Quick tale about winning against velvet...
I Purchased a Yellow Tang and a small Huma Huma Trigger in late February. I put both in my 20 gal QT tank and observed for three weeks - all looked great. That is, until March 24th.
On that fateful day, I couldn’t believe it, the tang was completely covered in tiny white spots. I got pretty lucky noticing since it’s extremely hard to see them against the bright yellow body. The only reason I even noticed it was I happened to get a closeup nose-to-nose view of him and noticed the slightly raised bumps. The trigger, as far as I could tell, was clean. Neither fish were scratching or acting funny in anyway. I must’ve caught it just in time.
Luckily I had Cupramine on hand! Using a 1 mL dosing syringe, I dosed the typical 1/2 dose immediate. The next morning I added the second dose. I used the Hanna HR copper checker to tweak it to 0.50ppm. Normally I wouldn’t bring it up that quickly, but this is velvet after all. Reaction time is critical.
I’m happy to report that both the Yellow Tang and Huma Huma are now happily in my main tank and eating like pigs!
A few takeaways;
I Purchased a Yellow Tang and a small Huma Huma Trigger in late February. I put both in my 20 gal QT tank and observed for three weeks - all looked great. That is, until March 24th.
On that fateful day, I couldn’t believe it, the tang was completely covered in tiny white spots. I got pretty lucky noticing since it’s extremely hard to see them against the bright yellow body. The only reason I even noticed it was I happened to get a closeup nose-to-nose view of him and noticed the slightly raised bumps. The trigger, as far as I could tell, was clean. Neither fish were scratching or acting funny in anyway. I must’ve caught it just in time.
Luckily I had Cupramine on hand! Using a 1 mL dosing syringe, I dosed the typical 1/2 dose immediate. The next morning I added the second dose. I used the Hanna HR copper checker to tweak it to 0.50ppm. Normally I wouldn’t bring it up that quickly, but this is velvet after all. Reaction time is critical.
I’m happy to report that both the Yellow Tang and Huma Huma are now happily in my main tank and eating like pigs!
A few takeaways;
- Velvet can be cured!
- Have a few key meds on hand. Take a look at Humblefish’s post on meds - trust me, you’ll need them at some point. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/medications-to-keep-on-hand.213574/
- The High Range Copper Checker from Hanna is, in my opinion, a necessity if you’re going to dose copper.
- Always, always, always quarantine!
- Keep a close eye (literally) on the fish.
