Having to start all over, velvet killed my fish

KDB

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So, I’m new to the hobby and started with a 45 gallon tank. I’ve had to running for about 5 months and my fish got velvet, at the beginning I didn’t understand what I was looking at, and was a little too late to treatment. Although it was only two fish that had it before I started treatment, they all died over the course of a week.

Now, I’m sitting here with a empty tank, wondering what is the next steps to ensure this is isn’t going to happen again. How long to keep temperatures high? Should I still use medicine to kill the velvet? How many water changes? ( I had some small corals that I’m not too worried about as the medication didn’t do them any favours )
I have no plants. Just rocks.

and I do not have a QT tank. I know that is what many people suggest, I just don’t have the room to be running two tanks.

should I introduce maybe some crabs and more corals before fish and let lots of time go bye?
 

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Before we give advice could you tell us what medication you are using? You might be using the wrong product as all velvet/ich treatments kill coral.
 
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I was given polyplab reef safe medic and was treating for about a week, obviously didn’t work.
I was given prazipro but at the end, when it was too late
 

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So sorry to hear. I’ve been there too, and it really stinks...

If you don’t have a qt tank, the best course of action would be to purchase from a site/store that quarantines all their specimens. This goes for fish, coral, macro, and inverts, as they can all carry the parasites. I learned over the course of time that a small qt tank is necessary no matter where the livestock comes from, but that’s just from enough bad experiences to convince me. Be sure to run fallow for at least 45 days (76 is better) before adding any new fish. In the future, just be careful where you are purchasing your livestock. And maybe look into a tiny and cheap qt. It certainly wouldn’t hurt and would do you a great service.

Also, as Dragonsreef said, prazi and medic are both useful for internal parasites, but do nothing for velvet. Copper meds and formalin baths are far more effective against velvet.
 
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So sorry to hear. I’ve been there too, and it really stinks...

If you don’t have a qt tank, the best course of action would be to purchase from a site/store that quarantines all their specimens. This goes for fish, coral, macro, and inverts, as they can all carry the parasites. I learned over the course of time that a small qt tank is necessary no matter where the livestock comes from, but that’s just from enough bad experiences to convince me. Be sure to run fallow for at least 45 days (76 is better) before adding any new fish. In the future, just be careful where you are purchasing your livestock. And maybe look into a tiny and cheap qt. It certainly wouldn’t hurt and would do you a great service.

Also, as Dragonsreef said, prazi and medic are both useful for internal parasites, but do nothing for velvet. Copper meds and formalin baths are far more effective against velvet.
 
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Thanks for the tips. It’s a bit frustrating as I was given those options by professionals. So, it’s any wonder why they all died. Should I be adding copper now, to kill the parasite faster?
 
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Also, would I be okay to add anything to the tank within those 76 days, like corals or snails or anything.
 
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So sorry to hear. I’ve been there too, and it really stinks...

If you don’t have a qt tank, the best course of action would be to purchase from a site/store that quarantines all their specimens. This goes for fish, coral, macro, and inverts, as they can all carry the parasites. I learned over the course of time that a small qt tank is necessary no matter where the livestock comes from, but that’s just from enough bad experiences to convince me. Be sure to run fallow for at least 45 days (76 is better) before adding any new fish. In the future, just be careful where you are purchasing your livestock. And maybe look into a tiny and cheap qt. It certainly wouldn’t hurt and would do you a great service.

Also, as Dragonsreef said, prazi and medic are both useful for internal parasites, but do nothing for velvet. Copper meds and formalin baths are far more effective against velvet.
Would I be able to add corals or snails or anything in the mean time?
 

Jay Hemdal

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Would I be able to add corals or snails or anything in the mean time?

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

While your tank is fallow/fishless, you can add invertebrates, but beware, these can transmit new diseases into your tank if they came from a dealer's tank that was housing sick fish. I always prefer dealers who hold their invertebrates completely separate from their fish, but that rarely happens. I was at a store a few months ago and wanted to get some clean up crew. I looked over a system and saw some snails and shrimp that I wanted. Then, I glanced down into the sump and there was a tang, covered in ich! Needless to say I left without buying anything!

Prazi won't do anything for velvet, buy Polyp Lab Medic is supposed to be effective, and there are actually scientific studies that show that peroxides are very effective against velvet. However, in order to be "reef safe" they lower the concentration to a point where it is not very effective according to reports I see here.

Setting up a small quarantine tank would be the best way to go, second best would be to buy pre-quarantined fish. Minimum fallow period for your tank would be 45 days at 81 degrees, but that is an absolute minimum.

Jay
 

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So, I’m new to the hobby and started with a 45 gallon tank. I’ve had to running for about 5 months and my fish got velvet, at the beginning I didn’t understand what I was looking at, and was a little too late to treatment. Although it was only two fish that had it before I started treatment, they all died over the course of a week.

