is this dinoflagellates?

N

natas

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Ok this stuff is ticking me off. I thought it was cyano so I took action last month and did lights out for 3 days and water changes. I thought it worked but the next day it came back. The water changes do nothing...in fact it seems to make it worse at times.

Here is a video I took of it yesterday. Change the quality to 720p to get a better view. Also please note that it is brown in person. When I took the video my LED's were at 14-16k so it made the color look purple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M06K22dUHZs

Also it is hard to see in the video but about 1/2 of it does have bubbles at the tip. At night time it is about half the size and looks like a dusting on the sand. Once the lights turn on it appears to be slimy.

At this point I am almost convinced it is dinoflagellates. I am posting this hoping a few people could give me opinions. I originally thought it was Dino but had someone tell me it was not. I think what is a little confusing about this all is that at one point I really think it was a combination of cyano and dino. It was more purple when it started. Once I did the lights out technique it turned into more brown and more bubbles attached.

If it is dino I am open to suggestions on getting rid of it.
 
It's either dino's or cyano. Either way it's a bacterial infection. Best course of action is UV sterlization, lights off for 3+ days, and make sure you're not adding any sugars (bioballs, vodka, etc) and run your carbon.

I had a HUGE case of it in 2 of my tanks, I fought it mostly with lowered lights/lights off for a week+, and making sure to skim wet.

You need to treat the underlying issue which is nutrient absorption and/or too much light.
 
When I get home tonight I will get a better video.

It is really driving me nuts. Let me give you a little history to help.

The outbreak started from one of two things. I got a dragon goby (who really went to town on my sand) and that same day I started to dose 2 part solution to bring my levels up. About two days later it showed up (this was a few months back).

When this started my Nitrates were 0.25- 1.0 ppm and Phosphates were 0 - 0.06.

When I did the lights out technique last month I checked my levels and they were:
Nitrates 4ppm
Phosphates 0.09

I can only assume the levels went higher because of die off. It quickly came back the next day after the lights out.

Parameters for the past two weeks have been very stable with Nitrates 0.025-0.075 and Phosphates 0.03-0.05
 
I run two hydra 52's over a 120g. Max intensity is 60%. I have no idea what the par readings are. Light is on a total of 10 hours with it ramping 2 of those hours.

I carbon dose using Redsea nopox which I believe is a combo carbon vsv
 
I would just give it another week or two, if you're nitrates are that low, and lighting seems fine (might want to reduce total time by an hour or two until it clears up), it will go away. Last thing to check is your phosphates, if you're not running any GFO. Also look into increasing your clean up crew if it's been awhile or you're understocked. Hermits especially, as certain ones will eat cyano.
 
Here is another video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3hxLRw9Hghk

Again change it to 720p. In this one you can see the bubbles at the top of it.

I also just had a fellow dfwmas member stop by to get a coral. He said it looks like dino to him.
 
Looks like Dinoflagellates to me. All you have to do is add 1ml per 10g of liquid volume. If you have a 120 gallons of water in the system, dose 12 ml of 3% peroxide (the stuff we use for wounds) daily for 8 days. Leave your skimmer running, you don't have to do anything different. If you like, you can siphon out whatever bothers you to reduce the volume in the tank. http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/new-saltwater-reef-aquariums-post-here/72877-hydrogen-peroxide-reef-tank.html

and http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/268706-peroxide-saves-my-tank-with-pics-to-prove-it/?hl=peroxide
 
THanks Marc. Should I stop dosing my carbon source during this treatment? Also should I do a water change during or after treatment?
 
@natas wrote:
THanks Marc. Should I stop dosing my carbon source during this treatment? Also should I do a water change during or after treatment? said:
I would do nothing different but dose daily. And don't do a water change.
Click to expand...
 
Quick Update:

I started H2O2 Monday. Started with 10ml (I have a 120 but estimate water volume to be 100 w/ sand,rock and fuge).

Yesterday I siphoned as much of the dino's as I could. I also have started a blackout in the tank that I plan to end on Friday.
 
Yesterday the Dino's were almost gone. I went ahead and siphoned what I could see. Today I will start to slowly get the lights going again. I plan to run the tank on a 4 hour light cycle for a week or two until I feel like they are completely gone.

I am still dosing 10ml of Peroxide and plan to do this for a minimum of 8 days (next Wed) unless they come back. If they do come back I may bump my dose to 15ml.

I also am planning to skip this weeks weekly water change.
 
Ok dinos this morning appear to be almost gone. Lights start back up on a 4 hour cycle today. I am concerned though. All my sps have very small pe. Normally in the morning I have some sps with huge pe. Should I stop dosing and do a water change, or stay the course?
 
They're most likely just pissed off due to the lights being off for a few days. Wait and see how they react to the lights being on for a few hours
 
Hi, I have the same problem, been dosing peroxide for four days now, with limited results. I'm thinking about shutting down lights for 3 days. Just wondering if anyone knows if keeping lights off that long would be detrimental to my SRBTA? Thanks...


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Ok time for another update. The same small Dino spots keep showing up the next day. I siphon them but again they come back. However I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Today the spots looked weaker so I am hoping that is a sign of them dying off. My plan is to keep this up until I see no signs. Once the tank appears to be free of dinos I plan to continue dosing h2o2 for a few more days.

Also I got tired of siphoning this stuff into a filter sock. I have been rotating socks everyday. Today I took a chance and bought one of those eheim quick vac pro's. Man this thing is perfect for dino on sand and sump cleaning. In fact I think it does a better job at sandbed cleaning than my normal tool.
 
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