I want your pest algae for research

[Pants]

I am PhD candidate studying dinoflagellates. I am new to keeping marine aquaria and so I got excited when I was reading about hobbyists' struggles with dinoflagellate pests (yes scientists can be weird like that). The descriptions I read online sounded just like the group of dinoflagellates I am currently studying. I started using reef forums to request samples of people's suspected dinoflagellate blooms and found the results interesting enough to want to look deeper.

 

My sample size is currently very low (8) and there may be other interesting dinos causing people trouble so I'd like to get a lot more samples. I'll be attending the Spring WAMAS meeting (not just for this but as a member) and would like to request that anyone who currently has a pest algae in their tank to bring a sample of it with them to give to me.

 

 

Containers:

• Disposable tupperware with a decent lid
• Plastic bags as long as they seal securely
• Containers with screw caps (that don't leak)

Labeling

Please label your container with your WAMAS forum name or alternative contact info (like email address or phone number). I've found that some people don't really care what I discover and others like hearing the details and seeing the photos and I will respect either desire but I may want to contact you later purely to ask for more algae or to ask a couple questions about your tank.

 

Collection Technique

Make sure you have enough water in your container to completely cover the algae. I do not need a lot of algae, but extra is not a problem. Since you want it gone anyway give me as much or as little as you want. If you collect the algae early please be sure to store it in a way that prevents evaporation and roughly maintains the temperature of the tank (room temperature is fine as long as you don't let your house get too cold). Usually setting it on a shelf/table next to the tank will be good enough.

 

Some things I have found so far:

Hobbyists are doing a good job IDing dinoflagellates and so far I have found 3 major types of dinoflagellates causing problems for people:

1) Prorocentrum sp.

2) Ostreopsis/Gambierdiscus

3) A tiny dino that I have strong suspicions are Symbiodinium sp (hopefully getting to the bottom of that soon) Commonly referred to as Zooxanthellae in the hobby.

 

1 & 2 have the potential to be toxic which would explain reports of snail death or fish avoiding the area.

 

I suspect the variable success people have ridding their tanks of these pests has a lot to do with trying to treat these three groups as a single pest. What works for one will not work for the others. I don't know if it is related but several people with dino blooms have had miscalibrated salinity measurement (hydrometer/refractometer) tools and had mistakenly been keeping their tanks over 40ppt.

 

I've been attempting to build an identification guide so people can ID these on their own. While it is not usable yet there are some pictures. www.algaeid.com. I'll be adding more photos and descriptions as I gather more information. Here are some more photos:

 

Below are a couple photos at of two species of Prorocentrum taken from people's aquariums. These are similar to species like Prorocentrum lima, Prorocentrum hoffmanianum, Prorocentrum levis, and Prorocentrum arenarium. This is the group I work on. Their genomes can be 100X bigger than yours and they are responsible for diarrhetic shellfish poisoning. The noodly looking bit inside the cells next to the circle in the middle are the chromosomes inside the nucleus.

 

 

Here is a photo of a species of Ostreopsis. Ostreopsis does not have many named species but this is similar to the unnamed species causing harmful blooms in Italy and similar to Ostreopsis siamensis. The toxins these produce aren't widely studied but are pretty nasty. Said to be similar to ciguatera toxins produced by the dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus which these are closely related to.

 

 

I don't have a photo of the third because it is so small that it wouldn't look like much. I've been using the third species to train an undergraduate student and she is currently sequencing its DNA to get a better species ID.

[Der ABT]

so are you looking for Dino's only or any type?

[Pants]

My research interests are solely dinos, but I would like samples of all types so I can add them to the website and help people ID their algae.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Pants

[OUsnakebyte]

So, do you want filamentous algae, like Bryopsis?

 

Cheers

Mike

[Pants]

Yes. Not for research but just to take a couple photos for the website.

[dbartco]

please bring your algae to the meeting and support this research effort!

