Observational qt

[Wolf89]

Hello. I plan on doing observation QT on fish I get in the future. My question is, how long does velvet or brook take to be apparent? I dont care about ich, my DT has it and I'm fine with that. However, if my tank gets velvet again, it would be terrible. I just wanna know if a week or 2 is enough to know if a fish has velvet or brook or any other real killers

 

[Big G]

Usually 14 days or less for parasites to show. But there are some fish that can be "carriers" and not present for months. Seen this especially with clowns and Brooklynella. Really odd. Nothing and then months later, BAM!

 

[Wolf89]

Usually 14 days or less for parasites to show. But there are some fish that can be "carriers" and not present for months. Seen this especially with clowns and Brooklynella. Really odd. Nothing and then months later, BAM!

Well the fish I'll be QTing next are 4 tangs. They should show velvet or brook easily, right?

 

[Wolf89]

Usually 14 days or less for parasites to show. But there are some fish that can be "carriers" and not present for months. Seen this especially with clowns and Brooklynella. Really odd. Nothing and then months later, BAM!

And when you say some fish can be carriers, is it like individual fish are different, or like clowns are carriers of brook, but other fish arent? Which fish are carriers for what?

 

[Wolf89]

Usually 14 days or less for parasites to show. But there are some fish that can be "carriers" and not present for months. Seen this especially with clowns and Brooklynella. Really odd. Nothing and then months later, BAM!

Also, would you mind chiming in on my thread from yesterday?

Pipefish quarantine

Hello. I collected 2 northern pipefish about 1.5-2 months ago, and they are living just fine in my 20 gallon quarantine. Being I caught them in the wild, I am hesitant to add them to add them to my DT. I'm notreally worried about ich, but I would die if I introduced velvet into my tank again. I...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Big G]

Well the fish I'll be QTing next are 4 tangs. They should show velvet or brook easily, right?

They should, but there's always exceptions.

 

[Big G]

And when you say some fish can be carriers, is it like individual fish are different, or like clowns are carriers of brook, but other fish arent? Which fish are carriers for what?

That is a great question. Fish with thicker mucous coats are usually the ones that we worry about as carriers: mandarins, eels, clowns, for example are commonly a concern. Where as butterflies and most tangs have much lighter mucous coats and usually present quickly. But both of these groups can be influenced by troubling practices in the supply chain. Most notably the use of sub-therapeutic levels of copper by collectors, shippers, wholesalers, and LFS can delay parasites reappearance by a few days to a few weeks depending on the fish, copper levels, etc.

 

[Wolf89]

That is a great question. Fish with thicker mucous coats are usually the ones that we worry about as carriers: mandarins, eels, clowns, for example are commonly a concern. Where as butterflies and most tangs have much lighter mucous coats and usually present quickly. But both of these groups can be influenced by troubling practices in the supply chain. Most notably the use of sub-therapeutic levels of copper by collectors, shippers, wholesalers, and LFS can delay parasites reappearance by a few days to a few weeks depending on the fish, copper levels, etc.

The fish I'll be getting will be fresh outta the Caribbean with no shipper, wholesaler or LFS. I also think qt may just be a waste of time, because most disease is spread at the wholesalers, right?

 

[Big G]

The fish I'll be getting will be fresh outta the Caribbean with no shipper, wholesaler or LFS. I also think qt may just be a waste of time, because most disease is spread at the wholesalers, right?

Yes and no. I know this is not an example of velvet, but, studies done in the Pacific showed approx 75% of fish sampled had Ich either on their skin or within the gills or both. The point being, wild fish have these parasites too. And as soon as we put them into a closed system, whether it be the collectors (they often throw them all together in bags in their boats), the shippers in containers, or the wholesalers, LFS, or ultimately us in our tanks, the close proximity creates the environment for spreading disease and parasites.