So I misdiagnosed, Now what? Sigh!!!!!

Aquaph8 · Jan 17, 2012

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[TD="class: alt1, bgcolor: #EBEBEB"]What I though was Ich is now what I think is Velvet. I made the mistake of choosing Hypo as my course of treatment and now my salinity is too low to treat with meds. Ive began slowly bringing it up but Im scared I dont have enough time. My last fish in QT is fortunetely not showing signs of anything yet but its inevitable. How fast can I raise the salinity under these circumstances? Normally I would go really slow but when faced with velvet Id like to start meds as soon as possible. What would you do? Thoughts?
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btkrausen · Jan 17, 2012

Interesting. I hope that mine isn't velvet as well since it looks like we got the same thing from the same vendor.

I know they say only bring it up .003 each day, but apparently thats because of a lack of oxygen. I wonder if you can bring it up faster if you are running a skimmer or air stone to aerate the water better and provide the oxygen.

I may have made a worse mistake and accidentally brought something into the DT. My black tang has white spots on him but they don't look like ich, its almost like some of his scales are flipped up or something. I don't really see anything on any other fish though.

Aquaph8 · Jan 17, 2012

I lost the eightline today and hypo was doing nothing. I'm bring it up, hopefully I can save the Kuiters.

btkrausen · Jan 17, 2012

Good luck. What are you doing to bring the salinity up? Small water changes with a higher salinity?

Aquaph8 · Jan 17, 2012

Exactly, I'd prefer doing a drip but I'm just home enough to deal with it and the QT could use a little water change anyway.

btkrausen · Jan 17, 2012

Well keep us updated. I'll be watching for it.

btkrausen · Jan 17, 2012

Did you get your qunine sulfate yet?

Aquaph8 · Jan 17, 2012

Yeah that's a funny story, I paid overnight for shipping and it turns out national fish pharmaceuticals is in Tucson. So it ended up being a lot cheaper than planned. I had no idea they were in Tucson.

btkrausen · Jan 17, 2012

Well I just went to look at my fish and a few have to be what looks like white-colored worms under their scales. Looks way too big to be ich.

btkrausen · Jan 17, 2012

Funny about the meds, haha. I haven't gotten a shipment notification yet.

Lateral72 · Jan 17, 2012

What is your SG at right now? Just get it up to 1.014-1.016 or so and treat. After that, you can keep raising your SG when you do the required water changes in conjunction with the use of Quinine Sulfate.

Aquaph8 · Jan 17, 2012

I hope yours don't have what mine had.

Aquaph8 · Jan 17, 2012

Lateral72 said:
What is your SG at right now? Just get it up to 1.014-1.016 or so and treat. After that, you can keep raising your SG when you do the required water changes in conjunction with the use of Quinine Sulfate.

I'm up to 1.012 from 1.009. I was shooting for 1.017 before I treat. Your thinking lower is OK?

soccerbag · Jan 17, 2012

Brett, I know that quite a few of you have ordered the Quinine Sulfate. Was there a thread on that product that I missed? What are the treatments offered with that product? Guessing that it would help with velvet, but safer than copper? Just curious if I missed a thread about the product. I seem to be behind the curve here. Thanks!

Lateral72 · Jan 17, 2012

Aquaph8 said:
I'm up to 1.012 from 1.009. I was shooting for 1.017 before I treat. Your thinking lower is OK?

Yes, I would say 1.015-ish would be fine. Quinine is a pretty gentle treatment.

soccerbag · Jan 17, 2012

btkrausen said:
Well I just went to look at my fish and a few have to be what looks like white-colored worms under their scales. Looks way too big to be ich.

Man, I hope that it's not velvet but it sounds like it. They are parasites that burrow under the scales and into the gills. What you describe is what I saw on my fish as well. They jump off the fish at night, reproduce in the sand bed, and then jump right back on the host fish at night (as most fish sleep in the same place all night). Some other symptoms to look for with velvet are the fish scratching against the rock. Also, once the parasite has a good hold on the fish, they will sometimes swim directly in front of a powerhead for an extended period of time trying to get the parasite out of the gills and scales.

In my case as soon as a fish showed symptoms, they were gone in a matter of days. Of course, I was an idiot and didn't have a QT setup at that time. VERY stupid and tough lesson to learn on my end. Never again....

Wondering if the Quinine is a treatment for velvet - and how long it takes to work....

btkrausen · Jan 17, 2012

If I lose my fish, it will be a 50/50 shot if I stay in this hobby. I used to never have problems with diseases in the past and then in the last year or two it seems they are much more prevalent now.

Craig: Quinine Sulfate Fish Disease Diagnosis: Resistant strains of Ich (especially on scaleless fish). Protozoa, sliminess of the skin (chilodonella) and Rams disease (whirling disease). Also good for resistant strains of Hexamita.

Aquaph8 · Jan 17, 2012

Craig, I was just trying not to use copper on my leopards and I've heard other hobbiest and venders talk about it. The way I see it, the more things I'm familiar with using the stronger I will be. Trying not to use copper is also why I used hypo though too.

Lateral72 · Jan 17, 2012

btkrausen said:
I used to never have problems with diseases in the past and then in the last year or two it seems they are much more prevalent now.

I agree, it seems like fish are more and more infected with exotic diseases moreso now then ever. There is copper and hypo resistant Ich strains out there now, Velvet is more prevalent than ever and as mentioned there seems to be a host of new infections/diseases, with a lot of unknown parasitic maladies.

I'm done buying fish from vendors. I've only got a few small requests and they will all be direct from divers.