Ich or velvet?

[kferguson]

Hi! Can someone help me ID if this is ich or velvet?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi! Can someone help me ID if this is ich or velvet?

A clear video is really needed for us to diagnose for you, but if you can see discrete white spots, it’s ich, if the fish are breathing fast and not eating, it’s velvet.

Here is a write-up I did on diagnosing diseases:

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases Jay Hemdal, c. 2025 Misdiagnosing fish diseases often leads to ineffective treatments, which can result in the loss of fish. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. While the Fish Medics at Reef2Reef are trained to...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi! Can someone help me ID if this is ich or velvet?

Clown has secondary bacterial lesions and Brook may be present but hard to tell with sediment all over the glass and pics are a little fuzzy. i RECOMMEND DOING A GOOD WATER CHANGE AND ADDING RUBY RALLY PRO WHICH BOTH FISH SHOULD RESPOND TO (OOPS ON CAPS LOCK) and is safe for coral and inverts.
How are you testing water?

 

[kferguson]

A clear video is really needed for us to diagnose for you, but if you can see discrete white spots, it’s ich, if the fish are breathing fast and not eating, it’s velvet.

Here is a write-up I did on diagnosing diseases:

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases Jay Hemdal, c. 2025 Misdiagnosing fish diseases often leads to ineffective treatments, which can result in the loss of fish. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. While the Fish Medics at Reef2Reef are trained to...

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you! Based off that information, I think it is velvet. I just did a water change and dosed with rally pro. My other fish have went to bed for the night but I did get a video of my Royal Gramma who is breathing rapidly and staying near the power head. I added a new Angelfish 4 weeks ago and it died while I was on vacation last week. Yesterday I noticed several sick and lost my Midas Blenny and Mandrain this morning. My other 4 fish in the tank have are still eating and seem okay but I can see white on them if I look closely.

 

[kferguson]

Clown has secondary bacterial lesions and Brook may be present but hard to tell with sediment all over the glass and pics are a little fuzzy. i RECOMMEND DOING A GOOD WATER CHANGE AND ADDING RUBY RALLY PRO WHICH BOTH FISH SHOULD RESPOND TO (OOPS ON CAPS LOCK) and is safe for coral and inverts.
How are you testing water?

Thank you! I just did water change and dosed with rally pro. I test with Hanna.

 

[kferguson]

Thank you! Based off that information, I think it is velvet. I just did a water change and dosed with rally pro. My other fish have went to bed for the night but I did get a video of my Royal Gramma who is breathing rapidly and staying near the power head. I added a new Angelfish 4 weeks ago and it died while I was on vacation last week. Yesterday I noticed several sick and lost my Midas Blenny and Mandrain this morning. My other 4 fish in the tank have are still eating and seem okay but I can see white on them if I look closely.

 

[kferguson]

Thank you! Based off that information, I think it is velvet. I just did a water change and dosed with rally pro. My other fish have went to bed for the night but I did get a video of my Royal Gramma who is breathing rapidly and staying near the power head. I added a new Angelfish 4 weeks ago and it died while I was on vacation last week. Yesterday I noticed several sick and lost my Midas Blenny and Mandrain this morning. My other 4 fish in the tank have are still eating and seem okay but I can see white on them if I look closely.

 

[kferguson]

A clear video is really needed for us to diagnose for you, but if you can see discrete white spots, it’s ich, if the fish are breathing fast and not eating, it’s velvet.

Here is a write-up I did on diagnosing diseases:

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases

Self-Diagnosis of Common Marine Fish Diseases Jay Hemdal, c. 2025 Misdiagnosing fish diseases often leads to ineffective treatments, which can result in the loss of fish. Early and accurate diagnosis is critical for successful treatment. While the Fish Medics at Reef2Reef are trained to...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

That does look like Amyloodinium/velvet.

I’ve never used rally pro on it, but I suspect it won’t work fast enough.

The best treatment is coppersafe in a hospital tank of all exposed fish - but once fish loss has begun,?it is very difficult to stop. Hydrogen peroxide dips (at 75 ppm for 30 minutes) works, but you need to do multiple dips and move the fish to a sterile tank after each dip.

 

[kferguson]

That does look like Amyloodinium/velvet.

I’ve never used rally pro on it, but I suspect it won’t work fast enough.

The best treatment is coppersafe in a hospital tank of all exposed fish - but once fish loss has begun,?it is very difficult to stop. Hydrogen peroxide dips (at 75 ppm for 30 minutes) works, but you need to do multiple dips and move the fish to a sterile tank after each dip.

The Royal Gramma seems better so I thought the Reef Rally Pro was working. In the meantime I ordered coppersafe and set up a hospital tank. Yesterday I tried starting coppersafe treatment on the sickest fish but it seems they are not tolerating treatment well.
I woke up this morning to one of my clownfish dead and my other one looks like this. Do you still think we are dealing with velvet?

