Dinoflagellates

Between the color and what look like actual filaments instead of just globs I think you have cyano. Much easier to get rid of if it is cyano. You'll find some pictures I posted of cyanobacteria at different magnifications here

 

If I post a picture of the Dino that I currently haver hats not magnified, would you be able to give it any sort of id? I don't have a microscope lol

 

I could only indicate whether it was a dino or not (and no better than any other member of this board). And even doing that from a photo is questionable. You will need to get access to a microscope or mail me a sample for a species identification.

You have a few options on the scope:
1. You could contact someone at a local high school or college. You'd be surprised at how accessible your local high school bio teach would be to looking at something under the scope with you. If you contact a professor try to find one whose research is in algae or marine bio in some way. Some may be curmudgeons, but most will probably find it fun to look at something with a member of the public. Its an ego stroke at the very least.
2. You can buy a microscope. You can get good used scopes off ebay for about $100. If you live near a university then you might be able to buy a used scope from them. Most universities sell used equipment (everything from office chairs to dna sequencers) through a company (some run by the university some an outside contractor). Often there is a building near campus you can visit to browse what is available. You can often get a used student scope for less than ebay. I'd avoid buying a brand new scope marketed for children. The quality relative to the price just isn't worth it with so many good used scopes available for cheap.
3. You can buy a cheap magnifying glass. Do a search on amazon for a jewelers loupe. Look for something glass (not plastic). I haven't played with these much but they are very cheap (most around $5-$20) and they stand a good chance of working well enough to ID your dino. I haven't used any of these enough to be able to recommend a product but I suspect some are good enough to do an ID. You may end up wasting $10, but it might be worth a shot.

A smartphone camera will be able to take photos from a jewelers lens or a microscope as long as its a fairly recent model (~2007 or newer).

If you do find a scope you will likely find lots of fun things to look at in your tank besides just pest algae.

And of course alternatively I'd love to get another sample to look at myself so you can always mail me a sample of your algae. But shipping marine organisms in this weather isn't cheap. You would ship it like you would macroalgae or mushroom corals rather than something as sensitive as fish or SPS.

I also wanted to mention that when I was collecting dinos from reefers for ID I also asked people to complete a survey. I only had 2 people report that they had tried raising pH but the one for whom it worked was dealing with Amphidinium sp. I'd love to get some more data on that.

 

Is this a dinoflagellate?

http://www.3reef.com/forums/diseases/microscopy-id-help-152913.html

 

That is Ostreopsis. A dinoflagellate that makes Palytoxin.

You'll notice that they tend to move around in circles around a tether point.

I have some video of them under the scope at youtube

 

I have a question then. We're trying to exterminate them. Is there any way to get them free swimming? If I can do that, presumably a big enough UV sterilizer will do the trick?

 

Also I should have said it first, but thank you.

 

Like most of these benthic pest dinos they migrate into the water column at night. Wet skimming at night or UV at night will kill some of them. They don't release toxin until killed though so if you plan on killing a lot of them it could get very toxic in the tank. Whatever physical removal you can do would help reduce that toxic release. Running carbon could help as well. A lot of people with these don't see any signs of toxin until they get serious about exterminating them. Read up on it a bit before attempting any extermination, people have nearly been killed.

 

Thanks and thanks for the warning. We've kept the light very low or off since they appeared, so I hope the population is low. Our goal now is extermination. Your response makes it sound like UV, along with a healthy dose of lights out, physical removal, and massive carbon use could be beneficial?

Anything to add to this regimen?

 

Oh, also any opinion on the size of UV sterilizer required to eradicate these? W/cm2s required?