Possible velvet

D2mooch · May 12, 2023

Looking for advice for possible velvet outbreak, not sure what to do in my 125 reef.
A few weeks ago I introduced a sailfin tang into my tank, I always use Dr Tim’s when I put in new fish. 2 days later my porcupine puffer was showing signs of ick. I do not have a hospital tank for a qt at the moment. I did a freshwater soak of the puffer and starting dosing ick-kick as I can’t use copper based from my corals.

2 days later my puffer, sailfin and scooter Benny all died. The next day I lost a clown and pj cardinal. 2 days after that my other clown. Only the puffer and sailfin showed spots and symptoms.
Everything I know about tanks is to let it go fallow for 6 weeks from velvet but I had 2 fish that did not pass and doing very well. The tank parameters are good across the board. Do biweekly water changes.
Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the fish. With all of that would it be bad to leave those fish in the tank and wait 6-11 weeks before trying to introduce new fish or will it always have possible velvet breeding as long as fish are in the tank?

Saltyreef · May 12, 2023

D2mooch said:
Looking for advice for possible velvet outbreak, not sure what to do in my 125 reef.
A few weeks ago I introduced a sailfin tang into my tank, I always use Dr Tim’s when I put in new fish. 2 days later my porcupine puffer was showing signs of ick. I do not have a hospital tank for a qt at the moment. I did a freshwater soak of the puffer and starting dosing ick-kick as I can’t use copper based from my corals.

2 days later my puffer, sailfin and scooter Benny all died. The next day I lost a clown and pj cardinal. 2 days after that my other clown. Only the puffer and sailfin showed spots and symptoms.
Everything I know about tanks is to let it go fallow for 6 weeks from velvet but I had 2 fish that did not pass and doing very well. The tank parameters are good across the board. Do biweekly water changes.
Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the fish. With all of that would it be bad to leave those fish in the tank and wait 6-11 weeks before trying to introduce new fish or will it always have possible velvet breeding as long as fish are in the tank?

You need to be 100% fallow for it to work.

Get yourself a 20g long tank from petco, an aquaclear 50 filter, 100w heater and an airstone as a bare bones hospital tank. $100 or less you can make it work great.

Sharkbait19 · May 12, 2023

Velvet will always be in the tank unless you treat.
Move all survivors into qt and treat with copper for 30 days - do the same with all new additions (as well as two 9 day praziquantel treatments):

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Fallow for 60 days.

vetteguy53081 · May 12, 2023

D2mooch said:
Looking for advice for possible velvet outbreak, not sure what to do in my 125 reef.
A few weeks ago I introduced a sailfin tang into my tank, I always use Dr Tim’s when I put in new fish. 2 days later my porcupine puffer was showing signs of ick. I do not have a hospital tank for a qt at the moment. I did a freshwater soak of the puffer and starting dosing ick-kick as I can’t use copper based from my corals.

2 days later my puffer, sailfin and scooter Benny all died. The next day I lost a clown and pj cardinal. 2 days after that my other clown. Only the puffer and sailfin showed spots and symptoms.
Everything I know about tanks is to let it go fallow for 6 weeks from velvet but I had 2 fish that did not pass and doing very well. The tank parameters are good across the board. Do biweekly water changes.
Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the fish. With all of that would it be bad to leave those fish in the tank and wait 6-11 weeks before trying to introduce new fish or will it always have possible velvet breeding as long as fish are in the tank?

Please post pics or video under white lighting to confirm what you have when you get a chance. can be crypto or mucus spores and need to identify.
Do Not add any fish until identified and a proper treatment plan in place. A starter tank kit from walmart has most of the essentials needed for quarantine.

Jay Hemdal · May 12, 2023

As the others said, you can’t run a tank fallow while fish are still in it, they can keep the infection going in a chronic condition - then if new fish are added, or some stress event happens, the disease can break out again. This happens more often with ich than with velvet though.
Jay