Ich or velvet?

[mahadazad]

Hey guys,
I really need your help. I am a newbie just started my hobby 8 months ago. About a month back I stocked my 4x2 aquarium with fish and after few days I started seeing white spots on my fish. At first I thought it is just few sand particles. But then I came to know it is some ich. I didn’t have any extra tank at that moment to move my fish or invertebrates. So it took about 3 weeks to arrange one. After that I moved all my invertebrates into that tank and did hyposalinity. Its been 8-9 days since I did hyposalinity but yesterday again I saw the ich attacking my purple tang. Now I am not sure if it is ich or marine velvet. I have heard marine velvet is much more dangerous and it kills fish really soon. So I am confused if it is really velvet or ich because my tang has been infected about a month. If it were velvet then is it possible my fish have survived so long with it? Please find the attachment. These pictures are taken on 9th day of hyposalinity

 

[ZachR32]

Looks like velvet to me. Hyposalinity wont work. Check out this thread for more information https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

 

[BestMomEver]

Looks like velvet to me. Hyposalinity wont work. Check out this thread for more information https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

I would have said ich. Can you explain to me why it looks like velvet?

 

[mahadazad]

But is it possible many of the fish have survived for over a month with velvet?

 

[4FordFamily]

That’s velvet.

1) ich spots are larger
2) if ich spots are so numerous they cannot be counted relatively easily, it’s almost always velvet
3) spots in such close proximity are generally velvet.

You’ll need copper or CP ASAP.

Some fish can survive velvet for quite some time, zebrasoma tangs are among the hardiest tangs but this is way beyond anything it will fight off naturally.

 

[ZachR32]

Ich spots are usually larger and not as numerous...it's still hard to tell from the pictures

 

[HotRocks]

Definitely velvet.

Agree with @4FordFamily

 

[tiggs]

+1 on velvet. You can usually count ich spots and it doesn't have that dusting look to it. Also, ich spores are slightly oval shaped and bigger, while velvet spores are tiny and round.

 

[blkhwkz]

Velvet, that is what my yellow tang looked like before the whole tank got wiped 18 months ago. Time is not on your side, I lost everything that survived long enough to get into QT.

 

[Humblefish]

The difference between ich & velvet

 

[mahadazad]

Here is the video if that helps

 

[mahadazad]

This is the current state after 6-7 hours

 

[HotRocks]

Here is the video if that helps

Can see it very clearly in 2nd half of the video. Definitely Velvet.

Here is your best chance at a successful treatment. This is directly from @Humblefish's Velvet thread linked above. All of your fish need treated even if they aren't showing symptoms.

5 minute freshwater dip

• Immediately afterwards, perform a chemical bath (in saltwater matching SG/temp the fish came from). You have two options:

1. Acriflavine (preferred) - Do the bath for 75-90 minutes, but remove the fish immediately at the first sign of distress. Aerate heavily both before & during the bath, and temperature control the water. The following products contain acriflavine: Acriflavine-MS and Ruby Reef Rally. DO NOT mix acriflavine with any other chemicals.
2. Formalin - Do the bath for 30-60 minutes max, but remove the fish immediately at the first sign of distress. Aerate heavily both before & during the bath, and temperature control the water. The following products contain formalin: Formalin-MS, Quick Cure, Aquarium Solutions Ich-X, Kordon Rid-Ich Plus. Use protection (rubber gloves, face mask, eye protection, etc.) whenever handling formalin as it is a known carcinogen! However, you can add Methylene Blue to the formalin bath (1 capful per 2-3 gallons of bath water.)

• After the bath, place the fish in a QT pre-dosed at 80mg/gal using Chloroquine phosphate. In theory, copper (exs. Cupramine, Coppersafe, Copper Power) should work just as well as CP. However, due to how fast velvet can reproduce you don’t have the luxury of slowly ramping up the copper level as is normally advised. Therefore, the fish needs to be placed in a QT with copper already at minimum therapeutic levels. This is the advantage CP has over copper in this particular situation.
• While in QT, use a wide spectrum antibiotic (exs. Seachem Kanaplex, Furan-2) for the first week to ward off any possible bacterial infections. Secondary bacterial infections are very common in fish with preexisting parasitic infestations such as velvet.
• Keep the fish in CP or copper (at therapeutic levels) for one month. However, you can transfer the fish into a non-medicated holding tank for observation after just two weeks (explained below). DO NOT lower the CP or copper level before transferring.

 

[BestMomEver]

Ok. I see the difference.. thanks guys! Being as it is, that’s what killed nearly everything in my tank. I lost a cardinal, clown, dwarf angel, fairy Wrasse, yellow Goby, Butterfly and Kole Tang.. there may be more but I can’t remember. Get those fish into QT as quickly as possible. Velvet is an insidious disease.

 

[mahadazad]

I wish I never started this hobby

 

[mahadazad]

Thank you guys for the answers. I will start the treatment.

 

[blkhwkz]

I wish I never started this hobby

Most of us have been there. It sucked when I lost a tank of fish to ich and velvet combo and had to go fallow. The 2nd time I had to go fallow was no fun either, but didn't lose the fish. Well worth it when you can save your fish or quarantine the replacements and know that your tank is disease free.