Source of Marine Velvet?

[Dowtish]

I understand that Amyloodinium is a one-celled organism called a dinoflagellate because it has whip-like structures (flagella) which help it move, but is this introduced to the tank only by an infected fish? Or can it be introduced to the system another way?

 

[soccerbag]

Chris, I had a pretty good battle with this and it is one awful thing to have in a reef tank. I'm not expert on it, but I'm pretty sure it is introduced through a fish. Mine came from a Powder Blue Tang. And it wiped out a lot of my livestock. It acts MUCH faster than Ich and wreaks havoc on the host. Once the host is deceased, it starts to attack another fish. The parasite attaches to the fish and stays on the fish during the day. At night, it falls off of the host and reproduces. Since fish stay in the same place while it's dark, the parasite is able to hop right back on the fish. It embeds itself on this body or the fish (gills, eyes, etc). Each of my fish were blind before they passed on. Some jumped as they got spooked and others just suffocated. I was thinking about just taking all of my existing fish out of the tank, treating them, and running my display fallow for 6 months +. My existing fish seem to have built up an immunity / tolerance to the parasite. I did not add any new fish for about 7 months. And figured I would have to run the system without ANY new fish for the life of the tank. However, I did add a new fish over a month ago to see if had "run it's course" and everyone is doing very well. Breaking down my whole tank to catch the fish was just not an option.

I would take just about any other fish disease over Velvet anytime! To say that it stresses the fish is a BIG understatement. There is no "in tank" treatment and since the parasite is attached to the fish, running a UV really doesn't help. I hope you are just curious about it and don't have it in your tank. It is not fun to watch. From the time the fish shows symptoms to the time of death is around 48 -72 hours (at least in my experience).

Just another BIG reason to QT! I will not setup another tank EVER without a solid QT tank.

 

[ToXIc]

i was probably in there already and the tang was recently stressed which caused it to come on..

keep it well fed so its immune system will be strong.. check for a stray voltage.

 

[soccerbag]

i was probably in there already and the tang was recently stressed which caused it to come on..

keep it well fed so its immune system will be strong.. check for a stray voltage.

In my situation, stray voltage was not involved at all. And the fish stop eating as it can't see the food. It swims around to try and eat but the eyes cloud up and they can't see it. It's just an awful thing to see.

 

[ToXIc]

the UV should slow the reproduction of the parasites.. you'll have to run it much slower that recommended by the manufacture..

the UV really helped me when i had my ich WAR a few months ago which i lost 15 fish but that was also with the help of a stray voltage.,,.

 

[ToXIc]

is there anything he's fond of? you could bait a 2 liter fish trap..

 

[soccerbag]

My issues are thankfully behind me I believe. Not sure about the OP.

 

[Dowtish]

I introduced a new eibli angel yesterday that appeared to be in perfect health. My yellow and kole tang were bullying it a bit, and that is when i noticed a few spots on the kole tang. And within an hour it was covered. I havent introduced a new fish in at least 4 months. Everything has been super healthy up until this point. Im just baffled at how quickly it appeared on the kole tang. I lost a couple of fish in my nano recently to this, and it was awful to witness. I am super frustrated to say the least. Im guessing the kole was stressed a bit by the introduction, but does bullying , not being the one being bullied equal stress?

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL

 

[soccerbag]

Sorry to hear that. I think it's definitely possible for another fish to be affected by the bullying of others. It bothers all of the other fish as the more aggressive ones are always on guard. If it's possible, I would try to get the Kole out of the tank (during the day) when the parasite is attached and put in QT. I understand that's not always possible. It amazed me just how quickly the parasite attacks the fish!

 

[Reef lvr]

I would think bullying or the bullied is stressful for both! Gl i have never delt with this and hope i never do!!

 

[Dowtish]

I am going to attack this thing head on for sure. I am going to try to remove the fish asap. Hook up the UV, and hope for the best.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL

 

[Bandomo]

So is Marine Velvet the same as Ick? If not, what are the differences in appearance/symptoms?

 

[Mike&Terry]

No, they are not the same.

There is a great sticky thread here on marine ich.

Here is a good link to information on marine velvet (amyloodinium) on Live Aquaria's site:
Marine Velvet Disease

Hope this helps

 

[Dowtish]

They are definitely not the same. But identifying them as one or the other is kinda hard IMO. I have seen both and experienced both, and sometimes the spots are smaller than normal white spots from ich. And this leads me to believe that it may be velvet, but then it clears up. If it was velvet, that would not be the case, if by what I read is correct. Velvet attaches to the gills first and by the time you see it on the fish it is too late, and the fish are usually dead within 48 hours. I had 2 fish in a 10 gallon go this way. Now the situation is my tangs in my DT have shown spots in the past that cleared up, but the ones appearing on the kole tang are very small and resemble the velvet, but I am leaning towards a minor case of ich, just by how the fish is responding. No scratching, no flashing, no heavy breathing, eating and behaving normally. This is what is frustrating to me, because I don't what the best action is to take.

 

[soccerbag]

I have found that with velvet, the fish will swim into heavy current trying to get the parasites free from the gills. They do this constantly. Mine would get right on from on an MP60w and try to shake it off. They would also dart about the tank trying to do the same thing. If your fish are showing this type of behavior, it "may" be velvet. Just something else to look for....

 

[Dowtish]

Thanks for the input...my brain is about to explode from the reality of how awful these diseases are. And the scary part is, I think they thrive in an enclosed system, as opposed to the ocean. So it takes on a whole new sinister feeling...