Velvet in DT

[Ardeus]

2 months ago I got the last fish for my tank and 3 weeks ago I got a tuxed urchin.

The fish went through quarentine with prazi and CP. The urchin was just washed and rinsed with saltwater a few times.

A week ago one of the diamond gobies disappeared and the other was moving tons of sand so I assumed it was breeding behavior. A couple of days ago he appeared and he was being chased by the female. He died yesterday.

Yesterday night I noticed that a female flame angel was covered with loads of white dots. I assume that she has velvet, because there were too many dots and she was covered in a fine white dust.

Today I caught her, gave her freshwater dip and moved her to a 4 gallon tank with CP.

All the the other fish seem fine.

I have never dealt with velvet and I am unsure about when is time to tear down the tank and move the fish to a 150 gallon tank.

The tank has 200 gallons, a 36 watt UV and an oxydator running 12% peroxide with 2 catalysts.

 

[Freedom Aquatics]

I would post some pictures of what the fish looks like. This will help other reefers with diagnosing the possible issue. Based on what you said right now I would almost think it was ick.

 

[Spar]

I doubt it is velvet if all other fish seem fine. But keep an eye out for any indication of scattered white dots on the others since it moves fast. Could have been a bacterial infection on the flame angel. Can you post a photo of the angel?

Fingers crossed for you!

 

[Ardeus]

I hope you're right. Tearing down the tank to catch all the fish will likely result in fish deaths due to stress and change of environment.

The female angel looks better (I can't see spots), I guess the freshwater dip helped, but she is hiding and I can only take a photo from above.

I also put some peroxide in her tank (aproximately 6ml).

Some of the fish in the tank are extremely reclusive or only come out at night so it's difficult to check on them. Yesterday I noticed something in the eye of the male flame angel and today it's gone.

 

[HairyGary]

Pictures would be helpful. Do your fish normally hide? One sign of ich and velvet is hiding from the light.

Additionally, did you add any coral recently?

 

[Ardeus]

The last coral I got was in 5th August. Although it was an acro, I dipped it in coral RX.

The urchin was added on 22nd August.

Yesterday in the evening the female angel looked really bad, completely covered in white dust and countless white dots, I didn't expect her to last the night.

I will try to take a picture, although she looks much better now.

 

[HairyGary]

The last coral I got was in 5th August. Although it was an acro, I dipped it in coral RX.

The urchin was added on 22nd August.

Yesterday in the evening the female angel looked really bad, completely covered in white dust and countless white dots, I didn't expect her to last the night.

I will try to take a picture, although she looks much better now.

It seems as though you QT fish but if it is velvet/ich it may have come through on the coral or urchin but more than likely the coral.

Do you see your fish scratching at all?

 

[Ardeus]

No one is scratching.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I cannot really see much from the video. Ideally if we could see the sand like covering on the fish, that would be very helpful. You definitely want to identify what is on your fish. If it is velvet then I would remove all the fish and QT with CP 60-80mg/gallon. If it is not then you may not have to do anything. On this forum I saw a picture of a naso with multiple lacerations on its body, very unusual, however one could mistake that for a parasitic infection.

 

[Ardeus]

I can't see anything on her body now, she looks ok. In the morning she was still covered in white dust and spots. I guess the combination of freshwater dip and CP + peroxide was a good approach to whatever she has. I used 35% peroxide (0.6 ml which is roughly equivalent to 3.5 ml 6% peroxide)

She was having problems swimming too, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get her out of the tank, she basically slowly swimmed into the net.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Have you seen velvet before? Are you confident that is what the fish had?

 

[Ardeus]

I have seen brook and ich in person, never velvet.

She was covered in white dust and countless white spots.

 

[4FordFamily]

What you describe certainly sounds like velvet and it’s not surprising that a dwarf angel would be more impacted than many other inhabitants. Wrasse, some gobies, and even very hardy zebrasoma tangs might hold out much longer without symptom.

 

[4FordFamily]

I have seen brook and ich in person, never velvet.

She was covered in white dust and countless white spots.

This describes velvet almost to a T.

 

[HairyGary]

This describes velvet almost to a T.

My thought as well. I'd keep a close eye on the other fish and be ready to pull and treat them. If so, then going fallow for 76 or more days is really the only way to get rid of it in your DT. Good luck and keep us posted

 

[Ardeus]

Thanks for the help.

I am keeping a close eye on the fish I can see. Marine bettas and waspfish are much more difficult to find during daytime (or ever!). There's a couple of wheeler's gobies that I'm not sure if are still alive too. I can't find them, but they had a couple of bad neighbors living above them (a couple of flame hawks), so I can't blame their disappearence on a disease.

Neither can I blame the death of the diamond goby yesterday on any disease, he didn't show any external signs.

Since she has been in the tank since early July, whatever she has, is also in the tank. Am I right in thinking that in 4 days, if everything stays the same, she can return to the tank? By that time all of her parasites should have left her, right?

 

[4FordFamily]

Thanks for the help.

I am keeping a close eye on the fish I can see. Marine bettas and waspfish are much more difficult to find during daytime (or ever!). There's a couple of wheeler's gobies that I'm not sure if are still alive too. I can't find them, but they had a couple of bad neighbors living above them (a couple of flame hawks), so I can't blame their disappearence on a disease.

Neither can I blame the death of the diamond goby yesterday on any disease, he didn't show any external signs.

Since she has been in the tank since early July, whatever she has, is also in the tank. Am I right in thinking that in 4 days, if everything stays the same, she can return to the tank? By that time all of her parasites should have left her, right?

No, the parasite will be present in the tank and reinfect her. This time worse as her immune system leaves her lucky to be alive right now as it is.

 

[Ardeus]

I see...

I think I have read that CP has a negative impact on the fish immune system. Should I do a transfer to a clean tank after a week (to cover both ich and velvet)?

If this is velvet is there any chance that the other fish in the tank don't display any kind of symptoms over the next few days?

 

[LAReefer4Life]

CP is a 10 day treatment at therapeutic levels. After you can transfer to sterile tank for observation.

It is a possibility that some of your livestock may not show signs due to a higher immunity. However if you’re dealing with velvet which is what you described, you will need to run your display system fallow for 6 weeks minimum.

Sorry you are dealing with this!! Good luck

 

[Ardeus]

Thanks, I will continue with her treatment and keep watching the DT. Hopefully this was just a really bad case of ich.

My guess is that the UV and the oxydator maybe helping in keeping this in check. I will increase the potency of the oxydator little by little until the anemones say that's enough.