Velvet Outbreak Frustration

[Sean Norman]

So I have had an established tank and the same fish for 5 years. I really wanted to add a Hippo Tang but was nervous with the reputation of being disease prone. I decided to do it, but went through a reputable on line dealer who does medication QT. I have bought most of my fish through them with no issues. I ordered and received the tang and drip acclimated it and put it into an acclimation box in the tank. After two days no one was seeming to care about it, so he was released into the tank. All good.. everyone eating and getting along. The next day I noticed my Gramma acting strange. It was swimming with its head down and staying near the PH. This am I got up to find my White Tailed Tang in distress.. not white dots but dusky colored.. I caught it and it died while I was setting up an emergency tank. I found the Hippo Tang dead in the rocks.. it looked the same. I cannot find my Wrasse and now my Yellow Tang is losing its color. The Gramma is still alive but struggling and in the rock work. I did set up a hospital tank and caught one Clown but cannot catch the other one. I started copper treatment on the hospital tank.
I have read the horror stories and now it’s my turn. I think I trusted the process of the dealer and maybe got lucky.
I take my ownership of animals seriously and I am responsible for what happened. I should have at least run the fish through my own observation process. I am not sure if the parasite can live off dead fish or not I am assuming I may not ever find the Wrasse to get it out. Best case is I can catch the other Clown and maybe they make it in the hospital tank. It’s my fault.. but just really sucks…

 

[slingfox]

Sorry to hear about the fish deaths. Hopefully you can rebuild your fish population. If you know where you wrasse sleeps at night that may provide a clue on where it may be hiding.

 

[Louis Z]

Ugh . I am not saying to contradict you but have you added anything else .. velvet so deadly . . Sorry to hear what has happened . You say that about velvet , I say that about Uronema . I thank myself forQT my stock . I lost a group of cardinals to Uronema . Luckily I follow my procedure and didn’t lose my other fish to just dumping in to my main tank. Every fish that I have in the main tank has gone thru a lengthy process before going in . I can’t guarantee that something won’t slip by. It seems like forever before any new additions go into main tank . . Thank you for posting so as a reminder to everyone else . All stock should be QT and treated and observed for a long time before added no matter how it is touted to be free of disease . I find that many stores that say they QT often don’t do it correctly .

 

[Sean Norman]

Nothing else has changed before this happened, no new changes and no new additions. The business is a well known and reputable company who is very open about their medication process. I think the moral of the story is that even after a medication treatment I should have still have done a QT. I lost a lot of long time fish and money. I was able to catch my second Clown and they are in copper right now with an air stone.

 

[Tamberav]

I put my fish in an obs tank even when I buy pre QT ones. Only place I don't is Fish Hotel since I 100% know he watches the fish medication free for 2 weeks before sale and I have personally seen his business.

Sorry this happened, very frustrating.

 

[Louis Z]

Again I am not trying to contradict anyone . Just from my previous experiences. When fish come from online retailer . They are often stressed/ immunocompromised and possibly s slightly injured from being caught in a net . They may have a few scrapes or missing scales , The Uronema can be inside the fish and if the fish is stressed then an infection that may have not been noticed at retailer may become a true outblown infection. Uronema may be in any system yet not apparent . It can sneak by . What causes Uronema to switch into full blown parasitic attack -I don’t know what the threshold is or what the trigger is . So it might be best to qt all incoming no matter what the source . The only way I think that one could know for certain is to do one of those genetic test to see if any dna shows up . Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of funds to do that everytime I buy fish .

 

[Sean Norman]

Update.. Caught both Clowns. They are in a QT with Copper and Ich X going. Air stone a well. Both look good, no heavy breathing and are eating.
I caught the Royal Gramma and it went in as well, but died today. I cannot catch my Yellow Tang. I bought a fish trap on line. Any thoughts on catching it?
It is eating and its color looks much better than yesterday. LFS suggested Rally. Not sure thought because it wants you to turn off the UV.. I feel the UV is what could be marking the difference. Could it not have been Velvet and perhaps Uronema?

 

[Louis Z]

That’s a tough question , I have had velvet on fish and breathing fast into the current was a symptom that I will never forget . They were suffocating . At that time I didn’t know about FW dips that might buy some time , nor did I ever think about hydrogen peroxide as to try . That was a long time ago . So I think yours did have velvet . Now there is always a possibility as to having a dual infection. The Uronema I have seen has developed into sores and a fluffy appearance around the open sore . The only way to truly determine is by a scraping of the affected sore or gill and observing under a microscope. I think that once the sore develops it’s a point of no return. But that should be a trigger to treat the other fish right away before they develop sores