Nightmare (Velvet I think)

[iReefer12]

About a week and a half ago I noticed my fish acting weird, not flashing but clearly irritated. Thought it was an ammonia spike (for those not familiar, I moved across country recently and setup a new tank using all my old equipment and old rock, it was setup for about 3 weeks before this incident)

So I've been checking ammonia and also my topoff water (our city uses chloramine, I use the Chloramine RODI from BRS) I kept finding just under 0.1 total ammonia in my tank, and in my top off water, but no free ammonia.

I've lost about 50% of my fish, they are dropping like flys. Fish that I've had for many years which is just heartbreaking. (They are my pets).

I thought it was the ammonia getting past my RODI but now I think this is disease parasite related.

Several fish now look very ill. Sort of cloudy.

Here is some pictures of my clownfish, you can clearly see how they look grey, and there fins look in terrible shape.

I just performed a freshwater dip on both of them, it's not clear that they will survive, they actually look less 'grey' but look very weak.

Here is the bucket after. You will have to zoom in, but almost looks like little dark bits of sand on the bottom? Perhaps this is fines from the air stone or does it look like Marine Velvet?

This is my latest Ammonia test. (Use left scale) - maybe 0.01-0.05 total?

 

[iReefer12]

1. How old is this aquarium?
-Setup new tank July 10th, using all my old live rock, and some sand from previous setup which was established since 2013.

2. If less than six months old, what is ammonia level?
-Free: 0, Total 0.05


3. What is SG of this aquarium? How measured?
- 33.0 Refractometer.


4. When was the last fish added to this aquarium?
- Melanarus Wrasse August 10th

5. Was it quarantined? If so, how? And how long? Was it prophylactically treated? How?
- No.

6. If you are using a copper based medication, which one? How often do you measure level? When?
- Not setup Hospital tank yet.

7. If you are using hyposalinity, how did you calibrate your refractometer?
-No

8. Please describe in detail, the appearance of the fish? If there is one or more pimples, are they lumpy? What color?
- Looks grey, like a sheen to it, find looks ragged on the fish that have it worse.

9. Please describe the behavior of the fish as best you can. Is it acting reclusive? Is it always up towards the top of the aquarium? Is it avoiding light? How active is the fish?
- some fish are acting normal, the blue jaw triggers, the FoxFace, the blue tang and the convict tang all acting normal. The clownfish and those that have past act lethargic not eating staying in one area.

10. Is the fish eating? What? Same as above, weaker fish not eating, most others are eating fine.

 

[Maritimer]

If you've got velvet in your tank (this guy looks like Brooklynella is also a possibility ... but the timeline says velvet.), you'll really want a rock/coral free quarantine / hospital tank. The freshwater dip may buy you some time, but won't eradicate the parasites. (I'd guess the black specks to be fines from what appears to be a pretty new black airstone.) This tank will need to be big enough to house _all_ of your fish for a minimum of six weeks.

You'll need some form of copper or Chloroquine Phosphate (CP) - though CP is only available by prescription in the U.S. If you're using copper, you'll need an appropriate test kit - Seachem's test kit works well with Cupramine and other ionic coppers, API's test kit works best with chelated coppers like CopperSafe or CopperPower. Test daily to confirm levels.

_All_ fish will have to go into QT - if any fish remains in your display, it will act as a host for the disease. 30 days in copper is the standard procedure, but your tank will have to remain "fallow", without fish, for a minimum of six weeks to ensure that velvet has been starved out. A fallow period of 76 days would also ensure that ich is starved out.

~Bruce

 

[flfireman1]

Somehow you introduced this parasite. Did you add any new fish?

 

[iReefer12]

Yes a Melanarus wrasse, and he's still alive.

 

[Maritimer]

Wrasses have a great mucus coat, and are a bit more resistant to ich and velvet than some other fish ... but they can still carry it, hidden inside their gills. Since the parasites spend some of their lifecycle encysted on hard substrate, even a hermit crab or coral can carry them into your tank. Thus, the recommendation to QT _everything_ wet.

~Bruce

 

[ngoodermuth]

Yes a Melanarus wrasse, and he's still alive.

Wrasses are notorious "carriers" of parasites, their thick slime coat can hide outward symptoms but they harbor them in their gills and spread them to other tank-mates.

I agree, I would treat as velvet with the addition of Metroplex in the QT for the possibility of Brook.

Follow the protocol listed on post #2 of the link below.

Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum)

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/Velvet-(Amyloodinium-ocellatum).217570/