Need advice on beating dinoflagellates

[Kenshin]

Looking for some help. So for the last month or so I've been battling with cyanobacteria. After heavy maintenance I had finally gotten the upper hand. Well that only lasted a week or more. So a week ago today I came home and noticed this brown bubble snot slime looking stuff on my rocks and coral.

At first I didn't think much of it. I took my turkey baster and blasted of and syphon it out. Well after doing this the last few days and doing more water changes it just keep coming back stronger.

I did some researching and looks like dinoflagellate aka brown slime is the culprit. Reading about it states its deadly to clean up crew, fish and coral etc. Its no bueno and really fruatrating.

So with all the researching comes lots of suggestions of what to do. I really want to hear from you folks who have had experience with this on what your solution was that help get rid of this. I'd really appreciate any help on this matter.

[Lexinverts]

I've dealt with it several times. For me, no single thing got rid of it. It was a combination of tactics that finally got rid of it.

 

1) I got a nice TMC UV sterilizer that was rated for a larger tank

 

2) I made sure my phosphates were no higher than .08

 

3) Two times per day, I disturbed all surfaces that dino had settled on. Turkey basters or swirling the water with my hands kept it from building up.

 

4) I increased my flow

 

5) I added a lot of activated carbon and changed it out every week in order to absorb any dino toxins

 

6) I reduced my feeding to just frozen mysis and nori to reduce the nutrient input into my system

 

7) I added a cleaning crew of Tiger Conchs. These guys are the only thing that will eat the stuff. They eat cyano too!

 

After using all of these things in concert, I got rid of it, and have kept it at away.

 

It will kill much of your corals, especially your sps, if you let it build up, so acting quickly is key too.

 

I'm thinking that phosphate could be the culprit for you, since you were also having a cyano problem.

 

Good luck!

Edited April 11, 2016 by Lexinverts

[Kenshin]

I appreciate your response and you sharing your experience dealing with this problem. I will certainly invest on getting Tiger conch. And you you were correct on the high phosphate issue.

During the weekdays my wife helps with feeding the fish for me since by the time I get home from work lights are off. Which is great that she helps with that and maintenance with the tank. So for awhile I couldn't figure out why I was having issues with big algae and cyano outbreak. So I asked my wife how much and how she fed the fish. Well it turned out she was feeding 3x as much as I usually feed because she said the fish always seemed hungry so she felt bad that they weren't full. Oops!

Since then I just explained to her that was too much and that the fish are always hungry.

[kingsransom]

I had a dino outbreak after neglecting the tank for a while when I was working insane hours on a business project. I did a heavy cleaning of all rock, tank and equipment but unfortunately it came back quite quickly. I read up on people's success with dosing the tank with peroxide so I gave it a try as a last resort. I dosed 1 ml  per 10 gallons of tank water 3% fresh peroxide once per day at night. Put half in the tank and half in the filter. After 8-9 days the dino was completely gone but I kept up dosing for 14 days. That was 3 months ago and it has not come back. Seems some have success this way but others do not. Costco sells 2x32oz bottles peroxide for $1.99. I would go the peroxide route again straight away if I ever had an outbreak in the future. Quick, cheap and easy.

[Lexinverts]

I had a dino outbreak after neglecting the tank for a while when I was working insane hours on a business project. I did a heavy cleaning of all rock, tank and equipment but unfortunately it came back quite quickly. I read up on people's success with dosing the tank with peroxide so I gave it a try as a last resort. I dosed 1 ml  per 10 gallons of tank water 3% fresh peroxide once per day at night. Put half in the tank and half in the filter. After 8-9 days the dino was completely gone but I kept up dosing for 14 days. That was 3 months ago and it has not come back. Seems some have success this way but others do not. Costco sells 2x32oz bottles peroxide for $1.99. I would go the peroxide route again straight away if I ever had an outbreak in the future. Quick, cheap and easy.

I tried peroxide too, and it helped, but it seemed like it was stressing my sps, so I stopped. I know it has worked well for some people on Reef2reef.

[Kenshin]

Yeah I was just gonna ask how that would affect the your sps.

 

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[Exodus]

i battled Dino's for over a year, you either put in the work of trying every method possible in hopes you can take it out (Be advised allot will be lost in the battle, including corals, money, and time) or you simply save yourself a headache and rebuild, looking back had I known what the battle was going to be like I would have never bothered fighting it, I would have just did a tear down and rebuild,  just my 2 cents.

 

Lex, how much SPS did you loose in your battle with Dino's? I remember your fight thread and you had quite the bought with it.

 

I also believe allot has to do with the size of tank and the filtration methods you have in place, I have a 30G with a PLS-50 skimmer, Had I had a sump with a large efficient skimmer, I suspect the battle would have been shorter than a year, you essentially have to strip your system of excess nutrients and ensure it stays that way. The Dino's feed on those excess nutrients therefore like an algae they have to be starved of their food source. Hydrogen Peroxide is your friend and small periodic doses will make a huge dent.

