I've got Dino, not the Jurassic kind

Discussion in 'Algae' started by Slassco, Oct 27, 2014.

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  1. mdbostwick

    mdbostwick Vlamingii Tang

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    LOL!! I got you!
     
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  3. Slassco

    Slassco Flamingo Tongue

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    Thanks all. I am going to go slow, try a few simple changes as mentioned here.

    I guess after 20-25 years in the hobby it was bound to happen.

    Just curious, other than a missed maintainance there have been no changes in over a year. Any chance my frozen food like larrys or prime reef cubes could have bought them in?

    image.jpg

    I post when I beat it, thanks all.
     
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  4. zesty

    zesty Sailfin Tang

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    Please keep updating with what you try and your results. I am currently at a stalemate; not getting worse, not getting better.

    I'm not sure what my next plan of attack is.
     
  5. Ballgame

    Ballgame Millepora

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    I have some now. I seem to get it every couple of weeks. I think it's from feeding my corals. I siphon it out and that last about 2 weeks. Clean my GFO.
    What I'm worried about is I'm trying to redo my aquascape to accommodate my new corals. Going to use acrylic rods and whatnot. Once I get it in the tank and completed it won't be easy to move. Now I can move everything to clean
     
  6. zesty

    zesty Sailfin Tang

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    Do you have any plans to address your current rock when you are re-scaping? Like give it a brush and a SW rinse?

    I'm going to try and eliminate the troublesome rocks in my system when I re-scape. We'll see how it works...
     
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  7. Ballgame

    Ballgame Millepora

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    Yeah I usually do give a light brush. Right now I just have 2 large rocks and a couple small ones in my sump just to keep them alive. Going to use dry rock for re scape so will need to keep my 2 large rocks until my dry rocks seed.
    I'll post a picture when I get home.
     
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  9. Manolo_mp

    Manolo_mp Plankton

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    Sorry about your pain. I had Dino for over two months. Nothing I did seemed to work. But I finally rid myself of it.

    Here's what works:

    First and foremost know that not one technique will completely eradicate your problem. You need a multi pronged approach because there are different strains of Dino and some are more immune to certain tactics than others.

    Here's what worked for me.
    Over the course of a week I
    Lowered my salinity to the lowest acceptable range.
    Lowered temp to lowest acceptable range.
    Elevate PH to 8.6
    Elevate Magnesium levels.

    During this week I skimmed pretty wet.
    Also i had to cut off the dinos food source.
    I Turned off all reactors and did zero water changes and added no trace elements.
    I fed fish every 2 days in sparse amounts.
    And turned the lights on only 4hrs a day.
    After two weeks the Dino was visibly dying back but still there. So clearly this was effective but not 100%

    Now that the enemy is week it was time for the final blow.

    I did a full 3/day blackout. I wrapped my tank in thick black plastic bags.

    And the secret weapon was unleashed.
    Fauna Marin has a product called Ultra Algea X. During the blackout I dosed this into the sump. You have to remove all macro because this product kills all agae. Micro and macro alike. It is completely reef safe.

    After the blackout I kept dosing the product for a week. It had killed the majority of the Dino but a few strands were clinging for life.
    After the blackout I only allowed ambient room light into the tank for a day then only actinics for two days. Then full lights for 4 hrs a day. All while still dosing ultra algea x.

    I am glad to say that I am a year Dino free. All thanks to this product and some diligent tactical warfare.

    It can be done. Just stay the course.
    The quest is a like walking on the edge of a sword. Stray but a little and it will fail.
    DILLIGENCE!
     
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  10. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

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    With all due respect to the previous poster, I suspect the lights out regimen he describes would work without all the other fluff and all that other stuff combined would have no effect without the lights out.

    I also suggest anyone that thinks they have dino go get a microscope and take a picture of the dino for identification. If its not a huge pain to eradicate, its probably not dino. The only sure way to ID dinoflagellates is with a microscope.
     
  11. zesty

    zesty Sailfin Tang

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  12. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

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    Neat trick. When I had this problem I was able to hold my iPhone camera up tot he eyepice of my cheap microscope and get a great picture of the offending critter. The pic is in the other thread you refer to.