Dinoflagellates..I need help

[turfgrass]

Well what I thought was cyano could very well be dinoflagellates. Sounds like this stuff is hard to get rid of..I think it was brought on by two things. First, I received a coral from Garf.org (lobophyton) that diead a couple days later. It started to rot so I got rid of it to avoid pollutants and second the addition of Kent's coral vite and essential elements.

After doing a goole search here are some of the recommended:

1. Lights off for one full day
2. 4 hours a day after that
3. water changes
4. limit food sources
5. increase ph to 8.6 and overnight at 8.3

All of the corals in tank look fine and I've never had a problem until that lobophyton. I assume I should really puss the skimmer. My ph is low and not sure how to raise it slowly without harm. The alk is at 5.5.. My nitrates are good and so are the phosphates. Would carbon be any good in this situation?

Anyone have this problem and what was the solution. Thanks.

 

[Liam]

Hi turfgrass, you are right with the water changes,elevated ph etc.To raise your ph i would suggest dripping Kalk because this will have the added benefit of boosting your skimmer effeciency as well.Yes to carbon and change regulary be cause you will find it will clump real easy with the dino's.Try to blow the dino off your rock as much as possible but without putting your hands in the water because this will stop your skimmer producing,also gently blow off any dinos you see tangled on your corals.Cut down on light but not if you are going to cause your coral extra stress,cut down on food etc.Try short term phosphate absorber.
Keep cleaning your filters because they can get real slimey and ineffective.
If you do all the above it should clear up within a week but it's real frustrating.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Liam.

 

[JohnK]

I would add that if you have a Ca reactor and you can find a way to drip the effluent into the skimmer that can help to raise PH (actually just minimize the Co2 induced drop).

I fought off dyno once before by simply raising PH a bit and changing nothing else. (it had started when I took a kalk reactor off line, when I replaced the Kalk drip with a better system the dyno's went away in a short time)

 

[paine43]

hey turf i just went through this, i started dripping limewater 24hrs, also reduced my lights, and did a water change every other day or so when i did the water changes it tried to suck up any of the dino i could. good luck

 

[turfgrass]

I don't have a ca reactor and never have dripped limewater. Do I use that pickle stuff? I've just added baking soda and Ca as needed for my coral with good results. I'm going to do another water change now to remove as much debris as possible.

 

[paine43]

i use pickleing lime, also i saw some threads on RC that you can black out your tank for 2-3days without harm to your corals, but i would only use it as a last action.

 

[turfgrass]

I have the tank in black out right now. Carbon is going and a phosphate pad. I removed some base rock for better circulation and possible cause for cycle or something. I also changed 4 gallons this am...I want to do another four tonight, but not sure if that is a good idea or if I should do it tomorrow morn.

From the posts I've read on the RC dino seems to dine on light and silicates and I'm sure nitrates/phosphates. So, I am doing several water changes (test kits read fine) and I'm cutting out the lights.

Things that could be to blame. Adding rock to fast, use of snake oils, and a bad coral shipped.

 

[Rays]

I'm just recovering from a severe attack also. Light depravation and kalk drip
has made me a happy man. I'm up to six hours of light a day this week, from five last week. Right at the six hour level, I start to see the dinos starting to manifest. So I won't increase lighting until I no longer see them. Boy, what a nasty scourge they are.