Treating fish for velvet

[darkknight26]

Hi all, this is my first post on reef2reef but I have been a lurker for quite some time. Brilliant forum with very knowledgeable members. I am desperately in need of some help with my fishes..

I will try to keep this concise but try to include as much info as possible. About two weeks back I spotted some white spots on my fish. They were hard to see at first under my usual lighting but my otherwise very active anthias suddenly stopped eating so I decided to take a closer look. I saw these white spots on my other fish too.. I thought aha.! This is ick and I started researching possible treatments.

Needless to say, I soon found out that it isn't ick but infact velvet.!!! I ordered some copper power from the states but as I live in the UK, it is yet to arrive. I read all the guidance posts on this forum and others on how to treat fish for velvet and decided to take action asap. I freshwater dipped all my fish and then used cupramine at 0.5ppm ramped up rather quickly over a 24 hour period. I decided against CP as I have wrasses and had an anthias.

Unfortunately my efforts were not entirely successful as I lost my eibli angel, yellow wrasse and female lyretail anthias within 24 hours. Maybe copper sensitive? Or maybe the disease was too far advanced?

My remaining stock, pair of clowns, read head solon fairy wrasse, mccoskers flasher wrasse and magnificent foxface are still alive. The female clown and the magnificent foxface appear the worst hit. Foxface is constantly hiding and hasn't eaten in days, my female clown has slowed down but is still swimming out in the open and eating small amounts.

At this point, do you think it us a wise idea to reduce the copper concentration to 0.4. Is this level still therapeutic against velvet? I have bought a hanna copper checker so can test fairly accurately.

Thanking you all in advance.

 

[Big G]

Daily freshwater dips can remove a tremendous number of parasites from the fish's gills so they can breathe.

Cupramine, an ionic copper, can be harsh on some species of fish. In most cases, it's far better to use a chelated copper, like the Copper Power you are waiting upon. Here's a chart they may help:

Fish and Treatment Guidelines (with chart)

Fish and Treatment Guidelines (with chart) The following chart is a quick reference guide on what QT protocol should be used according to which type of fish you are running through QT. It will give you an idea of which methods are generally safest with certain species but is not meant to be...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[darkknight26]

Thankyou for the link. I shall save that for future QT purposes. Copper Power was certainly my preferred choice but we are somewhat deprived of good fish meds here in the uk. I am now slowly building up my collection.

I couldn't wait any longer so reluctantly started with cupramine. I will freshwater dip the foxface and female clown again, hoping it will make it easier for them to breathe.

 

[darkknight26]

Okay, so last night I carried out a freshwater dip on my female clown and magnificent foxface. My female clown although still covered in the white dust seems more lively. She is swimming around more and is feeding a bit better. The mccoskers wrasse and read head solon fairy wrasse still seem ok as well. My foxface is still very shy and is hiding all the time. Is this normal behaviour for them when being treated with copper?. I'm worried that it may die of starvation as it hasn't had anything to eat for about 3-4 days now.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

Okay, so last night I carried out a freshwater dip on my female clown and magnificent foxface. My female clown although still covered in the white dust seems more lively. She is swimming around more and is feeding a bit better. The mccoskers wrasse and read head solon fairy wrasse still seem ok as well. My foxface is still very shy and is hiding all the time. Is this normal behaviour for them when being treated with copper?. I'm worried that it may die of starvation as it hasn't had anything to eat for about 3-4 days now.

It’s probably more from him being sick and having respiratory difficulty more than the copper. Just make sure your cupramine level is dead on using Hannah checker. If he covered in dust and symptomatic, then he’s struggling to survive and won’t want to eat. It could be elevated copper levels which is why you need to have an accurate method of testing.

 

[dwest]

It’s probably more from him being sick and having respiratory difficulty more than the copper. Just make sure your cupramine level is dead on using Hannah checker. If he covered in dust and symptomatic, then he’s struggling to survive and won’t want to eat. It could be elevated copper levels which is why you need to have an accurate method of testing.

Agree with the Hanna checker. It’s essential when using copper IMO.

 

[darkknight26]

Agreed. Tested using the hanna checker this morning. Copper concentration using cupramine was 0.51mg/l. Instructions say 0.5mg/l. +/-0.05 mg/l accuracy using the hanna checkers i don't think i'm too far out. Could I potentially drop the copper level a little for the benefit of the fish whilst still maintaining at a therapeutic level?

 

[Reef AquaCult]

I wouldn’t. IME rabbit fish tolerate copper levels just fine. Oxygenate the heck out of the water. Velvet causes photophobia/light sensitivity, make sure you don’t have bright lights in there. Also consider a slightly lower temp to decrease metabolic demands to 74-75F. You have to know that There is still a chance you can do everything perfect from here on out and he’s too sick to make it.

 

[darkknight26]

I will do, that is good advice. I didn't think of lowering the temp. I am currently running my tank at 26c which is just under 79f. I'll lower the temp gradually over the next few days to 24c so 75f. Also running a skimmer without the collection cup during the night to oxygenate the water and powerheads are pointed towards the surface of the water. I read about the light sensitivity too.

At this point I am still hopeful he will make it. Then again have read stories of other reefers getting through 20 odd days of copper treatment, everything going seemingly smoothly and then things going downhill from there.

 

[Phlynamjax]

You can, I still prefer cupramine over any other copper for few reasons of my own. IME I consider 0.4 + to be therapeutic and worked well for me.

 

[WiscoFishNut]

Best of luck for your fish! Sounds like you're doing everything you can for em.

 

[darkknight26]

You can, I still prefer cupramine over any other copper for few reasons of my own. IME I consider 0.4 + to be therapeutic and worked well for me.

That's good to know. It briefly dropped to 4.7 last night so I topped it up. There must be something soaking the copper up. Maybe filtration media.? Back to 5.1 this morning though. I just want to know if I could reduce the copper level incase I see some of my fishes struggling a bit. I will maintain at 0.5 for now.

 

[darkknight26]

Best of luck for your fish! Sounds like you're doing everything you can for em.

Thanks, once I knew it was velvet I had to move quick. It's awful. Have learnt that qt'ing is a must hard way. Huge advocate of it now.! I will count myself incredibly lucky if I can save these 5 remaining fish

 

[WiscoFishNut]

Thanks, once I knew it was velvet I had to move quick. It's awful. Have learnt that qt'ing is a must hard way. Huge advocate of it now.! I will count myself incredibly lucky if I can save these 5 remaining fish

I lost a whole tank worth of fish last summer due to what I assume was velvet. Firm believer in QT for everything since then

 

[darkknight26]

I lost a whole tank worth of fish last summer due to what I assume was velvet. Firm believer in QT for everything since then

Ouch. I've been in the hobby sinch 2012 so not too long but long enough. Really I ought to know better but so far never experienced anything like this. One previous experience of ich on my very first marine fish so have had some pretty good luck.. but as they say.. given a long enough timeline, anything that could go wrong will go wrong.

 

[darkknight26]

Just to update, copper level has remained stable over the past week, hovering around the 0.5 mark. Unfortunately I lost my foxface on Wednesday. Also since yesterday I see a lesion type sore, white in colour just behind the gill flap of my mccoskers flasher wrasse. Any idea what this could be, really hard to take a pic but he is swimming freely and eating well.

My solon fairy wrasse has severe apetite surpression.