Now, I’m sitting here with a empty tank, wondering what is the next steps to ensure this is isn’t going to happen again. How long to keep temperatures high? Should I still use medicine to kill the velvet? How many water changes? ( I had some small corals that I’m not too worried about as the medication didn’t do them any favours )
I have no plants. Just rocks.

and I do not have a QT tank. I know that is what many people suggest, I just don’t have the room to be running two tanks.

should I introduce maybe some crabs and more corals before fish and let lots of time go bye?
You really don't have room for a 10g on a counter top or nightstand? TTM is a quick 2 week hit and when used along side something like general cure it will clear out all the common stuff.

All you are doing without a QT is rolling dice everytime. At least run everything through safetystop if not doing a QT formalin helps knock back things and gives the fish a break while it settles in.

Could buy only qt'd fish. Some vendors are reasonably price.
 
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You really don't have room for a 10g on a counter top or nightstand? TTM is a quick 2 week hit and when used along side something like general cure it will clear out all the common stuff.

All you are doing without a QT is rolling dice everytime. At least run everything through safetystop if not doing a QT formalin helps knock back things and gives the fish a break while it settles in.

Could buy only qt'd fish. Some vendors are reasonably price.
TTM? So, a qt is beneficial monitor fish to ensure they don’t have anything or, would I be treating them as a precaution
 

reefinatl

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TTM? So, a qt is beneficial monitor fish to ensure they don’t have anything or, would I be treating them as a precaution
Tank Transfer Method will burn up a lot of saltwater but I found it to be easier and quicker than copper. It's not perfect but if done right can really help clear up the common killers. The below will work for velvet and ich. I only did 4 72 hr transfers since there were no signs of velvet through the process. You should add two treatments spaced appropriately for other parasites.

Day 1 – fish in tank
Day 2 – 1st transfer at 36 hours
Day 4 – 2nd transfer at 36 hours
Day 5 – 3rd transfer at 36 hours
Day 7 – 4th transfer at 36 hours
Day 10 – 5th transfer at 71 hours
Day 13 – 6th transfer at 71 hours

Humble.fish and humblefish' posts on here cover it pretty substantially. I don't know @Jay Hemdal feelings on it the method but I found it to be effective for me. I didn't really want a full month of monitoring copper and other headaches that come with that style QT. 10g one the kitchen counter and swap it out every 3 days after the kids go down for the night was pretty easy.

As stated above you need at least a 45 day period before adding fish no matter what you do right now.
 

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TTM? So, a qt is beneficial monitor fish to ensure they don’t have anything or, would I be treating them as a precaution
I am sorry to hear about your loss.

While I QT everything, I only treat when I there’s some reason to do so. Healthy fish don’t get sick.

I QT for 30 days, and if they act and eat normal from day one to day thirty, in the DT they go.

Only once, did I ever need to use copper as the fish was, noticeably infected with ick.

QT everything if you don’t want losses.

This Red Sea Sailfin is just ready now from QT.
8E11C4DE-95B0-480D-876A-3A5507103104.jpeg
 
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Welcome to Reef2Reef!

While your tank is fallow/fishless, you can add invertebrates, but beware, these can transmit new diseases into your tank if they came from a dealer's tank that was housing sick fish. I always prefer dealers who hold their invertebrates completely separate from their fish, but that rarely happens. I was at a store a few months ago and wanted to get some clean up crew. I looked over a system and saw some snails and shrimp that I wanted. Then, I glanced down into the sump and there was a tang, covered in ich! Needless to say I left without buying anything!

Prazi won't do anything for velvet, buy Polyp Lab Medic is supposed to be effective, and there are actually scientific studies that show that peroxides are very effective against velvet. However, in order to be "reef safe" they lower the concentration to a point where it is not very effective according to reports I see here.

Setting up a small quarantine tank would be the best way to go, second best would be to buy pre-quarantined fish. Minimum fallow period for your tank would be 45 days at 81 degrees, but that is an absolute minimum.

Jay
Thanks for the advice! It’s a tough hobby to learn
 
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I am sorry to hear about your loss.

While I QT everything, I only treat when I there’s some reason to do so. Healthy fish don’t get sick.

I QT for 30 days, and if they act and eat normal from day one to day thirty, in the DT they go.

Only once, did I ever need to use copper as the fish was, noticeably infected with ick.

QT everything if you don’t want losses.

This Red Sea Sailfin is just ready now from QT.
8E11C4DE-95B0-480D-876A-3A5507103104.jpeg
That’s the fish that got my tank ruined! I totally see the benefit of a QT it’s just had with limited space and when you spent so much money already just to have it all die
 

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That’s the fish that got my tank ruined! I totally see the benefit of a QT it’s just had with limited space and when you spent so much money already just to have it all die
No judgement, I’m just sad you lost fish.
It happens, we learn, we move forward.
Good luck!
 

brandon429

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Karissa I have been reading this thread its brave of you to document it all.

this is the single most important aspect of tank cycling that no manual or procedural post ever told us, I myself was never told to prepare for fish disease in cycling tanks from anything Ive ever read on the matter.

New tank cyclers will benefit from seeing your posts that's for sure, you are doing things the right way per the times and trends we can see on thousands of cycling threads.
 

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