Trying my hardest to battle what I think is velvet

[InformerAnts]

Hey guys, first time with an emergency. I've been up all night the past 2 days trying to save my wet friends. They have saved my depression and its a punch to the chest seeing them like this, I absolutely feel its my duty to give it my all to save them. I mistakenly added a File fish to help with my aptasia problem as you've already guessed, without quarantining. I believe they all have Velvet; I woke up one morning to feed my fish before work and about half of them ate which concerned me, and by the time I was home from work white spots were all over, too many to count. I couldn't find my six-line, diamond goby, royal gramma was lying in the open on the ground breathing fast ( He usually hides unless food comes out) and my Sailfin tang was covered in spots and mucus. I needed immediate action.

After learning my lesson for not quarantining, I bought a 20 gallon, PVC pipes and a HOB as a hospital tank and followed the instructions on the bottle of Fritz Coppersafe. A hydrogen peroxide dip was done and after the second day, My Tang died and the gramma and sixline are having troubles keeping themself upright and aren't swimming around, of course my two favorite fish in the tank. Until later today this is all I have to work with medication wise and im extremely worried about them. Everyone else seems to be doing okay for the scenario, but id like to know when to let go. I want to try everything i can but when is it a lost cause for the gramma and wrass? Right now they dont swim unless i point the flow at them, but they are breathing. Is there anything else I can do other than wait? Is it cruel to see if they pull through?

 

[fishguy242]

Sorry to hear, can you post pics, short video of fish breathing ,
expert help will be along shortly, best wishes
#fishmedic

 

[InformerAnts]

Unfortunately everywhere I read, time isn't on my side with velvet so i didn't record and I immediately moved them to the hospital. After they were moved I took a picture of the tang and a video of my Wrasse and Gramma, but at this point they all were just laying on the bottom unless flow was pointed towards them. Here's what I got anyway.

To describe the flashing better, ALL fish were hiding, rubbing on corals and my rocks, along with twitching/shaking to "get something off" it seemed like.

 

[fishguy242]

Current white light video possible ?,while waiting for experts, will arrive soon...

 

[Tamberav]

I would give them a fighting chance and only remove them when dead or swimming in spirals (dying).

While they are certainly very sick and chances are grim. Fish will often act odd and lay on bottom in a corner of QT sometimes just because they are stressed and PVC is not really an attractive hiding spot regardless of its common use.

I can’t see much in the video due to it being so blue.

Do you have a copper test kit? I would suggest getting one if not.

 

[threebuoys]

Copper concentration is critical for success. What level are you at now? If you are below 2.50 ppm, raise as quickly as you can. Are the fish breathing rapidly? The problem could be ich, but treatment for ich and velvet is the same. Often, velvet occurs without spots appearing on the fish with the primary indicators being very rapid breathing, slime, mucus on the body and gills, lethargy, swimming near the top.

 

[InformerAnts]

I will be buying some prazipro along with a copper test today. I had multiple fish swimming at the top gasping for air as well. I can only do so much when I just had the medication and reef stores being closed on Sunday near me. I followed the instructions on the bottle.

The goby has gained his speed, clownfish kind of acting like clowns, and my pajama cardinals swimming around like nothing happened, all breathing like normal after a day in copper. The fish I mentioned are doing much much better but I'm just concerned as hell about my wrasse and Gramma which are still breathing rapidly and acting off. I just fed the tank and my clowns, goby, and pajamas ate a little bit so thats something to keep my head up. The Gramma looking the worst with a discolored and cloudy appearance. I need to grab an hour or two of sleep, then I'll catch another video with my flash and grab a copper checker. Nearest fish store is a good 2 hour trip and I'm so tired, I can't make that right now. Prayers he makes it a few more hours till I can get definite copper levels and prazi

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The video is too blue to see. The still picture of the sailfin seems to show advanced marine ich (white spots with excessive mucus).

