Fishes slowly getting sick

[Dattebayo]

Hi all,

I am somewhat confused with what’s going on with my tank.

Months ago, I had a case of velvet in my DT and all my fishes were wiped out. Since then, I have left the DT fallow for 6 weeks as my water temp is hovering around 28-29°C.

I subsequently added 2 fresh water mollies to test the DT and they were fine. No sign of spots or velvet.

While the fallow was ongoing, I set up a separate QT in another room and qurantine 2 clowns, 1 scopas and a butterfly in it (all new fishes). 4 weeks of Cupramine followed by 2 weeks of non-medication for observation. The fishes were also kept in copper in the LFS. I just wanted to be safe.

I added the 2 clowns first (2 weeks after mollies were added into DT). They ate well. 2 weeks later, I added the scopas and butterfly.

Another 1 week past before one of the clown start showing spots. I quickly removed it back to QT for treatment. Then 3 days later, the remaining clown, scopas and butterfly also came down with spots. 2 days later, the scopas and buttefly died overnight even though they were eating well and swimming well.

All these while, the 2 mollies showed no signs of any spots or illness.

Sorry for the wall of text but did I do anything wrong here?

 

[blaxsun]

I believe the fallow period for velvet is 76 days.

 

[Dattebayo]

I believe the fallow period for velvet is 76 days.

Yeah. That’s what I tot. But humblefish had a post which states 6 weeks is sufficient if the temperature can be maintained at 27°C

Fallow periods: Going Fishless

Going Fallow The reason to go fallow (fishless) is to eliminate a fish disease from your DT (display tank). Going fallow works because you are denying the disease a fish host to feed upon, essentially starving it to death. In order to go fallow you must remove ALL fish from your DT. If just...

humble.fish

i added the test mollies after 6 weeks. They showed no sign of spots or velvet even up till now. The marine fishes were added 2 weeks after the introduction of the mollies so that is at the 8 week mark.

my understanding is that the mollies being freshwater would have no immunity to any saltwater diseases. But yet they seem fine till now. That’s why I’m confused.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi all,

I am somewhat confused with what’s going on with my tank.

Months ago, I had a case of velvet in my DT and all my fishes were wiped out. Since then, I have left the DT fallow for 6 weeks as my water temp is hovering around 28-29°C.

I subsequently added 2 fresh water mollies to test the DT and they were fine. No sign of spots or velvet.

While the fallow was ongoing, I set up a separate QT in another room and qurantine 2 clowns, 1 scopas and a butterfly in it (all new fishes). 4 weeks of Cupramine followed by 2 weeks of non-medication for observation. The fishes were also kept in copper in the LFS. I just wanted to be safe.

I added the 2 clowns first (2 weeks after mollies were added into DT). They ate well. 2 weeks later, I added the scopas and butterfly.

Another 1 week past before one of the clown start showing spots. I quickly removed it back to QT for treatment. Then 3 days later, the remaining clown, scopas and butterfly also came down with spots. 2 days later, the scopas and buttefly died overnight even though they were eating well and swimming well.

All these while, the 2 mollies showed no signs of any spots or illness.

Sorry for the wall of text but did I do anything wrong here?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That’s a tough one….by all accounts you did everything correctly, other than your fallow period is at the short end of what works, but as you pointed out, your temperature is higher.

The mollies not being affected is kind of odd, but personally, I don’t rely on that technique - nice theory, but may not work in practice.

Are you seeing rapid breathing in the affected fish?
The spots you are seeing, are they salt grain size or larger or smaller?
Jay

 

[Dattebayo]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

That’s a tough one….by all accounts you did everything correctly, other than your fallow period is at the short end of what works, but as you pointed out, your temperature is higher.

The mollies not being affected is kind of odd, but personally, I don’t rely on that technique - nice theory, but may not work in practice.

Are you seeing rapid breathing in the affected fish?
The spots you are seeing, are they salt grain size or larger or smaller?
Jay

no rapid breathing. Just seeing small salt grain like spots. They are eating and swimming.

anyway, I will restart the whole fallow process! ARRRRGHHHHHH

 

[Jay Hemdal]

no rapid breathing. Just seeing small salt grain like spots. They are eating and swimming.

anyway, I will restart the whole fallow process! ARRRRGHHHHHH

That does sound like cryptocaryon, marine ich, and not Amyloodinium, velvet.
Jay

 

[Dattebayo]

That does sound like cryptocaryon, marine ich, and not Amyloodinium, velvet.
Jay

Thanks Jay! Appreciate your replies.

here’s a picture of one of the clowns. The tiny white spots is where I circled it. It had more spots yesterday but most cleared up. However, the colour of the clown looks faded.

I have also attached a video

Edit: video clip not showing. I have attached an external link to the clip

FullSizeRender.mov

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we.tl

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks Jay! Appreciate your replies.

here’s a picture of one of the clowns. The tiny white spots is where I circled it. It had more spots yesterday but most cleared up. However, the colour of the clown looks faded.

I have also attached a video

So - the clown IS breathing too fast/hard. If it has ich, it is only a few spots, not enough to cause symptoms (yet). However, the progression of the disease doesn't really fit velvet. That leaves gill flukes as another possibility - mollies may not be affected, and fish will typically feed right up to a day or so before they die.

Did you treat the fish with praziquantel during your process?

Jay

 

[Dattebayo]

So - the clown IS breathing too fast/hard. If it has ich, it is only a few spots, not enough to cause symptoms (yet). However, the progression of the disease doesn't really fit velvet. That leaves gill flukes as another possibility - mollies may not be affected, and fish will typically feed right up to a day or so before they die.

Did you treat the fish with praziquantel during your process?

Jay

No. I thought was ich/velvet hence I used Cupramine. I have Seachem paraguard. Does that work? It not, I will go get a bottle of praziquantel

 

[Jay Hemdal]

No. I thought was ich/velvet hence I used Cupramine. I have Seachem paraguard. Does that work? It not, I will go get a bottle of praziquantel

Paraguard says it treats flukes on the label, but really, it is just an anti-protozoan treatment that works best in freshwater. I think Prazipro is a better alternative for fluke treatments.

However, I need to warn you that I'm trying to diagnose the issue by the process of elimination, it could be flukes, but I'm not 100% certain.

If you dose with prazipro, be sure to increase the tank's aeration, and dose a second time about 8 days after the first, not 48 hours like the bottle says (you need to kill any flukes emerging from eggs in the tank).

Jay

 

[Dattebayo]

Paraguard says it treats flukes on the label, but really, it is just an anti-protozoan treatment that works best in freshwater. I think Prazipro is a better alternative for fluke treatments.

However, I need to warn you that I'm trying to diagnose the issue by the process of elimination, it could be flukes, but I'm not 100% certain.

If you dose with prazipro, be sure to increase the tank's aeration, and dose a second time about 8 days after the first, not 48 hours like the bottle says (you need to kill any flukes emerging from eggs in the tank).

Jay

Cheers Jay.

Thanks so much for all the advice thus far