Velvet outbreak in my 180.... Dosed Cupramine, now what?

[Mussin]

Noticed my powder brown covered in white dust a week ago or so.. He was still eating good and acting normal. Then I started noticing it on some of my other fish. I made the decision to tear all of the rock work out and catch all fish and put them in a QT "tank".. They are now in my 100G rubbermaid tub. I did the first round of dose yesterday. Total fish in the tub : yellow tang, purple tang, hippo tang, chocolate tang, cleaner wrasse, one clown fish. Fish that didn't make it: powder brown tang, orange shoulder Tang, 3 clown fish... Velvet sucks!

I am due to dose again tomorrow then leave them be for 14 days?

 

[hds4216]

I believe you have to maintain copper at therapeutic levels for the duration of the treatment, and also test for ammonia because it can build up quickly without established biological filtration.

 

[Tamberav]

Noticed my powder brown covered in white dust a week ago or so.. He was still eating good and acting normal. Then I started noticing it on some of my other fish. I made the decision to tear all of the rock work out and catch all fish and put them in a QT "tank".. They are now in my 100G rubbermaid tub. I did the first round of dose yesterday. Total fish in the tub : yellow tang, purple tang, hippo tang, chocolate tang, cleaner wrasse, one clown fish. Fish that didn't make it: powder brown tang, orange shoulder Tang, 3 clown fish... Velvet sucks!

I am due to dose again tomorrow then leave them be for 14 days?

30 days in copper.

DT needs to go fallow 6 weeks.

 

[Mussin]

30 days in copper.

DT needs to go fallow 6 weeks.

Thanks! Fingers crossed

 

[Mussin]

How do I do water changes and maintain copper levels?

 

[Stuartmercer]

How do I do water changes and maintain copper levels?

Do water changes, then dose more copper to keep the levels up. And make sure you don't have carbon running while treating, that will suck off the copper and stop the treatment from being effective.

 

[hds4216]

I recommend getting a copper test kit so you can be sure it’s at the right levels.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Please post pics to confirm velvet and not Oodinum or other parasite.
Velvet can be treated in a quarantine tank using Chloroquine phosphate or Copper. For temporary relief, you can provide either a 5 minute freshwater dip or a 60-90 minute acriflavine bath or a 45 minute formalin bath before the fish are placed in quarantine.
Some signs of velvet include fish swimming into the flow of a powerhead and tiny white dots on their fin and body. The white dots can look similar to ich, but are smaller and usually numerous. If you can count the white dots its usually ich. However, if they are too numerous to count there’s a good chance you are dealing with velvet.

Fallow period for existing tank is recommended 2.5 months. I would go 3. As painful as this waiting period sounds, its worth it. While in QT, inspect daily for heavy breathing, scratching, flashing, head twitching, erratic swimming behavior and fish swimming into the flow of pumps/wavemakers which is unique to velvet).

 

[Mussin]

I recommend getting a copper test kit so you can be sure it’s at the right levels.

Orderd. Should be here tomorrow

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Orderd. Should be here tomorrow

Did you go right up to a full dose of Cupramine? I've seen a lot of people getting velvet (Amyloodinium) confused with ich - older ich infections can look a lot like velvet. The key differential is that with velvet, the fish die much sooner and show very rapid breathing, possibly swimming into pump outputs, etc. Ich doesn't show rapid breathing until the infection has been going on for quite some time. Ich is much more common than velvet is.

Jay

 

[Tamberav]

How do I do water changes and maintain copper levels?

Dose the water to therapeutic BEFORE you change it.... as in.. it’s therapeutic in the bucket. Make sure to never use that bucket for anything but waste water after.

 

[Mussin]

Definitely velvet.. So put copper in the fresh saltwater first.. Got it