Having to start all over, velvet killed my fish

[brandon429]

agreed. if i had a big tank in the works it'd be all kp aquatics or TBS rock fallowed out 90 days but only after most corals in place, so quite a while after setup. months.


then fish from only the trusted online qt sources. I bet I wouldnt add fish for the first year, that's coral massing + strong feeding phase.

 

[WallyB]

Thanks for the advice! It’s a tough hobby to learn

This hobby is all about learning....It never ends, even after 25+ years in the Hobby.

.... problem is we sometimes we learn by our own mistakes (In my case that usually was caused by impatience).

.... Sometimes it's just back luck (Like a fish jumping out a fully covered tank finding a tiny tiny crack to escape thru).

...... sometimes accidents happen, totally out of our control (LIke a power failure or equipment failure while on vacation)

...... and sometimes we learn lessons taking advice (from folks who mislead you....by giving wrong advice....yet they sound like they know-it-all).

Being given bad advice and following blindly is the worst, so I learned to listen to all opinions however I make my own educated decisions, accept the consequences if things don't work out.

All best best on your Next Attempt.
(I too....long ago,... had Velvet wipe out a dozen fish I had for 10+ years in a matter couple of weeks. Was pretty painful to loose some nice fish I had befriended for years). I now QT each and every time, and that has saved me from a repeated disaster. No sick fish in my Display Tank for last 15 years, becuase they only got sick/treated/or-Died in QT, avoiding loss of other valuable healthy fish.

 

[jmichaelh7]

What would be the best option to build bacteria in a quarantine tank for the OP’s future reference?

Maybe setting up a quarantine tank in case you ever need to buy new fish you have it ready with beneficial bacteria established

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

What would be the best option to build bacteria in a quarantine tank for the OP’s future reference?

Maybe setting up a quarantine tank in case you ever need to buy new fish you have it ready with beneficial bacteria established

I use a good sponge filter and leave it operating in the sump for the DT. Another option is to not break the QT down - just keep it running. People talk about needing to "sterilize" a QT after each use, but you only need to do that if you had an uncontrolled disease event - otherwise your QT doesn't have any pathogens in it that your last batch of fish through didn't already carry into your DT.

Jay

 

[Cell]

Old thread.

 

[ariellemermaid]

Would I be able to add corals or snails or anything in the mean time?

Yes and no.

First off, the fallow period for velvet is 6 weeks. If you keep the temp >80.6F then that 6 weeks should also take care of any ich in the tank. Velvet has a shorter lifecycle than ich but the ich lifecycle is sped up by increased temperature.

In terms of adding new inverts or corals to the tank it’s complicated. Any new addition to the tank could have ich or velvet cysts. That doesn’t affect the velvet that’s in the tank now, but it’s a potential new source. The only way around that is to QT all new inverts and corals that would go into the tank for 6 weeks. If you’re not going to do that then it doesn’t matter when you add new inverts or corals to the tank, the risk is the same.