 

[winxp_man]

The Royal Gramma seems better so I thought the Reef Rally Pro was working. In the meantime I ordered coppersafe and set up a hospital tank. Yesterday I tried starting coppersafe treatment on the sickest fish but it seems they are not tolerating treatment well.
I woke up this morning to one of my clownfish dead and my other one looks like this. Do you still think we are dealing with velvet?

Is the fish actively trying to swim in the current of the filter? Or powder head?

 

[kferguson]

Is the fish actively trying to swim in the current of the filter? Or powder head?

No, it's just breathing hard and swimming in place stressed out.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The Royal Gramma seems better so I thought the Reef Rally Pro was working. In the meantime I ordered coppersafe and set up a hospital tank. Yesterday I tried starting coppersafe treatment on the sickest fish but it seems they are not tolerating treatment well.
I woke up this morning to one of my clownfish dead and my other one looks like this. Do you still think we are dealing with velvet?

A video would help me assess its breathing rate.

What is the copper level? As I mentioned, once fish loss has occurred, it is very difficult to stop it with coppersafe, it is mild, but slow-acting.

 

[kferguson]

A video would help me assess its breathing rate.

What is the copper level? As I mentioned, once fish loss has occurred, it is very difficult to stop it with coppersafe, it is mild, but slow-acting.

Copper is 2.1

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Copper is 2.1

Well, the video creates more questions than answers I'm afraid.

The fish is breathing fast, but not as fast as it would if it had end stage velvet. I can also see some mucus on its body which velvet wouldn't always show. Finally, I see a hint of "CBD", clownfish bruising disease. I discuss that in this thread:

Clownfish bruising/lesion?

All, Over the past two years or so, I've come across dozens of cases on the fish disease forum here of an issue with clownfish that we have not been able to identify. I've never seen it on any clownfish I've had myself, but the issue seems most common on designer clowns, which I don't work...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[kferguson]

Well, the video creates more questions than answers I'm afraid.

The fish is breathing fast, but not as fast as it would if it had end stage velvet. I can also see some mucus on its body which velvet wouldn't always show. Finally, I see a hint of "CBD", clownfish bruising disease. I discuss that in this thread:

Clownfish bruising/lesion?

All, Over the past two years or so, I've come across dozens of cases on the fish disease forum here of an issue with clownfish that we have not been able to identify. I've never seen it on any clownfish I've had myself, but the issue seems most common on designer clowns, which I don't work...

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you for trying to help me! I just don't know what to do at this point. I just hate seeing them suffer. I feel like I am causing more harm and stress than helping. The Royal Gramma was really sick few days ago, but after the Rally Pro treatment he is back to eating and not staying at the power head. But I do notice he is still flashing. Based off that, I did think it was velvet and the Rally Pro was at least buying me more time to get the coppersafe in (i live in a small town not close to anything so I had to have it shipped to me). What i dont understand is that the Royal Gramma improved but the other fish still got worse. My tang is scratching and hiding this morning and he was eating well and seemed okay yesterday. He is breathing rapidly was well. The clownfish did not have the brushing yesterday. I woke up this morning to it's mate dead and it looked like that. My wrasse is breathing rapidly and has looked like this since yesterday. Would you still treat them all with the coppersafe or do you think it's just to late at this point?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for trying to help me! I just don't know what to do at this point. I just hate seeing them suffer. I feel like I am causing more harm and stress than helping. The Royal Gramma was really sick few days ago, but after the Rally Pro treatment he is back to eating and not staying at the power head. But I do notice he is still flashing. Based off that, I did think it was velvet and the Rally Pro was at least buying me more time to get the coppersafe in (i live in a small town not close to anything so I had to have it shipped to me). What i dont understand is that the Royal Gramma improved but the other fish still got worse. My tang is scratching and hiding this morning and he was eating well and seemed okay yesterday. He is breathing rapidly was well. The clownfish did not have the brushing yesterday. I woke up this morning to it's mate dead and it looked like that. My wrasse is breathing rapidly and has looked like this since yesterday. Would you still treat them all with the coppersafe or do you think it's just to late at this point?

The symptoms the fish are showing are kind of all over the place - the gramma getting better with rally pro points to some protozoan disease. The flashing/scratching is more of a sign of flukes. Coppersafe works for protozoans, but you need praziquantel to treat for flukes.

 

[kferguson]

The symptoms the fish are showing are kind of all over the place - the gramma getting better with rally pro points to some protozoan disease. The flashing/scratching is more of a sign of flukes. Coppersafe works for protozoans, but you need praziquantel to treat for flukes.

I have a bottle of Prazipro on hand. Can I treat with it and Reef Rally Pro at the same time?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have a bottle of Prazipro on hand. Can I treat with it and Reef Rally Pro at the same time?

Yes - but be sure the Prazipro is in date, dose it for the actual water volume of the tank, and add extra aeration. Keep any protein skimmers running, but don’t collect the skimnate.