Is this ich?

[Humblefish]

Unfortunately, that is velvet.

This is your best treatment option: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/#post-2499437

Dosing Chloroquine directly into your DT will kill most corals/inverts.

 

[Humblefish]

I don’t have any filtration for a QT tank big enough for all these fish. I’m in a no win situation right now

If you can do water changes to control ammonia, all you need is a heater + a powerhead/air stone for water circulation.

I heard Petco started their $ per gallon sale this month.

 

[4FordFamily]

That’s definitely velvet. You’re right to remove and treat all fish in quarantine.

Unfortunately, observation doesn’t always work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending vendors that send fish out with velvet, but it’s everywhere right now.

 

[Tikosyn]

I think I’m going nuclear and dosing chloroquine into my display. The only inverts I care about are my 2 skunk cleaner shrimp and 2 blood red fire shrimp. I have a bunch of snails but they are easily replaced. And there is a chance they could survive right? Also I only have 3 corals which I think I’ll move to a 10 gallon tank I have.

 

[Humblefish]

I think I’m going nuclear and dosing chloroquine into my display. The only inverts I care about are my 2 skunk cleaner shrimp and 2 blood red fire shrimp. I have a bunch of snails but they are easily replaced. And there is a chance they could survive right? Also I only have 3 corals which I think I’ll move to a 10 gallon tank I have.

Odds are dosing CP directly into the DT will only buy you some time (2 weeks at most) before bacteria/biofilm completely decomposes the medication: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/qt-and-biofilm.292878/

 

[wesman42]

Odds are dosing CP directly into the DT will only buy you some time (2 weeks at most) before bacteria/biofilm completely decomposes the medication: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/qt-and-biofilm.292878/

Maybe if you can't / don't have the time to setup more QT at the moment, you could buy yourself time? Doing nothing obviously results in dead fish...but if it decomposes over time...maybe you could dose into DT to buy some time while you get proper hospital setups going?

Just a suggestion and it might not be the best idea, but if buying yourself more time pre-QT then it might still be a valid option? PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Humblefish]

Maybe if you can't / don't have the time to setup more QT at the moment, you could buy yourself time? Doing nothing obviously results in dead fish...but if it decomposes over time...maybe you could dose into DT to buy some time while you get proper hospital setups going?

Just a suggestion and it might not be the best idea, but if buying yourself more time pre-QT then it might still be a valid option? PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong

The dilemma is the OP would be sacrificing some lives (corals/inverts) to save others (fish). So, I recommend removing all corals/inverts before even considering dosing Chloroquine into the DT. Just be honest with whoever gets them about the situation. A fellow reefer with a fishless frag tank would be ideal, because after 6 weeks fallow those corals/inverts will be "safe" i.e. free of velvet tomonts.

 

[wesman42]

The dilemma is the OP would be sacrificing some lives (corals/inverts) to save others (fish). So, I recommend removing all corals/inverts before even considering dosing Chloroquine into the DT. Just be honest with whoever gets them about the situation. A fellow reefer with a fishless frag tank would be ideal, because after 6 weeks fallow those corals/inverts will be "safe" i.e. free of velvet tomonts.

Brings back memories of my ethics course and the cable car dilemma! Lol. Thank you for the clarification...

 

[Humblefish]

Brings back memories of my ethics course and the cable car dilemma! Lol. Thank you for the clarification...

Also, when the corals/inverts die from exposure to the medication that will lead to an ammonia spike which is bad for the fish. So, dosing CP into a DT with corals/inverts is a bad idea for multiple reasons.

 

[stAlphonzo]

Is anyone located near Albany, NY that has chloroquine (chinese or otherwise I don't care, I'm desperate) be willing to help?

I am near, but don't have what you need. Feel free to reach out in the future if you have issues that a local might be able to help out with. It's good to know people close by.

 

[Tikosyn]

Update, I dosed the tank. So far many snails are dead which was expected. All shrimp are alive, whether this will be true after 30 days remains to be seen. Plan is remove all dead snails and continue to monitor the situation. I have more chloroquine which I will probably dose after 7-10 days to account for some likely degradation. At the end of the day, there is no way to measure chloroquine, and the dosages we use are based on anecdotal evidence, which makes me more comfortable using this approach. I understand what I’m doing may not be seen as ethical but I had to make a judgment call, as one poster put it, separate my monetary contributions to this tank from my emotions. All coral was moved to a 10 gallon QT tank along with whatever snails/inverts I could catch quickly. Does anyone know how long it takes for the white spots on the fish to go away? My two buttterflyfish are absolutely covered, everyone else is doing ok, I fear my royal gramma/tailspot blenny may die in the rockwork though. I turned off my skimmed/UV/carbon and will leave them off for 30 days.

 

[Humblefish]

Does anyone know how long it takes for the white spots on the fish to go away?

4 days for velvet; 7 days if there is also ich.

 

[Tikosyn]

Update: My two zoster butterflys have really been troopers. They have been covered in spots and breathing heavy since Saturday. I was finally able to catch them both last night and freshwater dip them, which seemed to immediately relieve them of some symptoms. The tank has been dosed since Saturday, I plan on adding more chloroquine tonight to compensate for potential absorption/degradation. One question: Why is the recommended treatment period 30 days with chloroquine? Is this recommendation based on elimination time for ich? I am only interested of ridding my tank of velvet, if I have ich after all of this I will deal with it. I also dosed Kanaplex last night as well, butterflyfish showing signs of fin rot.

Also 3rd death, my royal gramma. He had disappeared into the rockwork since Saturday, pulled him off the overflow last night.

 

[Tikosyn]

Also another thought, to maintain chloroquine levels I could mix chloroquine into my saltwater storage tank into the appropriate concentration then set up auto water changes to compensate for drug degradation.

 

[Tikosyn]

Not sure anyone is reading this anymore but I figured it represents a good case study for using Chloroquine phosphate in your display. I believe I am on day 9 at the moment. All Fish have recovered, none are showing any symptoms of velvet. I re-dosed a portion of CP on friday and saturday to keep up with potential degradation. I plan on dosing more tonight or tomorrow. Fish are eating and swimming normally. I dosed kanaplex for the 3rd time two nights ago also, my two butterflyfish are recovering from a bacterial infection. Do I need to continue treating for 3o days?

 

[Tikosyn]

Treatment log update, I am now 2.5 weeks into chloroquine phosphate treatment in my display, no signs of velvet and all fish have recovered from bacterial infections thanks to kanaplex, all fins are back to normal. If anyone is checking this, do I need to continue CP for 30 days? I have done two 50 gallon water changes to control ammonia and unfortunately have lost all my shrimp but those were risks I was willing to take.