Controlling dinoflagellates with Metronidazole

[crimper]

Originally Posted by Frogger

Ok so I attacked it with a multi-pronged approach and I seem to have gotten it under control. The metronidazole as stated earlier only temporarily gives you relief. If you do not deal with the other issues it will just come back.

I added a UV sterilizer and kept my micron filter running. Believe it or not I started adding phosphates and nitrates to get my values up out of the basement. I have read that the Dynos are a low nutrient loving organism and competition is the way to go. Since adding phosphates and nitrates I have encouraged some hair algae and coralline algae to colonize the rock work. The hair algae is a lot easier to control with grazers. I am working at getting my grazing population up and everything should be fine. I still have a tiny bit of dynos but they are not actively growing.

Thanks for the update Frogger.

That's an interesting findings. The time that dino appeared in my tank is the time when I started dosing AF Component 123 and after my tank hit 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate. I'm still struggling to raise nitrates and phosphates at this time as I continue to dose nitrate and i'm feeding heavy just to keep my nutrients above 0.

I have a UV in my display tank that I can use to help stop it from taking over.

[Frogger]

In my reef tank I was having trouble with my lack of nutrients. The colours on my sps were pale. I started adding nitrates to get my nitrates up to a readable amount on my Redsea Pro nitirate test kit and I unfortunately crashed my phosphates. I lost about half of my corals and it took me several months to get my tank turned around.

What I have found I have to add both potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate twice a day (will be setting up to a doser) at a ratio of 3 to 1. I still can't get a measureable amount of nitrates but I can keep my phosphates at a good number. To my 75 gallon tank I am adding 6mls of KNO3 daily. I am slowly increasing the dose to try to get my nitrates to a measurable amount. The colours on my corals and the growth rate are better then they ever were before.