Nosey Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Dinoflagelates algae, I have them in my tank, but am unsure how to get rid of them, anyone have any luck removing this from there tanks?....and how did you do it? Link to comment
D.C.REEFER Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 unfortunately this seems to be a very difficult problem to rid your tank of, and many people will suggest different remedies including the good ol' "you need to find the source of the problem" answer which makes them sound high and mighty but doesnt really help you out much. While it is true that a high level of phosphates and nutrients in your tank in general do increase the presence of dino's, alot of tanks have high nutrient levels but no dinos. Others will suggest raising the PH with kalk and turning the lights off for days at a time and other such things, which may work but are a huge pain in the ass. I had a dino problem and found a quick, but by no means easy, fix. I took every rock out, scrubbed it clean and soaked it un a standard coral dip (mine was from brightwell) that effectlively killed the dinos on the rock. I did a 50% water change, reduced feeding and photoperiod, and also dosed a product called algaefix marine for good measure. It was an all-day project, but it worked. In one day i rid my tank of them. Dino i believe are a bacteria, and coral dips claim to not be antibacterial, but trust me there wont be any sudden outcrop within the week after you put them back in. In my humble opinion based on limited experience, this is a great option because even though you have to change 15 gallons or so of water and take everything out, you can be done with the worry and hassel on one saturdays worth of work. P.S. - this method was not my own idea, but was suggested to me by the owner of the Reef Chief in va beach, va. www.reefchief.us Link to comment
Diatome Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 There is a lot of this on RC, but you would get banned for searching there, I think. JK When I had the cursed algae and my tank would yell out unclean to me when I walked by; I first stopped water changes and then upped my PH and shortened my lights to 4 hours a day and ran mucho carbon and rinsed it off the bags frequently. I also changed the carbon each week but basically saw a difference when I reduced the lights. Some here just go with the drop the lights for three days method but I had the best results when I actually upped my PH. Link to comment
Diatome Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Not a bacteria. Here is a good article http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php Link to comment
czim Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I have been battling this stuff for a couple of months now with only limited luck. I know that I don't have a point source issue and do not over feed because all I have is a couple of zoas and crabs that do not get fed. No lights for 3 days really knocked it back, but it is still their and it agitates my zoas. I was wondering if anyone had tried a uv filter on this algae? Link to comment
Splumph Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I have been battling this stuff for a couple of months now with only limited luck. I know that I don't have a point source issue and do not over feed because all I have is a couple of zoas and crabs that do not get fed. No lights for 3 days really knocked it back, but it is still their and it agitates my zoas. I was wondering if anyone had tried a uv filter on this algae? Haven't tried it yet, but I'm thinking of trying it with the cyano (possibly dino, its rust red and bubbles alot) problem I'm having. Link to comment
Nosey Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 I'm going to try and rase my PH level, and see what that does. I'll change my phos remover, and reduce my lighting to 4hours a day, and post my results. unfortunately this seems to be a very difficult problem to rid your tank of, and many people will suggest different remedies including the good ol' "you need to find the source of the problem" answer which makes them sound high and mighty but doesnt really help you out much. While it is true that a high level of phosphates and nutrients in your tank in general do increase the presence of dino's, alot of tanks have high nutrient levels but no dinos. Others will suggest raising the PH with kalk and turning the lights off for days at a time and other such things, which may work but are a huge pain in the ass. I had a dino problem and found a quick, but by no means easy, fix. I took every rock out, scrubbed it clean and soaked it un a standard coral dip (mine was from brightwell) that effectlively killed the dinos on the rock. I did a 50% water change, reduced feeding and photoperiod, and also dosed a product called algaefix marine for good measure. It was an all-day project, but it worked. In one day i rid my tank of them. Dino i believe are a bacteria, and coral dips claim to not be antibacterial, but trust me there wont be any sudden outcrop within the week after you put them back in. In my humble opinion based on limited experience, this is a great option because even though you have to change 15 gallons or so of water and take everything out, you can be done with the worry and hassel on one saturdays worth of work. P.S. - this method was not my own idea, but was suggested to me by the owner of the Reef Chief in va beach, va. www.reefchief.us Did you have fish in the tank when you did this? Link to comment
hazmat Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I've had Dinos for about half the life of my tank. I've tried just about everything I can think of. I'm almost to the point of starting over. Almost..... Just wanted to say that it's not necessarily something you are doing wrong. Everyone says find your source and trust me....I have looked at every source in my tank. Wish I could give you the cure but just take it step by step and hopefully one of the suggested steps will do it for you. Good luck. Link to comment
Stephen-in-Va Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 This method has worked for me more than once. I posted it here if you'd like to take a look. It's not a overnight cure however. Brown Algae ID Please Link to comment