[BigWyll]

This is something I can definately contribute to. I have three types of pest algae, a read cotton candy looking cloud that grows in my fuge, a green thick hair algae that grows near my overflows and a long slimy hair algae that seems to attach to my halimada. I am not sure if this is what your looking for. But I would love to have the the algae IDed.

 

When I googled dinoflagellates to see what it looked like in a tank I found this image. I saw something behind my overflow that looks something like this. I just figured it was a colony of sponges. I don't have a problem scrapping out some of them also.

 

[Pants]

That photo doesn't look like dinos.

 

Reefcleaners has a nice guide to pest algae:

http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=81

 

Dinos will be slimy golden brown and bubbles will often get trapped in the slime causing tendrils of the brown slime to rise up off the surface.

[BigWyll]

Thanks for the correction. Nothing like that in my tank. I tried to remove the photo so as not to confuse others but I don't have permissions to do that.

[Pants]

I wanted to thank those who brought samples to the Spring meeting. I got at least 1 dino I was after and perhaps a second interesting dino as well as some algae for the website.

 

I am still collecting more so please keep me in mind if you get an algae bloom, particularly if is dinoy (brown-gold slime often with bubbles trapped in it).

 

I also thought people might be interested to know about the dinoflagellate bloom in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. It is still there if you want to go down and observe. The media is referring to it as a Mahogany tide (a common term in the area for dino blooms). The dino in question is a Prorocentrum sp. so much like those in some of your tanks.

[Pants]

Bump.

 

I'm looking for pest algae again. I'd actually really love to photograph some diatoms. So if anyone is cycling a new tank and experiencing a diatom bloom I'd love a sample. And as always I'd love some dinoflagellates.

[dave w]

Pants, what type of research are you doing?  I'm interested in using dinoflagellates to culture cladocerans which so far have not been possible to culture in the lab.  So I am more interested in food values of the low toxicity dinos, you may be more interested in those that are more toxic.  

 

Dave W. 

[JR-Tanked150]

I think we have the dinoflagellate in our tank, we have been trying to get rid of.

[sen5241b]

First time I ever heard of anyone wanting dinos in their tank

 

 

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[Pants]

I culture them in flasks. I've been very careful not to get them in my tank

 

Dave: I have a few dinos that might make good prey items. Crypthecodinium cohnii might be the best. What size were you thinking?

 

JR: I'd love a sample. You're pretty far from me even at the University (College Park). Do you get up to College Park, Rockville or even all the way out in Frederick at all?

[JR-Tanked150]

Not really, are you going to the petland social, we can bring you some or if someone around you is going we could give it to them for you.

[gmerek2]

I think mine are grown out enough to frag a piece off. SWAP rules no selling please. Someone should start a pest tank

[Tracy G]

Let me know if you want some bubble algae! If so I'm your guy lol. Hate that stuff

 

 

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[dave w]

Pants, I'm thinking of 100-150 um size and planktonic.  

 

Thank you.

Edited March 12, 2014 by dave w

[Coral Hind]

I have a new tank full of dino snot right now. It came in on some frag plugs. Let me know if you want some and I'll bring it to work (Bethesda/Kensington).

[Sharkey18]

New tank David? Do tell.... 

[Pants]

Wow thanks for all the responses. I was in a car accident a couple days ago and haven't been able to get to work (too dizzy and sore to drive the rental car). That also means I won't make it to the social (although it was far enough away I might not have been able to come anyway). I keep hoping I'll feel well enough to go to work soon but so far each day has been worse. I really hoping I'll be good enough some time next week, so I'll keep you all posted in this thread. Once I'm back to my usual routine I drive from Frederick to College Park every week day so if you can catch me some where along that route that would be easiest. I'm hoping King of Corals will host some WAMAS events up here in Frederick (like Mr Coral used to) once they open and I'll be able to catch people that way. With a baby (who hates hate hates the car) at home its hard to drive a couple hours south to events like the upcoming social. I've managed to make it work a few times though. Well I'm rambling because its hard to read the screen when I'm dizzy so I'll just shut up now.

[JR-Tanked150]

Hope you feel better soon.