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Help!! Fighting Dino

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Tamerd, Nov 4, 2015.

  1. Tamerd

    212
    des moines
    Ratings:
    +15 / 0 / -0
    Got a frag from a store, they said it was hair algae, days later its taken over my tank. I was told its dinoflagellates. Been told to hydrogen peroxide dip my rocks, but i dont wanna buy 5g of peroxide. If i did dip my rocks, can i dip my corals? Will this cause a recycle in my tank?
     
  2. Ray/Jen_Reefin 2016 Vice President / 2015 Volunteer of the year.

    Davenport, IA
    Ratings:
    +459 / 5 / -0
  3. Armydog

    Armydog Expert Reefkeeper

    Ratings:
    +738 / 8 / -0
    You can dilute the peroxide. I have dipped corals in peroxide before.

    As for the dino im not experienced with that. But if I remember correctly when reading about it you have to manually remove it.

    I really didnt know it could spread that fast kinda crazy
     
  4. Tamerd

    212
    des moines
    Ratings:
    +15 / 0 / -0
    A couple people said it took their tank over, overnight. Ive just been doing my best to keep it off and away from my corals.
     
  5. Armydog

    Armydog Expert Reefkeeper

    Ratings:
    +738 / 8 / -0
    What color is it?
     
  6. Armydog

    Armydog Expert Reefkeeper

    Ratings:
    +738 / 8 / -0
    I could be wrong but dino doesnt spread that fast.... its a thick green macro if its what im thinking it is...

    Red slime algae will spread that fast though
     
  7. Ray/Jen_Reefin 2016 Vice President / 2015 Volunteer of the year.

    Davenport, IA
    Ratings:
    +459 / 5 / -0
    On frags I have received one a year ago dipped that thing 3 times and replaced it on 4 different plugs and finally got rid of growth after picking at it alot.
    Also have been told to buy red legged crabs and isolate the frag with the crabs and they will eat alot if not all the alge on it.
     
  8. Armydog

    Armydog Expert Reefkeeper

    Ratings:
    +738 / 8 / -0
  9. Tamerd

    212
    des moines
    Ratings:
    +15 / 0 / -0
    What do i do with my corals? Id ask a fellow reefer to hold them but i dont wanna infect their tank. Ive got two tanks with this problem, so ill move everything to my 46 to attempt this on my 20g then tackle my 46, but i dont wanna lose my corals in the process. Weirdly enough. Ive got an enrusting coral thats been growing under the algae i just cleared away.
     
  10. Maureen Experienced Reefkeeper

    Urbandale, IA
    Ratings:
    +329 / 0 / -0
    Have you looked up images of it so you can ID it? Sometimes bad hair algae or bryopsis will get dino on top of it and inter mixed in it. Most soft corals will take a dip of tank water and peroxide at a 4 to 1 ratio for 15 min or so.You can google it to see what others have had luck with as far as dipping. LPS and SPS I would clean the plug or rock it is on with peroxide and then rinse with some tank or ro water trying not to get it on the coral itself. Manually remove what you can from your tank.Take what rocks you can out and scrub them with the solution of peroxide and rinse with ro water and replace. The article Armydog posted is good. I have had luck with DINO X (Algae X) - Fauna Marin - Bulk Reef Supply. Read all you can on line about the problem your tank is having, there are a lot of good articles if you search.
     
  11. Tamerd

    212
    des moines
    Ratings:
    +15 / 0 / -0
    I posted a pic in the facebook groups asking what it was, and they said dino.

    received_10203529783005304.jpeg
     
  12. Bud Loves Bacon Website Team Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member Vendor

    West Des Moines, IA
    Ratings:
    +1,818 / 14 / -0
    What I've found is that dinos usually run their course, no matter what you do, they will eventually go away.

    That doesn't mean that will happen for everyone, but that's just what I've found out. I'm surprised that they took over the tank though.

    Here was my solution:

    1) reduce feedings to a minimum
    2) feed only 15 minutes before lights out
    3) a few times/day, siphon out all the dinos you can get at. Take a piece of hard airline tubing and connect a piece of airline hose to it. Use this to get to the dinos without having your hand in the tank all the time. Siphon into a bucket (usually a 1g bucket is all you need) and pinch off the hose when you're not siphoning. I was able to go through my entire 120 in about 10-20 minutes like this only taking out maybe 1/2 gallon or so. Repeat as needed (usually AM and PM, sometimes mid-day also)
    4) blow off all rocks after this with a powerhead and net loose dinos, then run a filter sock and change it an hour or so afterwards and put it back in
    5) you can do #4 first then #3 if you want
    6) this is a bit outlandish. Crank the lights up instead of what everyone else says to do, which is to totally black out the tank for 3 days. My reasoning is that lights-out dumps the nutrients back into the water, where you have to then clean them up. Cranking the lights forces the life in the tank to absorb nutrients out of the water and out-compete the dinos.
    7) run carbon, or purigen, or both
    8) run GFO if you have it but don't overdo it if your phosphates are high. Stability is important and dropping P out fast can make it worse. If phosphates are high, bring down at a reasonable pace

