Terrible emergency, Velvet

zoechance · May 4, 2013

OK please dont be hatin on me... but I did not quarantine new fish and now my beautiful 11yo clown is covered in velvet (i think velvet not ich) she is still alive and eating and 1 cardinal is alive and my watchman is alive and neither show signs on their skin..... yet....
MY QUESTION IS: since I have no corals yet only rock and some snails can I just put copper based meds in my tank?!?! I know I will have to take it the tank down and let it of fallow for weeks but for now in this emergency should I just treat the tank? only LR and LS which I will need to get rid of anyway... so terrible and heartbreaking....

majicmike · May 4, 2013

Yes you csn treat but the sand and rock will be toast imo. You will need to clean the tank too.

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Mike J. · May 4, 2013

What a nightmare! Sorry.

Aquaph8 · May 4, 2013

I would catch them and get a smaller tank rather than treat in the display.

barbianj · May 4, 2013

If it were my fish, and it meant that much to me, I would treat the tank with Cupramine. I've done it with my big FOWLR fish a few times. Treating them in an uncycled tank and relying on water changes to keep ammonia in check is a recipe for disaster. IME, the copper can be completely removed over time using Cuprisorb.

zoechance · May 4, 2013

Hi Thanks but I already took her out of DT and put her in a 10G hospital tank and I will add the watchman the cardinal and a surviving firefish gobi. Now I understand they will need to be out of tank for 6-8 weeks for the parasite to die off in my DT!! I am gonna run sponge filters and pray a lot... any suggestions for keeping my fish well in the 10G would me much appreciated. please let me know. So sponge filters and I have bottled bacteria a powerhead and I can add a small airstone?

mike007 · May 4, 2013

If you treat the tank you will probaly kill the snails and all the benefical bacteria in your live rock and sand bed. You really need to quaratine fish and medicate or if not you will just have to stick it out and hope he is strong enough to get over this.

ca2or · May 4, 2013

I would start with a UV Sterilizer, fairly large water change, RAISE THE TEMP of your water, medicate, then pray....or keep reading other responses.

I had a velvet breakout a few years ago from one fish I added....decimated 80% of my fish population. I honestly believe the combination of the temp raise and UV Sterilizer addition saved the remaining fish.

Mike J. · May 4, 2013

This is a terribly dinoflagellate, an alien maybe. Instead of saying this or that I'll just post the best link I know of.Marine Velvet Disease

zoechance · May 4, 2013

Hi I already removed the fish to a hospital tank 10g. treating with cupramine. Praying they survive a hospital tank. My DT I will leave without fish for 10 weeks. I dont know if it was bad ICH or Velvet as they sort of look the same but Copper should take care of both and my clownfish looks better already. Again the tips I need now are how peeps keep fish alive in a hospital tank for 10 weeks... fish are not happy campers....

Mike J. · May 4, 2013

If I were you I'd read this and the other articles that are linked to it.A Fish Quarantine Process - Step by Step

barbianj · May 4, 2013

I am gonna run sponge filters and pray a lot

Are these sponge filters established with bacteria? If not, can you find a fellow reefer that has some that you could borrow and replace?

Also, why would you not treat the DT, kill all of the velvet and/or ich, and greatly shorten the time your fish are in the small QT tank?

Also, also, start the Cupramine at half of what they recommend so that you are sure of the doses that you make. Do you have a Seachem or Salifert copper test kit?

zoechance · May 4, 2013

Mike J OK so should I get a 20gallon hospital tank? think 10g too small? or should I just leave fish for now as already so stressed from transfered from DT to Hospital tank.... yikes I am making mistakes at every turn. Have 4 fish in the H tank! clown, 2 gobies and cardinal

Mike J. · May 4, 2013

I'd do two ten gallon. You're going to have to change a lot of water.

Mike J. · May 4, 2013

Put some plumbing couplings in there so they can hide and reduce stress.

sexycorals · May 4, 2013

NOOOOoo!!! what happen B?the cardinals you picked up was here for at least 3 months right? was it them or other fished oyu got? =( im glad that clown is doing ok now.

barbianj · May 4, 2013

yikes I am making mistakes at every turn.

If you don't have cycled media, yes.

Aquaph8 · May 4, 2013

Putting copper in a DT where you plan to keep corals is also not the best idea. Best thing you could do is find a cycled sponge to use for a filter from someone local.

zoechance · May 5, 2013

Hi All I think this was all a bad case of ICH and I just panicked with my differential (velvet, brook) I still have my clown and my watchman gobi in 10g hospital tank and I dosed cupramine and it killed the parasites on the clown (the gobi never had any that I saw) THey are so stressed out as am I. I am doing water changes as ammonia and nitrates are detected. I will get a CU test kit to make sure adequate levels. THEY ARE NOT EATING JUST BREATHING HARD AND UPSET. I think they will not survive the hospital tank. I am thinking of putting them back in DT and using something like kick ich and treat DT. I think they will both die in the hospital tank from shear starvation and stress. AM I MAKING A RASH DECISION?

ca2or · May 5, 2013

zoechance said:
Hi All I think this was all a bad case of ICH and I just panicked with my differential (velvet, brook) I still have my clown and my watchman gobi in 10g hospital tank and I dosed cupramine and it killed the parasites on the clown (the gobi never had any that I saw) THey are so stressed out as am I. I am doing water changes as ammonia and nitrates are detected. I will get a CU test kit to make sure adequate levels. THEY ARE NOT EATING JUST BREATHING HARD AND UPSET. I think they will not survive the hospital tank. I am thinking of putting them back in DT and using something like kick ich and treat DT. I think they will both die in the hospital tank from shear starvation and stress. AM I MAKING A RASH DECISION?

Go get some garlic extreme....should stimulate appetite

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