[chewie]

i battled Dino's for over a year, you either put in the work of trying every method possible in hopes you can take it out (Be advised allot will be lost in the battle, including corals, money, and time) or you simply save yourself a headache and rebuild, looking back had I known what the battle was going to be like I would have never bothered fighting it, I would have just did a tear down and rebuild,  just my 2 cents.

 

Lex, how much SPS did you loose in your battle with Dino's? I remember your fight thread and you had quite the bought with it.

 

I also believe allot has to do with the size of tank and the filtration methods you have in place, I have a 30G with a PLS-50 skimmer, Had I had a sump with a large efficient skimmer, I suspect the battle would have been shorter than a year, you essentially have to strip your system of excess nutrients and ensure it stays that way. The Dino's feed on those excess nutrients therefore like an algae they have to be starved of their food source. Hydrogen Peroxide is your friend and small periodic doses will make a huge dent.

Agree 100%

 

As long as you're using RODI, doing regular water changes, feeding sparingly, and have researched as much as it sounds like you're doing, it's a long battle.

 

Starting over is WAY easier. Just need patience....

 

Dino's always come back...

 

Setting up a temporary tank can help keep what you want to keep during the reboot.

 

Good luck.

[Lexinverts]

 

 

Lex, how much SPS did you loose in your battle with Dino's? I remember your fight thread and you had quite the bought with it.

 

 

 

 

I lost quite a bit, but that is confounded by the fact that I started carbon dosing as a response to the dinoflagellates, and then carbon dosing ended up doing more harm than good to my system.

 

In my frag tank, I just dealt with dinos 3 months ago, and I didn't lose anything. This time I recognized them and took action immediately, and, using the combination of things that I mentioned above, was able to get rid of them completely in 5 weeks or so with no losses.

 

I disagree with taking the tank down. This will work, but then what are you going to do the next time you get dinos? The spores are in the air and almost any tank can end up with them at some point---even tanks that have their nutrients under control. Learning how to beat dinos is an important skill to have, and worth a few months of angst in my opinion.

[kireek]

I would start topping off with Kent Marine SuperBuffer-DKH.This has worked really well for me in the past.Any hint of dinos,I start dosing this product right away.

[Kenshin]

Thanks everyone with all this advice. I'm really not looking to take my tank down. I'm gonna stick it out and grind at it everyday.

 

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[danlu_gt]

Thanks everyone with all this advice. I'm really not looking to take my tank down. I'm gonna stick it out and grind at it everyday.

 

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How did your Dino battle go? Did you ended up using hydrogen peroxide?

 

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[matt]

I was (still am) in the same boat. I think it's what caused my tank crash. I did a full tear down cleaned everything with straight vinegar and it still came back!! I might try the peroxide. I am about to tear it all down and do a planted fresh water tank instead.

 

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[SALTY]

I started dosing with kent magnesium and it was gone in a week or two

Edited July 11, 2016 by SALTY

[matty]

After I first read this thread, I tried peroxide to combat my Dinos and it worked well for me. I followed the 1 mil. per 10 gallons of water each night routine. I also recently cleaned my sump really well along with upgrading my skimmer, none have come back yet. 

 

Edit: I do not have any SPS though, my tank is all softies and anemone's, none of which were bothered by the peroxide. 

Edited July 11, 2016 by matty

[Paratore]

I did the three days light out and boom it knocked them all out and I've never had them come back

 

 

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[softy]

use a very small stick!!

[Jack-the-reefer]

Three day lights out, more flow, bigger skimmer, and h2o2 dosing has kept mine gone.

[Optimusprime3605]

Been Dino free for 2 months after battling the sons of [language filter] for 3 months.

 

Lights out didn't work for me, just kept them at bay until lights turned back on.

 

Bigger skimmer didn't seem to matter either.

 

Water changes? Well, haven't done a water change since February. That's when my frag tanks finally got wet.

I've read water changes may just fuel them more but, I'm no expert by any means. So, who knows.

 

Peroxide definitely worked at keeping most dinos away. Did the 10ml per 10gal for 2 weeks. Didn't see much happening so, I doubled the dosage. BAM BOOM POW! GONE! I also have some sps that survived the peroxide dosing. Granted my sps are the so-called easy to care for sps. No acros. I hear acros can't take much peroxide. Lps, softies & zoas weren't bothered at all. But as we all know, what worked for me might not work for you. I believe there are over 2000 strains of dinos. Some more tolerant then others.

In conjunction with peroxide, I've learned to not be as lazy as I've been. Siphoning detritus from frag tanks and sump, never did it before but now I do.

 

Oh yeah, sudden change in salinity will also work. I've fw dipped corals that were covered in dinos, they never came back, the dinos that is.

 

Also, they like low nutrient systems. So, I've been feeding at least 3 to 4 cubes a day. Corals are fat and happy now along with the fishies!

 

So for the long spiel...just happy they are gone for now. Very frustrating thing to go through but don't give up or tear the tank down, it'll just come back if you don't know what caused it the first time.

 

Good luck everyone!

 

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[Optimusprime3605]

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

Just took this pic when posted.

 

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