Is it safe to start adding fish after velvet outbreak

Benoit Martin · Mar 15, 2020

I got a velvet outbreak about a month ago that took 5 of my 8 fish. The remaining fish are an ocilaris clown (got sick but recovered after a week in QT with copper), an azure damsel and a diamond goby (who did not show any signs of illness).

All 3 have looked healthy for several weeks and I've had multiple water changes also.

Is it safe to start adding fish now? Is there anything I need to do to make sure the disease is gone?

Thank you

Big G · Mar 15, 2020

You could consider doing the Black Molly Test.

rozart · Mar 15, 2020

Usually from what me and friends have done is we waited 3 months before adding new fish to tank because the velvet disease could still be lingering so it’s good to wait to make sure it’s fully safe

Duffybubbleboy · Mar 15, 2020

Benoit Martin said:
I got a velvet outbreak about a month ago that took 5 of my 8 fish. The remaining fish are an ocilaris clown (got sick but recovered after a week in QT with copper), an azure damsel and a diamond goby (who did not show any signs of illness).

All 3 have looked healthy for several weeks and I've had multiple water changes also.

Is it safe to start adding fish now? Is there anything I need to do to make sure the disease is gone?

Thank you

Not to throw a rug on your plans but why add more fish? If everything is fine maybe just enjoy it and not invite the battle ?

Benoit Martin · Mar 15, 2020

Big G said:
You could consider doing the Black Molly Test.

It's that putting a black Molly fish in? Aren't those freshwater fish? That sounds cruel

Benoit Martin · Mar 15, 2020

rozart said:
Usually from what me and friends have done is we waited 3 months before adding new fish to tank because the velvet disease could still be lingering so it’s good to wait to make sure it’s fully safe

It was suggested to me to go fishless for 6 weeks. I'll probably try that.

Thank you

Wolf89 · Mar 15, 2020

Benoit Martin said:
It's that putting a black Molly fish in? Aren't those freshwater fish? That sounds cruel

Mollies will survive in saltwater. If acclimated properly of course.

Benoit Martin · Mar 15, 2020

Duffybubbleboy said:
Not to throw a rug on your plans but why add more fish? If everything is fine maybe just enjoy it and not invite the battle ?

Well, 3 fish in 120 G is pretty boring. And they're not the most active type of fish with that. I'd be better just get rid of the tank altogether

Benoit Martin · Mar 15, 2020

Wolf89 said:
Mollies will survive in saltwater. If acclimated properly of course.

Ah, thanks for clarifying, I did not know that

Wolf89 · Mar 15, 2020

I'm sorry if I missed it, but was the DT ever without fish? If it was without fish for 42 or more days then velvet would have died out.

Big G · Mar 15, 2020

Benoit Martin said:
It's that putting a black Molly fish in? Aren't those freshwater fish? That sounds cruel

Black Mollies are a brackish water fish that can slowly move from salt to brackish to freshwater. Part of the test is to make sure to have a place for the fish to live out its life after the test period.

Black Molly Quarantine

** This information was originally posted here: https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/black-molly-quarantine.55/ ** Preface - Freshwater (FW) black mollies have been used for years in saltwater aquariums for algae control. However, this write-up will focus on their potential for...

www.reef2reef.com

Wolf89 · Mar 15, 2020

Big G said:
Black Mollies are a brackish water fish that can slowly move from salt to brackish to freshwater. Part of the test is to make sure to have a place for the fish to live out its life after the test period.

Black Molly Quarantine

** This information was originally posted here: https://humble.fish/community/index.php?threads/black-molly-quarantine.55/ ** Preface - Freshwater (FW) black mollies have been used for years in saltwater aquariums for algae control. However, this write-up will focus on their potential for...

www.reef2reef.com

Speaking of a place to live, they are good algae eaters so dont take that as you need another tank for a single molly. It can live in your tank, but know they cant handle high flow too well.

Benoit Martin · Mar 15, 2020

Wolf89 said:
I'm sorry if I missed it, but was the DT ever without fish? If it was without fish for 42 or more days then velvet would have died out.

It was not without fish. The 3 survivors have been in there the entire time and they look fine

JoshO · Mar 15, 2020

Benoit Martin said:
It was not without fish. The 3 survivors have been in there the entire time and they look fine

Did you treat the display with copper?

Flame2hawk · Mar 15, 2020

If the fish were in there suggestion is to move them to QT and treat with copper power for 30 days at 2.0ppm. Leave tank fish less for minimum of 6 weeks if not longer. Good luck.

MaccaPopEye · Mar 15, 2020

Benoit Martin said:
It was not without fish. The 3 survivors have been in there the entire time and they look fine

If that is the case then you will still have velvet present in your tank. Adding new fish means they will be vulnerable to it. But that doesn't mean that it can't be done.

You have 2 options. Anything in between always seems destined for disaster.

1) Remove the fish from your tank, let it go fallow and treat the fish before adding them back to the tank. Going forward EVERYTHING wet (fish, coral, inverts, rock etc.) will need to go through a strict QT process and be treated regardless of if it shows signs of disease or not. This can be done with Humblefish's new TTM for velvet and ich along with and a separate fish less QT for coral / inverts.

2) Read as much as you can about running an "immune tank". Don't be fooled, it's not "easier", it's just different. Things like the food, parasite reduction, stocking choices all become much more important. If you go down that route you can keep the fish in there and slowly add more fish. Here is a couple of threads I would recommend reading if you want to go down this path:

The Other Way to Run a Reef Tank (no Quarantine)

The other way to run a reef tank (No Quarantine) I was asked by my friend Humblefish to start a thread on my practices of running a tank with no quarantine, hospital tanks, medications, dipping or almost anything else. It is "not" just to take a fish from a store and drop it in your reef...

www.reef2reef.com

It's all @Paul B's fault... my journey to an immune reef (hopefully!)

I posted back on the 19th May about my conundrum of whether I should manage ich or eradicate it... following some great replies from @Humblefish in particular I was all set to eradicate... I was psyching myself up to try and move all my fish from my 1200l DT and let it run fallow. I was, in...

www.reef2reef.com

Benoit Martin · Mar 15, 2020

JoshO said:
Did you treat the display with copper?

Not intentionally
Let me explain. Right before the velvet outbreak, I found a relatively high concentration of copper in my DT (I suspect this may have triggered the velvet in my Tang). I measured about 0.9 ppm using an Hanna tester. I had similar results with a Salifert test. However, I got an ICP test and it only showed 0.003. I have no idea how it got there (I tested my RODI, my mixing station, etc... And didn't find anything) and no idea how ICP didn't return more than that. I have never treated my DT with copper.
It was suggested by my LFS that it could have been a bad batch from Instant Ocean because this apparently happened a few years back but don't know how true or likely it is

I've done many water changes and used some copper remover and I measured 0.2ppm today.

This does mean that the fish had been in water between 0 2 and 0.9 for the last month. Could that have been enough?