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Do I have dinoflagellates?

Hi all,

Can anyone confirm if the stringy/web-like stuff in the photo is dinoflagellate? I thought they were diatoms but looking at photos online, it appears they are dinos. If they are dinos, should I blackout my tank?

Thanks all.
 

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Definitely vacuum and get rid of as much as you can and then 3 day blackout. If you don't get rid of them first they will release toxins which is bad enough, but worse if you have snails as it will kill the snails first -- resulting in more rotting stuff in the aquarium. Run a good amount of new carbon while during and after the blackout.
 
To me, it looks like a combo:
Small tubeworms
A bit of Cyano
Normal Algae

Siphon-vacuum a LOT as others mentioned.
Perhaps even pull rock and clean them with a nylon brush in a bucket of salt water.
Reduce feeding.
Get phosphates down.
See what happens, and report back.
 
Thanks all. I wish I bought that phosphate kit when I had a chance. Where would phosphates come from? I run RODI and have 0 TDI.

I've started siphoning the stuff out, I've turned down the lights too to see what that will do. Thanks all.
 
Don’t look like dinos. Dinos will have bubbles in the strands. They are easy to disperse but come back very fast.


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The photo didn't capture it very well, but there are definitely bubbles within the strands. I can see them at night with the blue lights on. I'm planning on blacking out the tank today with a large contractor's bag, will see how it does.
 
And so it begins.

I pointed the Koralia up so it causes disturbance in the water surface, I also cut the very tip of the trash bag to cut down on condensation. Hopefully this will work.
 
Monitor your PH.
That will somewhat indicate if you have a big O2/CO2 problem due to sealing everything up.

I seriously hope you did a lot of manual removal first, and plan to do big water changes afterwards.
Remember that whatever dies in this process ends up in the water column.
 
Hi all,

So I ended my blackout early. It looks like most of the "brown-stuff with bubbles" (not sure if they were Dino's or not) are gone. But now, I have the remains of a lot of dead caulerpa algae. I tried removing the stuff by hand/siphoning, but it just falls apart and makes more of a mess. Are there any particular inverts that will munch on dead caulerpa?

I know this will add to the bioload of my tank, but I currently have 1 clownfish, a very small (3") xenia coral, and a few bumblebee snails. I'm hoping whatever I have will help to stir the sand.

Thanks!
 
Well that was short-lived. The brown algae is back with a vengeance, my Xenia has died and so has the majority of my snail population. Just the clownfish appears to be doing well.

I'm thinking of starting over at this point, tossing the rock and sand and giving the equipment a really good scrubbing. What's the best way to keep the clownfish healthy? I don't have any spare tanks unfortunately and I don't think it would be a good idea to use a heater in the 5 gallon Home Depot buckets I use. Thanks all.
 
Nothing really wrong with buckets.
We do that for TTM-quarantine for a week or so.
Put the clown fish in a bucket with heater and air stone. It will be fine for about 2 days.
If you do 50% water changes daily, you can do that indefinitely.

Add an ammonia detector strip though!
 
Buckets are fine, small tanks are pretty cheap too. I don't think you need to change water that frequently since you can put your cycled rock in with the clowns to process ammonia. Is there any rock that isn't covered in algae? Perhaps underneath a pile that is not exposed to the light? If so you may not even need to cycle the tank again once you start over.


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