Is this velvet or ich??

[ReeferHD]

This appeared on my fish overnight please help

 

[Sebastiancrab]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[DavidinGA]

Looks like ich, but it's too soon to say for certain if it just appeared this morning. If it stays like that it's ich.

 

[fishguy242]

hi, as much info as possible will help the experts. best wishes

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[Sharkbait19]

Behavioral symptoms will tell a lot. Are they flashing, swimming into flow, or acting off in any way?

 

[ReeferHD]

Behavioral symptoms will tell a lot. Are they flashing, swimming into flow, or acting off in any way?

Yes, the marine Betta pictured is swimming around more than usual and occasionally twitches/flashes, my possum wrasse is doing the same.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The size of the dots suggest ich.
With velvet. The dots will be finer like the solar system dusty in appearance
. Also with velvet, fish will swim in the path of water flow for relief and display loss of appetite and rapid breathing
For treatment, utilizing quarantine, assure the medication treats OODINUM and my choice for betta is copper power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 at 80 degrees monitored by a reliable copper test kit such as Hanna for a Full 30 days
Monitor water quality during treatment

 

[ReeferHD]

The size of the dots suggest ich.
With velvet. The dots will be finer like the solar system dusty in appearance
. Also with velvet, fish will swim in the path of water flow for relief and display loss of appetite and rapid breathing
For treatment, utilizing quarantine, assure the medication treats OODINUM and my choice for betta is copper power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 at 80 degrees monitored by a reliable copper test kit such as Hanna for a Full 30 days
Monitor water quality during treatment

But what do I do if I don’t have space for a quarantine?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

That is almost assuredly marine ich, Cryptocaryon. The key symptoms are the size of the spots and the spots on the fins (other causes of white spots do not involve the fins). When ich first starts up, it is common for the spots to come and go suddenly - they may be mostly gone in a day or so. That gives people false hope, but that this is just part of the parasite's life cycle, they tend to drop off in unison to multiply. Later on, as the infection advances, the spots will be present all of the time, grow in numbers, and eventually kill the fish.

Treating this in your display tank, with invertebrates present probably isn't possible. If caught really early on, when the fish have just a handful of spots, it can sometimes be stopped with what is termed "ich management" - UV sterilizer, siphoning the sand off each night, and perhaps using one of the "reef safe" ich medications (but those are mostly "ich safe" as well).

The two standard treatments in your case would be hyposalinity or copper. Neither can be done with invertebrates. There is also something called the Tank Transfer Method (TTM) but you can't do that since that takes just a week or so to perform (in buckets) but then, you can't put the fish back into the display, they would just get sick again.

Jay

 

[Sebastiancrab]

You don't mention how many fish you have but it's not much to purchase a 20 gal at Petco. Make sure you use an air pump/airstone. Get some bacteria starter if you don't already have some biomedia you can use. Don't use Prime with copper because it will give you a false test reading. You will also need to purchase a Copper test kit (anything but API). This is also helpful:

Seachem Ammonia Alert Accessory | Petco

Continuously monitor toxic free ammonia with the Seachem Ammonia Alert. Simply place the alert in the aquarium for continuous ammonia readings for up to a year.

www.petco.com

 

[vetteguy53081]

But what do I do if I don’t have space for a quarantine?

A starter kit from Walmart is ideal- has the essentials needed to get up and running

 

[ReeferHD]

You don't mention how many fish you have but it's not much to purchase a 20 gal at Petco. Make sure you use an air pump/airstone. Get some bacteria starter if you don't already have some biomedia you can use. Don't use Prime with copper because it will give you a false test reading. You will also need to purchase a Copper test kit (anything but API). This is also helpful:

Seachem Ammonia Alert Accessory | Petco

Continuously monitor toxic free ammonia with the Seachem Ammonia Alert. Simply place the alert in the aquarium for continuous ammonia readings for up to a year.

www.petco.com

I have 5 fish, marine betta, humpback cow fish, banded possum wrasse, banded pipefish and a banggai cardinal. The pipefish can’t be treated with copper, a 20 gallon isn’t enough to house all these fish comfortably for 76 days.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Why don't you check with your local reef club to see if someone has a tank you can borrow/purchase? Craig's list or Facebook marketplace may have a tank for sale that will work.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have 5 fish, marine betta, humpback cow fish, banded possum wrasse, banded pipefish and a banggai cardinal. The pipefish can’t be treated with copper, a 20 gallon isn’t enough to house all these fish comfortably for 76 days.

I had a case yesterday, where the invertebrates in the display were much less valuable than the fish and it would be easier to move them as opposed to the the fish. If that applies to you, you could run hypo in the main tank, and then move the inverts back after a fallow period.

As opposed to doing nothing (and having the fish most likely die) you could *try* Ruby Reef Rally Pro. I'm not optimistic it would work in this case, but maybe?

Jay