Struggling with velvet

[sheetmaself]

I have been fighting what i believe to be Velvet for the past few weeks, all fish are in a 78l qt and i have been running copper power at a dose of 2.5 or slightly higher (max has been 2.62) measured by my hanna checker.

All other parameters seem fine and for the first week there was a marked improvement. However since then they seem to be getting marks again and i am due to finish the course of copper power tomorrow.

Looking at the state of my fish (purple tang mainly) should i keep up with the treatment as i know they cant go back into my display tank yet? Also is there anything else i should be trying?

 

[Kooma]

The big dots usually aren’t ich, it’s kind of like a pimple.

Be careful with Copper Power and your Hanna, the Hanna can be off by up to 0.3, so the recommendation is Copper Power to 2.3 for 30 days now.

I agree, something isn’t right. I found my tanga has dropped the spots by the 3/4th day in copper. If it were me I would finish your 30 days, do a 50% water change and then watch them for a few days. Have some kanaplex on hand if you notice anything bacterial, and be ready to re-run the CP treatment if needed.

At any point did you drop below 2.25ppm?

@Jay Hemdal thoughts?

 

[sheetmaself]

I may of dropped below for an hour or so as got the process wrong for a water change. I didn’t premix the water, tested an hour later got 2.16 and immediately fixed the issue. I am using the calculator on the krakking corals website and my hanna has been accurate to it.

Would that once of reset everything?

 

[Kooma]

From what I’ve read, yes. But that may be a differing opinion depending on the person you ask.

 

[sheetmaself]

I may do another week then as they are in the qt tank and not going anywhere soon.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I don't think dropping to 2.16 for such a short time would necessitate a copper 'reset', but Jay or one of the other Medic Squad members will know; when one of them look at your Tang I'm sure they will have some thoughts. Meanwhile, I'm guessing there is no way we're actually 'seeing' Velvet on that fish after weeks in therapeutic copper. Hang in there. I once had to go fallow 3 times in a row in the same display tank due to Velvet! (Now I QT everything.)

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have been fighting what i believe to be Velvet for the past few weeks, all fish are in a 78l qt and i have been running copper power at a dose of 2.5 or slightly higher (max has been 2.62) measured by my hanna checker.

All other parameters seem fine and for the first week there was a marked improvement. However since then they seem to be getting marks again and i am due to finish the course of copper power tomorrow.

Looking at the state of my fish (purple tang mainly) should i keep up with the treatment as i know they cant go back into my display tank yet? Also is there anything else i should be trying?

These fish rarely get
Velvet and may be a skin reaction to copper

 

[JumboShrimp]

@vetteguy53081 to the rescue! (I was thinking that, but I try to stay in my lane and let you all handle these things. )

 

[sheetmaself]

You mean the tangs? The chromis show no marks at all

 

[code4]

You mean the tangs? The chromis show no marks at all

@vetteguy53081

 

[vetteguy53081]

I don't think dropping to 2.16 for such a short time would necessitate a copper 'reset', but Jay or one of the other Medic Squad members will know; when one of them look at your Tang I'm sure they will have some thoughts. Meanwhile, I'm guessing there is no way we're actually 'seeing' Velvet on that fish after weeks in therapeutic copper. Hang in there. I once had to go fallow 3 times in a row in the same display tank due to Velvet! (Now I QT everything.)

Also bring coppersafe level to 2.25ppm

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I may of dropped below for an hour or so as got the process wrong for a water change. I didn’t premix the water, tested an hour later got 2.16 and immediately fixed the issue. I am using the calculator on the krakking corals website and my hanna has been accurate to it.

Would that once of reset everything?

No - that won’t require a reset. Even a few days won’t be an issue as long as the level stays above 2. In many cases, even if you drop below 2.0, you can just extend the treatment for a few days.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have been fighting what i believe to be Velvet for the past few weeks, all fish are in a 78l qt and i have been running copper power at a dose of 2.5 or slightly higher (max has been 2.62) measured by my hanna checker.

All other parameters seem fine and for the first week there was a marked improvement. However since then they seem to be getting marks again and i am due to finish the course of copper power tomorrow.

Looking at the state of my fish (purple tang mainly) should i keep up with the treatment as i know they cant go back into my display tank yet? Also is there anything else i should be trying?

This isn’t velvet, it is ich, mucus plugs or possibly flukes. It can often be a combination of those factors.

Copper Power needs to be run for a full 30 days . How long until you hit that point? Then, you shouldn’t return the fish to the tank they came from for 60 days.

 

[sheetmaself]

30 days will be tomorrow.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

30 days will be tomorrow.

I would then do a partial water change and run a prazi treatment in order to rule out flukes. Conversely, you can remove the copper, and just observe for two weeks. The first treats for flukes, the second deals with possible mucus plugs.

 

[sheetmaself]

Thanks for this, i have done a partial water change to reduce the copper level. I will do this again so to lower further and keep an eye on them. I lost the purple tang today, but still got a few i desperately need to save.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for this, i have done a partial water change to reduce the copper level. I will do this again so to lower further and keep an eye on them. I lost the purple tang today, but still got a few i desperately need to save.

Sorry to hear.

Something is VERY wrong though, the purple tang looked pretty good in the picture from yesterday, it shouldn’t have died in 24 hours.

Can you post a video of the remaining fish?

Is the ammonia level low?

 

[sheetmaself]

All fish, to me, seem ok if a little discoloured. Apart from the Regal Tang which has bumps on it.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

All fish, to me, seem ok if a little discoloured. Apart from the Regal Tang which has bumps on it.

Thanks for the video, that helps a lot. This for sure is not velvet. The blue tang does have a severe infection - most likely the flukes I mentioned on Tuesday. That would explain why the tangs are suffering, but the other fish are ok.

I would run a prazi treatment. Here are the general instructions for that:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/

 

[sheetmaself]

Thanks, i have some nt labs anti fluke stuff coming today. I have done a 40% water change and also lowered the water level to allow the outlet to aerate the water as heard thi can be an issue with prazi