Nosey Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 I've had Dinos for about half the life of my tank. I've tried just about everything I can think of. I'm almost to the point of starting over. Almost..... Just wanted to say that it's not necessarily something you are doing wrong. Everyone says find your source and trust me....I have looked at every source in my tank. Wish I could give you the cure but just take it step by step and hopefully one of the suggested steps will do it for you. Good luck. That’s not very encouraging…lol….couldn’t you have said they are easy to remove, or something like that…lol Link to comment
hazmat Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 That’s not very encouraging…lol….couldn’t you have said they are easy to remove, or something like that…lol I know. I'm so sorry!! I just can't even tell you everything I have done. I'm debating right now what to do. I just hate to lose my livestock by starting over. Someone recommended starting over when it started (month 3). I wish I would have done it then. Now I have so much stuff in my tank it's hard to think about starting over. Plus, I feel like I would need to "sterilize" the tank so I don't transfer it back in. I don't mean to be so negative!! Sorry!!!! BTW, how old is your tank and what do you have in it? Link to comment
Nosey Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 I was just reading your post Stephen, but i have one question Day 5 1/8 tsp sugar normal lighting 1 g RO/DI top off with 1 tsp kalk and enough RO/DI water to replace evaporation or RO/DI water with appropriate 2 part. what do you mean when you say " appropriate 2 part" ?? Link to comment
Stephen-in-Va Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 what do you mean when you say " appropriate 2 part" ?? If you're dosing 2-part to keep your cal and alk up this means whatever you've found the appropriate amount to keep your calcium and akalinty levels maintained in your tank. If you're not dosing 2-part ignore the step. Link to comment
Nosey Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 cool, thats what i thought, thanks for all the good info My tank is about 4 m old, Link to comment
Diatome Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 One key here is to take it slow and not go crazy right away. I had zoas closed up for a long time but didn;t lose any. I lost some astreas that were three years old as they couldn't hang on. My ceriths closed up but all made it. My fish coudl have cared less what was going on. The astreas and ceriths were most suseptable to the biotoxin. I would suggest start with the lights and check the results, along with the carbon. Carbon is best, I have found. Other media is ok to have around but carbon is a must. Slip into the raising of the PH next. My rock was 3.5 years old when this occurred and I was not abut to scrub it. Half of it is fused together with sponges and such. Be careful with dosing things like sugar to cause an algae outbreak. You are dealing with something that does not function like the algae you normally have in an aquarium. I went by what I found on RC and it never came back. Link to comment
Nosey Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Well i went and picked up all my stuff after work. If got carbon,kalkwasser for PH, and im going to change out my bag of ceme pure. Last but not least im going to change my light cycle too only 4hours a day. If have a quick question for that one, can i still leave my moon lights on at night? Link to comment
el_vulture619 Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Did a search and found I have the same problem in my new 40B, this crap is everywhere!! How is your battle going? I will start the methods in this thread for my own battle as soon as I pick up a decent PS. Any tips?? Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 It tough to remove and scrub rock that has coral on it. Can someone post a picture I want to see if this is what I have also. Link to comment
Nosey Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 I'll post some pic's when i get home. As for the battle it's going well, I have doesd myu tank with Red Slime attack, and that worked for the most part. I think I had both Dino's, and Cano, and the later of the two is what the slime remover worked on. I now have just a small amount on the left side of the tank, and i'm back to full 10h lighting for the tank. I've been raising both my PH and Alk to something like 12dkh for Alk, and that seems to be wotrking for now. I plaxced a bag of carbon in my media Rack, and if I get long strands of Dino's I just pull them off the sand bed before my lights go out. I would test both you PH and Alk, they should be on the high side, that is working for me. I was using Kalk to rase my PH, but that stuff is a pain in the Ass. Link to comment
Nosey Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 So this is what my dino's looked like before i treated them! Link to comment
el_vulture619 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I have same exact thing, except now they are every where and long an stringy, with huge mats of bubbles inside of them. Terrible, and when you pull it out of the water, as soon as you bring it out it falls apart and drips. I have a huge syringe, used for basting and injecting marinades, that use used to power blast the crap off rocks! Lights out for week, having a hard time finding pickling lime. I heard baking soda, epsom salt, and marine salt will help raise PH with no effects on salinity in small amounts.... Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 OK I am way off. The stuff I have is on rock not sand and it is a redish brown that is stringy or web like. I think it is really starting to take hold and I am worried about my corals being smothered. Link to comment
el_vulture619 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 OK I am way off. The stuff I have is on rock not sand and it is a redish brown that is stringy or web like. I think it is really starting to take hold and I am worried about my corals being smothered. It can be on rocks, sand, back wall, it even will grow on other algae. Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 It is also inside your corals. zooanthelle = type of dinoflagellates Link to comment
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