Velvet? Last new fish >3 weeks ago

[jpark457]

Came back from a weekend away to my royal gramma dead and my clowns looking terrible. I think they may have velvet from what I read but am not positive. I attached pics. They do seem to hang in the stream of water flow and have “stuff” on them. I havent added a fish in over 3 weeks so am a little uncertain where this came from. I kind of assumed the gramma was taken out by high temps as the AC smart thermostat figured out we were away and went in to power save mode w the house temps pretty high. Is this velvet? If so what now? I don’t know that I can get the fish out w the rocks in place and have a bunch of coral and CUC inverts. Is there a Med that can be used in the reef display?

 

[SlugSnorter]

could be brook. No reef safe meds for velvet or brook...

Do they eat? Do they "itch" or twitch? do they "scratch" against things? Did you QT your fish? what are your params?

You can use a DIY fish trap to remove them

I think it could be brook, which is treated with a 90 minute bath in ruby reef rally, and then transfer to a sterile QT tank. FW dips can temporarily help with symptoms, but will not cure the fish. Here is a guide to brook https://humble.fish/brooklynella/

To really confirm, list of these symptoms and pics in white light would really help.

@vetteguy53081 what do you think?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Came back from a weekend away to my royal gramma dead and my clowns looking terrible. I think they may have velvet from what I read but am not positive. I attached pics. They do seem to hang in the stream of water flow and have “stuff” on them. I havent added a fish in over 3 weeks so am a little uncertain where this came from. I kind of assumed the gramma was taken out by high temps as the AC smart thermostat figured out we were away and went in to power save mode w the house temps pretty high. Is this velvet? If so what now? I don’t know that I can get the fish out w the rocks in place and have a bunch of coral and CUC inverts. Is there a Med that can be used in the reef display?

I can see distinct spots, which tends to rule out Brooklynella. Also, the typical sheeting mucus isn't visible. However, both grammas and clownfish are prone to Brook.

Are the clownfish still eating? Are they breathing slower than about 110 gill beats per minute? If so, you can rule out Velvet.

That leaves "stale ich/Cryptocaryon" as a possibility - when ich has been on the fish long enough for some fish to die, the symptoms look different than in "fresh" cases.

As @SlugSnorter said, there really isn't any reef safe protozoan medication that will work once fish loss has occurred (meaning the disease is well entrenched).

Jay

 

[jpark457]

pH 8, kH 8.3, Ca 440, Mg 1340, sg 1.025 nitrate 0


They do hang in the stream of water and swim a little funny. Breathing is def fast. Occasional itching / twitching. They were eating well yesterday, still eating but less today.

 

[jpark457]

 

[jpark457]

Not sure about gill beats but bobbing mouth open >120/Min

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Not sure about gill beats but bobbing mouth open >120/Min

That tends to rule out ich. I think this could be velvet or Brook (the latter doesn't cause super rapid breathing though). Trouble is - these two issues have two very different treatments! Velvet requires a quick treatment with copper, while Brooklynella requires formalin. Without a dedicated treatment tank you are pretty much limited to trying Ruby Reef Rally Pro, but that may not work.

Jay

 

[jpark457]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I’ll try to get ahold of some rally pro. It sounds like that can be used in the display? Even if I get the fish out I’m not sure formalin vs Copper so that seems may be the way to go.