Dinoflagellates (?) after tank upgrade

Vesper6 · 01/05/2015, 05:47 PM

I upgraded my 55 gallon reef (year old) to a new 125 gallon about a month and a half ago. As part of the process I added some dry rock (never had organics on it) that I suspected was leaching some phosphates. I've been running GFO the whole time and doing weekly 15 gallon water changes to stay ahead on water quality. I've also been dosing 2 part daily.

As the new tank settled in I had quite a bit of green hair algae and some brownish strands that I thought were some cyano. This "cyano" problem grew and I've stayed ahead of it with manual removal (toothbrush + siphon) and have recently been trying KZ's CyanoClean along with Coral Snow and ZeoZym. The past week I was out of town for 5 days and when I came home it was looking worse than before. It's brown and stringy and makes lots of bubbles. Initially I chalked this up as red cyano, but recent picture analysis of dino outbreaks make me think that might be it.

Hoping you guys can help me confirm my suspicion of dino. My plan tonight is to use a baster to remove all visible bits and start 3 days of darkness.

I have mostly soft and LPS corals, and 2 SPS (bird's nest and pavona). I have 7 fish including a medium blue hippo tang, 2 banghai cardinals, 2 chromis, a clownfish, and a royal gramma. I also have a RBT anemone. I'm most worried about the anemone during the blackout period.

Sump wise I have a bag of GAC (BRS Rox) in a bag passively, the GFO reactor, and a Reef Octopus skimmer. The overflows currently run into a filter sock, which I'm considering removing so the skimmer picks up any large pieces.

1) Dino or cyano or other?
2) Any suggestions other than the blackout to start? I've seen others dose peroxide with some success.
3) Uncover blackout daily to remove more? Or leave it alone for 3 days?
4) Should I feed fish during blackout?

Photos:

Mandrake · 01/05/2015, 07:59 PM

looks like dinos to me

rovster · 01/05/2015, 08:56 PM

Looks like dinos to me also. That said I have a similar strain in my tank that I started with all dry rock that seems to not progress too much and has gotten better with time. It blows right off the rocks. I call it my brown snot algae but pretty sure it's a non aggressive form of dinos. Since it's getting better albeit slowly I have not done any of the drastic measures like the blackout or h2o2. I just attribute it to new tank syndrome, even though my tank is now over 6 months. My post was not to provide any advice but maybe a little hope? Good luck!

Vesper6 · 01/06/2015, 12:01 PM

I manually removed all of the gook last night and am now doing 3 days of blackout. Also setup a big bag of GAC in the sump and am running the skimmer pretty wet. Hoping this does the trick.

Vesper6 · 01/09/2015, 11:33 AM

After the 3 day blackout and some peroxide (12 ml 3%, 2 doses), the dino is all gone. There's still a few stringy bits that now look 'dead' that I need to cleanup, but it is a night and day difference.

I think I'll do some daily peroxide for a few days just to make sure. I'm also running only blue lightning for limited hours. (I turned on white lights briefly to feed the fish this morning, though).

Any other advice on how to make sure the dinos stay gone?

01/05/2015, 05:47 PM	#1
Vesper6 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 88	Dinoflagellates (?) after tank upgrade I upgraded my 55 gallon reef (year old) to a new 125 gallon about a month and a half ago. As part of the process I added some dry rock (never had organics on it) that I suspected was leaching some phosphates. I've been running GFO the whole time and doing weekly 15 gallon water changes to stay ahead on water quality. I've also been dosing 2 part daily. As the new tank settled in I had quite a bit of green hair algae and some brownish strands that I thought were some cyano. This "cyano" problem grew and I've stayed ahead of it with manual removal (toothbrush + siphon) and have recently been trying KZ's CyanoClean along with Coral Snow and ZeoZym. The past week I was out of town for 5 days and when I came home it was looking worse than before. It's brown and stringy and makes lots of bubbles. Initially I chalked this up as red cyano, but recent picture analysis of dino outbreaks make me think that might be it. Hoping you guys can help me confirm my suspicion of dino. My plan tonight is to use a baster to remove all visible bits and start 3 days of darkness. I have mostly soft and LPS corals, and 2 SPS (bird's nest and pavona). I have 7 fish including a medium blue hippo tang, 2 banghai cardinals, 2 chromis, a clownfish, and a royal gramma. I also have a RBT anemone. I'm most worried about the anemone during the blackout period. Sump wise I have a bag of GAC (BRS Rox) in a bag passively, the GFO reactor, and a Reef Octopus skimmer. The overflows currently run into a filter sock, which I'm considering removing so the skimmer picks up any large pieces. 1) Dino or cyano or other? 2) Any suggestions other than the blackout to start? I've seen others dose peroxide with some success. 3) Uncover blackout daily to remove more? Or leave it alone for 3 days? 4) Should I feed fish during blackout? Photos:

01/05/2015, 07:59 PM	#2
Mandrake Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Weymouth,Ma. Posts: 66	looks like dinos to me

01/05/2015, 08:56 PM	#3
rovster Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Miramar, FL Posts: 7,518	Looks like dinos to me also. That said I have a similar strain in my tank that I started with all dry rock that seems to not progress too much and has gotten better with time. It blows right off the rocks. I call it my brown snot algae but pretty sure it's a non aggressive form of dinos. Since it's getting better albeit slowly I have not done any of the drastic measures like the blackout or h2o2. I just attribute it to new tank syndrome, even though my tank is now over 6 months. My post was not to provide any advice but maybe a little hope? Good luck!

01/06/2015, 12:01 PM	#4
Vesper6 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 88	I manually removed all of the gook last night and am now doing 3 days of blackout. Also setup a big bag of GAC in the sump and am running the skimmer pretty wet. Hoping this does the trick.

01/09/2015, 11:33 AM	#5
Vesper6 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 88	After the 3 day blackout and some peroxide (12 ml 3%, 2 doses), the dino is all gone. There's still a few stringy bits that now look 'dead' that I need to cleanup, but it is a night and day difference. I think I'll do some daily peroxide for a few days just to make sure. I'm also running only blue lightning for limited hours. (I turned on white lights briefly to feed the fish this morning, though). Any other advice on how to make sure the dinos stay gone?