anyone with a magic cure or answer?

[fkshiu]

It does sound like dinos rather than cyano. One way to be sure is to try a does of the Chemi-Clean (be sure to follow the directions to a "T"!). If it does nothing then you know its dinos.

Not sure if it's the magic bullet you're looking for but a tactic I came across on RC is an extended blackout period for several days.

This is of course in addition to the standard recommendations of feeding/stocking less, employing macro algae/phosphate removers and water changes.

[niloc16]

i thought about making a blackout but how long could the corals go without light before they died. i dont mind them browning but there is some pieces i really dont want to lose

[skylord]

Here is an article worth reading....

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php


Scott

[SuperFudge]

Colin,

Get some Calcium chloride, and shut down your reactor for two weeks.

At the very least, we can write off one potential culprit.

Mine has been a source of problems in the past, everytime i shut it down for a few weeks.....the problems go away, i just couldnt say wether it was the media, the Mg granules, or the c02 fueling the problem.

Marc.

[michika]

Originally Posted by niloc16

i thought about making a blackout but how long could the corals go without light before they died. i dont mind them browning but there is some pieces i really dont want to lose

I have done up to 4.5 days with no issues. I think the trick is to really black it out. I covered mine with towels so no light got in. I would assume the fish, corals, and clams, all thought it was just a really long evening.

[christyf5]

If your snails are dying its definitely dinoflagellates. Siphon as much as you can and try reduced light levels. I wouldn't do more than a couple of days if you have any prized corals, either that or get someone to babysit them (dip them before they go into any other tank). Then black out the tank for longer than a couple of days. These things are horrible to get rid of, they are persistent and resistant to most treatments. I battled them for a year and the only way I finally got rid of them was to remove the sandbed, powerwash the rock and completely restart the system (worst case scenario IMO).

Things I tried that you may have success with:

increased pH
increased alkalinity
increased skimming
reduced photoperiod
no photoperiod (blankets over the tank too)
adding a refugium
dripping kalk


And some links to read:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...inoflagellates

Good luck.

[tang daddy]

niloc sorry to hear about your losses! does anyone maybe even christy have any pics of what it looks like the dreaded dino so that others can detect it better if god forbid we ever get it.

[christyf5]

I'll try and find some of my old pics. It was a painful time so I don't know if I have many around.

[Delphinus]

I went through it twice and am pretty sure I never took any pictures of it either (not the sort of thing you want to remember). The first time I had it, I tried everything (I mean everything) and nothing did anything for it. I had to do the tank-blackout thing several times before it went away permanently. The second time, well, it happened just as I was moving. The disruption of the tank move seemed to kick it. Although it was about a week before I was able to finish the wiring at the new place and get my halides going, so that might have been a part of it.

As far as cyano versus dinoflagellates ... I'm not sure that snails dying is a complete slam dunk for an ID. I think cyano will kill off snails too. One thing that sticks out in memory about dinos was that they literally disappear during the lights-out period. So if you're starting the day off with a clean tank but fininishing the day with gobs of goo everywhere, it's dinoflagellates. Cyano forms more sheets that cover everything, dinos can be a little more string-like. And bubbles everywhere, bubbles like crazy. And it doubles in population so insanely fast. I found I could siphon nearly 100% out of my tank, and within about 6 hours the tank would like I hadn't done it at all since it was completely back.

[blaster]

I would take out part of your sand bed.