    outbreaks like this are typically due to changing flow patterns or moving rocks around. Doing so causes the established bacterial colonies to re-adjust (which means, the die off and then bloom). This is a form of a cycle happening that we don't or can't measure for. If you did this 4-6 weeks ago, that could be why also. I think it's a bit suspect to say that it was introduced into the tank and took off like that, usually dinos are present and need the right conditions to thrive. Kind of like a virus.

    Bottom line is don't freak out and I would not do peroxide because that will just reset all your rocks, then you will have a bacterial die-off, then things will look good for 4-6 weeks until it comes roaring back again. The tank won't cycle in the Nitrogen cycle meaning of that term, but it will cycle and that's what you want to avoid.

    Whatever you do, it will usually go away in 2-3 weeks and then you will think that what you did was the right thing, when all you really did was mitigate the problem for 3 weeks while it cleared itself up.

    That's just my experience, my opinion....
     
  13. Bud Loves Bacon Website Team Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member Vendor

    West Des Moines, IA
    Ratings:
    +1,818 / 14 / -0
    It looks like dinos, and a bad outbreak at that. The way to tell is if is it really dark brown (sometimes brownish-red), has little air bubbles embedded in it (and at the tips), and if it brushes away and/or disintegrates when you disturb it. Which is why it's so hard to net.
     
  14. Bud Loves Bacon Website Team Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member Vendor

    West Des Moines, IA
    Ratings:
    +1,818 / 14 / -0
    Also scrubbing rocks with a brush will kill off the bacteria and reset the rocks. I know that's what people say to do but I wouldn't personally. You just need to mitigate it and let things re-balance. And make sure nutrients are under control (that might be the root cause)
     
  15. Tamerd

    212
    des moines
    Ratings:
    +15 / 0 / -0
    Im sure things are outta whack atm. I didnt have a skimmer then had a biocube skimmer, and now i have a proper hob skimmer rated for a 100g tank. Which is changing my flow. Ive been manually removing what i can. Any advice on something that might eat it
     
  16. Maureen Experienced Reefkeeper

    Urbandale, IA
    Ratings:
    +329 / 0 / -0
    It does look like dino. When I had it, I had bryopsis too and it was bad for several months. I thought I would never get rid of it but I did and have not had either one in my tank for several years now. I read everything I could about it and tried several things and that is what worked for me but I had a combination of dino and bryopsis. I should also mention I did not do all my rocks at once, I did not want to upset the balance in my tank too much. Most of the corals and all of my fish survived the ordeal. I wish you the best of luck in getting the problem taken care of.
     
  17. Tamerd

    212
    des moines
    Ratings:
    +15 / 0 / -0
    Thanks for the tips one and all. This puts a damper on getting anything at girs, but itll be cool to listen to the speakers and maybe look around
     
  18. violet21chewy Well-Known ReefKeeper

    430
    Des Moines area
    Ratings:
    +46 / 0 / -0
    what about brushing the rocks while in the tank? would that start a mini cycle as well?
     
  19. Maureen Experienced Reefkeeper

    Urbandale, IA
    Ratings:
    +329 / 0 / -0
    It could disperse into the water column and not be the healthiest thing for your tank inhabitants. It would likely recover areas and spread to new ones. It really depends on changing the water conditions. If you can siphon enough of it out, skim, use GFO and Carbon and replace frequently and do water changes you will hopefully see improvement. Most products will ask you to remove as much as you can before using their product if you choose to use a product to help with the problem. I never had a problem with cycling when taking rock out. There was enough bacteria in my tank that it handled taking rocks out and scrubbing them with peroxide and rinsing before putting back in. I did my tank in sections doing the worst first waiting a week or two before working in the tank again. I tried everything (except more light) that Bud suggested first. Because I had bryopsis and dino I first tried Kent Tech M and finally used Algae x - Dino x and it did the trick.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2015
  20. Tamerd

    212
    des moines
    Ratings:
    +15 / 0 / -0
    Well not much has came back from what i cleared away last night, ill see whats left when i go home at 1 for lunch. It feels like tapioca pudding if you try to pull it out by hand .-.
     

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