimes I feel like taking my tank down!

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/how-i-beat-dinoflagellates-and-the-lessons-i-learned

 

[jsgarrido]

it sucks and its sad to see my price tank looking so bad .. i will see if the cheato will take out the nutrients in my display tank and all will be good .. i dont trust any chemicals or additives anymore so will try the all natural way and use cheato .. i will take pics tonight were ill be placing my cheato and in a week ill be updating this thread

 

[ziggy]

A very interesting, good read

 

[ziggy]

it sucks and its sad to see my price tank looking so bad .. i will see if the cheato will take out the nutrients in my display tank and all will be good .. i dont trust any chemicals or additives anymore so will try the all natural way and use cheato .. i will take pics tonight were ill be placing my cheato and in a week ill be updating this thread

From the read... a 3 day blackout and vacumming played a big part in getting rid of it

 

[jsgarrido]

when i frist had signs of dino i ignored it and let the tank do its cycle but it just got worse my kenya trees were really closed up so did a full water change did a 3 day no light and my tank was looking its best after a month, then i saw patches of dinos so tried api algea fix for 3 treatments on the last treatment my corals ( open brain and acan looked really bad ) they closed up relly tight that i could see its skelleton so i stopped and did a water change. but the dino was still there so did another 3 days no light and was fine for a week now its back so i will try this method see how it goes and update everyone to see if it works :rainbow:

 

[PSU4ME]

Dinos are natural so I would stay away from these chemicals that are out there. The biggest reason is probably nutrients in your water.....that's why your chaeto is growing so well. I can't stress enough that frequent water changes, sump cleaning, carbon changing, vacumming and less feeding are key! Also, what kind of skimmer do you have?

I'm on the back side of dinos now.....I waited them out and let them naturally cycle through. I also know what caused mine.....my skimmer collection cup's drain line was open for liek 2 weeks before i caught it, filtering all that crap back into my tank!

 

[jsgarrido]

today i started to put my cheato in my display tank and see how it would progress.

here are some more pics of the dino ... cant wait to get rid of it :hammerhea

this brown crap is getting my corals to close up just look at my kenya tree coral and they are very hardy

 

[lukeeluciano]

same here.....corals and BTA not looking as good as they used too. I am doing my 3 days black out and covered tank with cardboard. Will be done with black out Monday night. I am running carbon also as I read that the Dino can produce toxins as they die out. I also posted on another forum, vividaquariums as Dave wrote this....

"To beat dinoflagellates you will want to continue to keep your nitrates and phosphates as low as possible. Try to manually remove as much as possible by siphoning it out of the aquarium. Run activated carbon such as Chemipure to help remove any toxins the dinoflagellates release. Running a UV sterilizer can also help by sterilizing the water.

Turning the lights out for 2-3 days is a good idea but you need to keep the water well oxygenated with your protein skimmer as oxygen levels can drop during a prolonged blackout period in a reef aquarium.

Make sure to maintain Ca, Mg, and especially KH and pH. Do a series of larger water changes up to 30%-40% and continue to manually remove and siphon any dinoflagellates you can. You want to get the water as clean as possible and keep nutrient levels very low. Go easy on feeding your fish and coral during this period.

Good Luck - You can beat it"!

 

[ziggy]

same here.....corals and BTA not looking as good as they used too. I am doing my 3 days black out and covered tank with cardboard. Will be done with black out Monday night. I am running carbon also as I read that the Dino can produce toxins as they die out. I also posted on another forum, vividaquariums as Dave wrote this....

"To beat dinoflagellates you will want to continue to keep your nitrates and phosphates as low as possible. Try to manually remove as much as possible by siphoning it out of the aquarium. Run activated carbon such as Chemipure to help remove any toxins the dinoflagellates release. Running a UV sterilizer can also help by sterilizing the water.

Turning the lights out for 2-3 days is a good idea but you need to keep the water well oxygenated with your protein skimmer as oxygen levels can drop during a prolonged blackout period in a reef aquarium.

Make sure to maintain Ca, Mg, and especially KH and pH. Do a series of larger water changes up to 30%-40% and continue to manually remove and siphon any dinoflagellates you can. You want to get the water as clean as possible and keep nutrient levels very low. Go easy on feeding your fish and coral during this period.

Good Luck - You can beat it"!

These are good recommendations.
after blackout Vacuum - big water change, vacuum - big waterchange

 

[eric faatz]

i disagree with the water changes.i've read that higher nitrate levels can cause the dino to die off.doing water changes only adds more nutrients to the tank.lights out yes,and everybody situation is different.higher nitrate levels will not harm the corals or the fish.2-3ppm will kill off dino.

 

[jerry26]

i disagree with the water changes.i've read that higher nitrate levels can cause the dino to die off.doing water changes only adds more nutrients to the tank.lights out yes,and everybody situation is different.higher nitrate levels will not harm the corals or the fish.2-3ppm will kill off dino.

I've read about it but I don't buy it. There's simply too many low/zero nitrate tanks to imply a lack of nitrates allows the growth of Dino. And saying water changes adds more nitrates/phosphates is just plain wrong assuming you're using zero TDs ro/di water.

 

[JJB103]

i disagree with the water changes.i've read that higher nitrate levels can cause the dino to die off.doing water changes only adds more nutrients to the tank.lights out yes,and everybody situation is different.higher nitrate levels will not harm the corals or the fish.2-3ppm will kill off dino.

I tried that and made it worse for me. I also tired the 3 day blackout and it worked for a week but, in the meantime, stressed out my fish so bad I lost a PBT, percula clown and diamond goby. I also lost my blue maxima clam. The Dino's are back but just on the sand for me.

Dinos are natural so I would stay away from these chemicals that are out there. The biggest reason is probably nutrients in your water.....that's why your chaeto is growing so well. I can't stress enough that frequent water changes, sump cleaning, carbon changing, vacumming and less feeding are key! Also, what kind of skimmer do you have?

I'm going with the natural approach also. I purchased a biopellet reactor and am waiting for that to grow the bacteria. I changed my feeding habits and siphon the sand bed every chance I get. PSU4ME, what do you mean by letting the Dino's go through its cycle? What did you do in the meantime?

 

[jerry26]

How many hours do you run your lights? Only time I experience Dino is if I pass 8-9 hours.

 

[Legal Eagle]

All literature I've read throughout the ages (Moe, Sprung, Delbeek et.al) and personal experience of trying to maintain a reef before hobbyist RO units and post RO point to the same issue with hair algae, cyano-bacteria, diatoms and dinoflagellates - poor source water.
If you use a source water with a tds level above 10, you will almost certainly suffer issues.
The dinoflagelettes don't do well in a good flow of water.
I would suggest examination of source water, water flow, and general husbandary.

Regards
Stu

 

[eric faatz]

like i said what works for one person may not for another.been going lights out for a week now and dino is almost gone,took out the corals.i'll see what happens.

 

[landshark]

What is your bio load? I also agree that poor water quality will cause Dino and other algae to grow


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