Fish had Velvet breathing very fast

[Matt F]

So I was told that when I had velvet that my fish could be suffering from breathing really fast because the velvet was most likely got to there gills have had them in qt for almost 35 days all have been in copper starting to take copper out. Was wondering what is the best gill repair treatment that you can put in a qt tank?

 

[Old Fritz]

if your fish have already been treated for velvet i doubt they need anything to help with their gills. Once the velvet is gone i don't think it does any lasting damage to the gills unless it caused a secondary infection

 

[Matt F]

Some people told me that methelyn blue baths can help with gill damage

 

[Mjrenz]

Some people told me that methelyn blue baths can help with gill damage

Methelyne blue will help to promote oxygen transfer through the gills. Are they breathing normally now? If they are you likely don't need to worry about it. If they are breathing fast it's very possible that you could have ammonia present in the tank

 

[Matt F]

The tang is breathing fast. I just did a water change yesterday and my ammonia badge says it’s very low if any

 

[Mjrenz]

Very low is still dangerous and can cause issues but you could have something else going on as well, a 5 minute freshwater dip is a good place to start to make sure that he doesn't have flukes.

Freshwater Dip

Freshwater Dip What It Treats – Provides temporary relief for a wide range of diseases: 1) Marine Velvet Disease (Amyloodinium ocellatum) 2) Brooklynella hostilis 3) Uronema marinum 4) Flukes (Monogeneans) 5) Black Ich (Turbellarians) Can be used to confirm the presence of Flukes (see video...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Mjrenz]

Can you also post some pics so we can be sure there isn't anything else going on that can be identified visually?

 

[vetteguy53081]

What is your salinity? (low salinity can cause this - should be around 1.025)
Other causes would be ammonia, or velvet or other parasite such as flukes, or not enough oxygen in the water. PraziPro or Metroplex may work. . . . . BUT - Start with water change and pay attention to temperature. If high, when temp goes up, oxygen gets reduced. Im betting ammonia level high (test for that or have LFS test for you to confirm)

 

[Matt F]

Starting to take copper out to start prazipro now that I’m looking at it all the fish are breathing a little bit faster then normally. When my sailfin tang eats he gets some red mark near his mouth but it’s not there during the day.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Starting to take copper out to start prazipro now that I’m looking at it all the fish are breathing a little bit faster then normally. When my sailfin tang eats he gets some red mark near his mouth but it’s not there during the day.

I do not trust ammonia Badge
Do immediate water change. What is tank Temperature? Also add and use carbon. Increase oxygen if you can ( what filter and power head are you using?

 

[Mjrenz]

The badge looks to be alright but the fish's breathing is a much more reliable indicator, I'm going with ammonia also

 

[Mjrenz]

FYI, prazipro will reduce the available oxygen in the water quite a bit and may cause more harm than good right now if they are struggling to breath

 

[Matt F]

I am using a marine land 200 and only have a air pump for the sponge I have some filters that have Carbon in them that came with the hang on the back filter

 

[vetteguy53081]

I am using a marine land 200 and only have a air pump for the sponge I have some filters that have Carbon in them that came with the hang on the back filter

tHIS MAY BE PART OF ISSUE- NOT VERY EFFECTIVE FILTRATION ALLOWING AMMONIA INCREASE

 

[Mjrenz]

I am using a marine land 200 and only have a air pump for the sponge I have some filters that have Carbon in them that came with the hang on the back filter

A power head aimed at the surface causing a lot of agitation is also essential for providing enough oxygen

 

[Matt F]

tHIS MAY BE PART OF ISSUE- NOT VERY EFFECTIVE FILTRATION ALLOWING AMMONIA INCREASE

I have other filter floss in the back that has bacteria on it also with the sponge too I have an extra pump that I can put in I took it out because the pump only has one setting it’s a tunze pump

 

[Matt F]

I was also told by other elders in this community that the hang on the back filter and that sponge is great for the qt

 

[Mjrenz]

I was also told by other elders in this community that the hang on the back filter and that sponge is great for the qt

It is but ammonia can build quickly, especially with a tang in a small tank.

I do have a question about the copper treatment you did, I noticed that you said you were using a Marineland hob and had filter floss in the tank, we're you using the filter that came with the hob? The filter that comes with those is poly which absorbs copper and can drop the level in the water. Did you test often to ensure that the copper stayed at a therapeutic level for the entire treatment?

 

[Matt F]

I didn’t use the filter that came with it I took that out and put filter floss instead so it can get bacteria on it to take care of the ammonia

 

[Matt F]

It stayed good and I added a couple of days because I had to do emergency wc the second to last day