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What Am I dealing With Here? Cyano/Dino/Diatoms?


Exodus

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First off Water Params:

Magnesium 1400 (Red Sea)

Alkalinity 8~ dkH (Red Sea/API)

Calcium 460 (Red Sea/API)

Nitrate 0~2 (API)

pH 8.2 (API)

Phosphate .08 (Hanna)

 

So I have this strange pest that has caused havoc in my tank the last 2 weeks, In the morning when lights come off It is 95% Gone from the tank, by afternoon It is out in full bloom on the rocks, Walls (Not glass) over the sand bed. Until just today by afternoon it was also covered in Micro bubbles that would also form all over the rocks and on My Zoas, My Zoa colony's have all been pissed off and refused to open. With the bubbles and the shear amount of it I was thinking Cyano/Dino but the color and behavior makes me thing Diatoms but I'm not used to Diatoms being long and stringy like this.

 

I have included 2 photos, the first being 1st thing in the morning when the lights turn on, the 2nd being in the Afternoon. I know the phosphates are a bit up there I have tried Deep Blue Phosphate pads but probably going to have to get GFO to bring it all the way down, and have stepped water changes up 2X Week vs once.

 

qzryvl.jpg

As you can see very little exists in this picture

 

And Now 6 hours later:

2125vu1.jpg

 

I would get more pictures but this is the closest and most detailed I can get of the specimen with the camera on my phone. Any positive identification? Thanks for looking.

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smeagol108

Following along. Something similiar just started in my tank. Barely there in morning, six hours later it's ten time worse. Bronze/rust/brown color. To get a better pic on ur phone it helps to turn the blues way down and whites up just while taking the photo.

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rone_kevin66

How's your feeding. Need to take nitrate and phosban low as you can go. Suck up with a baster and if you can run with lights out for a few days

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jedimasterben

Do you have or have access to a microscope? The initial prognosis is not great.

 

If not, contact 'Pants' and you can send him a sample for ID. http://www.algaeid.com/identification/


How's your feeding. Need to take nitrate and phosban low as you can go. Suck up with a baster and if you can run with lights out for a few days

Considering that dinoflagellates grow best in low nutrient systems, this is the worst advice you could possibly give on the subject.

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smeagol108

Damn. Not the news I wanted to hear myself following this thread. I just tried a 90% water change today and it was back two hours later barely visible prior. It's only on my gravel sand atm, and hasnt encroached corals in any way but I need to kill this stuff.

 

Attached a photo, not as bad as OP but do we think it's dinos? I have had a few dwarf ceriths turn up dead the last few days. Bigger snails (full ceriths, trochus, astrea, nerite) seem okay so far.

post-86922-0-58950000-1431657248_thumb.jpg

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How's your feeding. Need to take nitrate and phosban low as you can go. Suck up with a baster and if you can run with lights out for a few days

I only feed every few days and I feed very little to the tank, A couple weeks ago I upped the feeding a tad with Cyclopeez and Mysis, 2 times that week it probably got overfed and the instant there was troubles I haven't done that again. Instead back to feeding a couple hard flakes every 3 days and ensure the Royal Gramma & Clown get the most of it and leave the rest to the shrimp and cleaning crew. I will probably consider the Black out method

 

Do you have or have access to a microscope? The initial prognosis is not great.

 

If not, contact 'Pants' and you can send him a sample for ID. http://www.algaeid.com/identification/

Considering that dinoflagellates grow best in low nutrient systems, this is the worst advice you could possibly give on the subject.

Unfortunately I don't know anyone with a Microscope, I will definitely get ahold of him, how would you send that? Just get a bunch and seal it in a small bag with water from the tank?

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jedimasterben

Damn. Not the news I wanted to hear myself following this thread. I just tried a 90% water change today and it was back two hours later barely visible prior. It's only on my gravel sand atm, and hasnt encroached corals in any way but I need to kill this stuff.

 

Attached a photo, not as bad as OP but do we think it's dinos? I have had a few dwarf ceriths turn up dead the last few days. Bigger snails (full ceriths, trochus, astrea, nerite) seem okay so far.

Yours just looks like diatoms, but unless you've got a microscope, it's impossible to be sure.

 

I only feed every few days and I feed very little to the tank, A couple weeks ago I upped the feeding a tad with Cyclopeez and Mysis, 2 times that week it probably got overfed and the instant there was troubles I haven't done that again. Instead back to feeding a couple hard flakes every 3 days and ensure the Royal Gramma & Clown get the most of it and leave the rest to the shrimp and cleaning crew. I will probably consider the Black out method

 

Unfortunately I don't know anyone with a Microscope, I will definitely get ahold of him, how would you send that? Just get a bunch and seal it in a small bag with water from the tank?

Blackout, remove your sand, dump food in, add a giant UV sterilizer are some of the things you can do, but being straightforward, you'll probably never be rid of them. Yours looks pretty bad.

 

Dinoflagellates are pretty resilient. As long as they don't freeze or bake in transit, they'll be ok. They're heterotrophic, so they don't rely on light (though they are photosynthetic).

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smeagol108

Thanks Jedi, I was thrown off by color and some images online and I had never seen diatoms appear so quick each day like that.

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Just Curious if I were Just to put up an entire new Tank, new Sand, Dry Live Rock never used, clean every bit of my equipment (Apex Probes, Heater, MP10 etc) I can obviously start up a tank without the worries of them, but how do I get my corals into the new tank without the Dino? Most not to worried about but I have a very expensive Rainbow Open Brain I don't want to lose, anyway to dip them or rid them after the new tank figuratively were to cycle and then add them without the risk of moving it over?

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jedimasterben

but how do I get my corals into the new tank without the Dino?

Unfortunately you don't. Zooxanthellae are a type of dinoflagellate, and corals are constantly on the lookout for new species to culture and as such take in the same dinoflagellates that you're plagued with. They are not symbiotic with the coral and are expelled shortly after, but this process does not stop, unfortunately.

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Ok well before tearing the entire thing down and getting a new tank/Sand/Rock I'm going to try something to rid myself of it. I have been thnking allot about this and I have had this issue for the last 4 years with this tank, and considering the tank has spent more time without them being seen than breakouts that cover the tank It goes to show I have always been on top of maintaining my tank. With that diagnosis it now all makes sense as to why it has never completely just gone away for good, I have practically had to starve my fish feeding only a little every few days to keep the P04 down, kept my lights on 10 hour schedule, vaccumed my sand bed with water changes weekly and had to really be precice to keep levels where they were or that damn thing would rear its ugly head again.... well now i understand why :(

 

It's a bit depressing to say the least but appears that it can enter any reef system at any point so a solid breakdown and rebuild isn't going to save me and one of the corals cost a couple hundred and I'm not ready to just toss it with the loss of Dino especially when its doing just fine in this orderal. I am basically finding people are doing a clean up of the entire system followed by a 72 hour blackout with a 1miL peroxcide per 10G doseage to eradicate the species, I think thats the route I'm going to have to take at this point, I have roughly 10Gal of water in the tank so that will be an easy 1 syringe just need to find out how often and how long, if all else fails I will have to go from there.

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