Declaring WAR on my Aquarium

Delphinus · #1 08-14-2006, 03:15 PM

Dinoflagellates are perhaps the most nightmarish thing that can happen to your tank. In essence, it's a "red tide". Unfortunately it can be deadly to inhabitants who happen to ingest it, usually snails will drop dead. And it is worse than any cyano bloom because you can remove every last visible piece of it and within 2-3 hours it can look like you removed nothing, due to the fact that dinoflagellates reproduce so fast, a population can double within half an hour or something insane like that.

Save yourself a lot of trouble right now and go immediately to the step of turning your lights off. It is the only method to combat dinoflagellates. If this is indeed what you have, first off my sympathies (many people have suffered this, myself at least twice, others more so). It will hound you and hound you and hound you. Trust me on this one, your only first step to success in battling this is starving them of light. Your big challenge will be to find out how to do this without impacting your light-needing animals such as your corals and clams. As far as I'm concerned, corals can stomach the lack of light for a few days just fine, but clams maybe not. You'll have to figure it out for yourself what's going to work for you, but I cannot overemphasize this enough: you can *only* fight a dinoflagellate bloom by starving them of light. If you have actinics you can try maybe running just actinics for a week, but don't be surprised if this fails - even stray light from an adjacent window may be enough to invalidate your efforts - the only way to fight a bad dinoflagellate bloom is through starving them of what they are looking for.

You can try limiting your nutrient load by reduced feedings and increased skimming and rowaphos and so on, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work. An excess of nutrients may lead to the conditions favourable to a dinoflagellate infestation, but realistically the problem is that they are there, and there is no real mechanism to remove them. Your only hope is through starvation. I'm sorry -- I know you said you only want to tackle a reduced photoperiod as a last resort, but I'm trying to save you a lot of futile effort - they will persist. Your only hope is by removing what they are looking for which in this case is light.

Best of luck. Frankly, your aiptasia and crab problems may seem to add to your headaches, but if you indeed have dinoflagellates they are the least of your worries right now. Get that dinos bloom dealt with, if in the process you can deal with the others, great, but if not -- focus on the dinos first. It can be a hobby killer. I count my two experiences with fighting dinos in my systems as the lowest points of all time with respect to my reef tanks, and believe you me, in ten years in the hobby now I have seen it all, I've seen some nasty things, but very few compare to a bad dinoflagellate infestation.

I wish you the best of luck. Chin up - it can be beat, but you will be severely tested in the meantime.

Clown · #2 08-14-2006, 03:53 PM

Does This Algae Grow Realy Fast And Long Like a hair algae?
and If You Clean It Grows Back In A Few Hours?
If So Try Useing Filtered Water(if your useing tap water), And Problem Will Go Away
...
Or At Least it did for me

Psyire · #3 08-15-2006, 06:03 AM

Thanks for the encouragement and tips.

I noticed today that the brown plague was worse on the two sides of my tank compared to the middle. (the middle is a newer bulb, only a month old) So what I did is change all three bulbs to new Reeflux 12K bulbs that I just recieved. We'll see what kind of change that makes tomorrow.

I also plan to post pictures of what this infestation looks like. It's not near as bad as some of the pictures I've seen posted on the 'net, but it's bad enough that it needs some serious attention.

Today I ordered some necessary firepower and commando tools. (filter media & test kits)

I've also started with increasing my skimming and upping my ozone (a hair)

Tomorrow I'll be doing a full test on my water and a full filter change on my RO/DI. (then I will start making new water for a water change)

I'm attempting to make 'slow' changes to the system, however I've lost nearly all my SPS so I'm not that worried anymore... fish are fairly tolerant, as are softies and LPS.

I'm going to go to bed tonight praying that a battle between the dino's and the aptasia breaks out, with both sides eradicating each other... however unlikely that is.

Ruth: Thanks for the offers, I'll be in touch. (PM)

Delph: I'm definately re-thinking my lighting schedule as we speak, but I'm curious as to what dino change will happen due to my bulb changes)

Clown: Definately not Hair Algae... I've seen a lot of that stuff before. (not so much in my tank, but others)

christyf5 · #4 08-15-2006, 06:09 PM

Good luck, I used your battle plan in my Dino Battle of 2004-05 (also included increased alkalinity, increased flow, increased water changes, turkey basting, siphoning, replacement of aragonite sand with oolitic, addition of chemipure, you name it I tried it). Damned things stuck around for a year. At the height of the evilness I was putting the tank in complete darkness with a blanket overtop for 2 days. They still came back. Eventually I ripped out the sandbed and went barebottom, powerwashed all the rock and restarted the tank. Pretty drastic move but I've been dinoflagellate free for over a year now and am glad I did it

reeferaddict · #5 08-15-2006, 06:32 PM

Yeah I think I'd just get a rope and chair if I got Dinos at this point... friggin' hair algae was enough for me thank you!

Psyire · #6 08-19-2006, 07:26 PM

So after increasing skimming, changing carbon, and rowaphos, things look a little better. I would say about 20% better than they were at the beginning of the week. I'm patiently waiting my test kit for Silicate so that I can run some tests on my tank water and my RO water.

I'm hopeing to be able to pinpoint the exact nutrient problem I have.

Psyire · #7 08-21-2006, 06:47 PM

Recieved my Silicate test kit today and was hoping for some answers.

Unfortunately I didn't get many, other than Silicate is not the problem. Both my RO/DI water and my tank water readings are 0.

I am happy though that my Silica based sandbed is not leeching a lot into the water. (Black Tahiti Moon Sand)

Beverly · #8 08-21-2006, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psyire

I'm hopeing to be able to pinpoint the exact nutrient problem I have.

I don't think you will be able to measure the nutrients that are causing your dinos as the dinos are utiltizing them as quickly as they are produced/released in your tank. That said, though, it's great that you are testing your source water for as many things as possible to reduce the chances of introducing more nutrients from water changes and top ups.

BTW, how are the dinos today, and what steps other than the ones you've already outlined have you taken to reduce the dinos?

Wishing you luck in your battle