It is mostly academic if the fish have ich or velvet, as the treatment is the same. As you mentioned though, velvet kills much faster. As @threebuoys said, you need to get to a full copper dose ASAP.

Just a word of caution - once fish loss has occurred due to protozoan disease, even a proper treatment typically won't stop further loss, as the treatments take about 3 days to really work.

Jay

 

[InformerAnts]

The video is too blue to see. The still picture of the sailfish seems to show advanced marine ich (white spots with excessive mucus).

It is mostly academic if the fish have ich or velvet, as the treatment is the same. As you mentioned though, velvet kills much faster. As @threebuoys said, you need to get to a full copper dose ASAP.

Just a word of caution - once fish loss has occurred due to protozoan disease, even a proper treatment typically won't stop further loss, as the treatments take about 3 days to really work.

Jay

That's unfortunate. I added the filefish on Friday, and noticed symptoms on Saturday. are the two linked? I think so, hopefully there's still time for the rest since symptoms just occured.

 

[InformerAnts]

I just wanted to say thank you all for the speedy advice and I should have posted sooner. I will do all of what was stated today and send an update. I'm hoping for the best

 

[Jay Hemdal]

That's unfortunate. I added the filefish on Friday, and noticed symptoms on Saturday. are the two linked? I think so, hopefully there's still time for the rest since symptoms just occured.

So - adding an infected fish to an existing tank usually would not result in the existing fish becoming sick in 24 hours, it is usually three days. Also, if the filefish was the "typhoid Mary" it would have shown symptoms first, and would be sicker than the other fish, is that the case?

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

I just wanted to say thank you all for the speedy advice and I should have posted sooner. I will do all of what was stated today and send an update. I'm hoping for the best

One curiosity- With the copper, what level was the coppersafe at and how were you testing ?
Did you use new water for the Quarantine tank or water from the display tank?

 

[MnFish1]

Everything has been said already - Hope things turn out well for the fish - welcome to R2R!!!!

 

[InformerAnts]

One curiosity- With the copper, what level was the coppersafe at and how were you testing ?
Did you use new water for the Quarantine tank or water from the display tank?

SO, Every fish store near me was out of copper tests, my only luck was to order a box. sigh... I bought a drinking water copper test from walmart for the meantime and the results were in between 2-3PPM as the tester was very vague, but it showed positive for copper. Tbh, I think I had some parasites in my tank for a hot minute, but moving stressed my little guys out enough to show symptoms, along with whatever my bristle tail file fish brought in. Yall are right about how the file fish probably didn't start everything.

Id love to post more pictures but my phones camera is so bad, i would just get the same comments; Its too hard to see. My clownfish now look exactly like pictures of brook and for a description, they are breathing heavy and not eating with most of their color being lost.

For an update, everyone is still alive except for the SixLine and Royal gramma, They didnt make it. after taking them out they had lots of lost color, pale skin and white patches. I monitored them frequently and witnessed the wrasse pass away. Pretty hard.

So along with copper treatment which seems to not be very effective with brook. From what ive read API general cure is decent.

 

[MnFish1]

Unfortunately you would need a proper reef copper test. There may be multiple views as to which would be best.

 

[MischiefReef]

SO, Every fish store near me was out of copper tests, my only luck was to order a box. sigh... I bought a drinking water copper test from walmart for the meantime and the results were in between 2-3PPM as the tester was very vague, but it showed positive for copper. Tbh, I think I had some parasites in my tank for a hot minute, but moving stressed my little guys out enough to show symptoms, along with whatever my bristle tail file fish brought in. Yall are right about how the file fish probably didn't start everything.

Id love to post more pictures but my phones camera is so bad, i would just get the same comments; Its too hard to see. My clownfish now look exactly like pictures of brook and for a description, they are breathing heavy and not eating with most of their color being lost.

For an update, everyone is still alive except for the SixLine and Royal gramma, They didnt make it. after taking them out they had lots of lost color, pale skin and white patches. I monitored them frequently and witnessed the wrasse pass away. Pretty hard.

So along with copper treatment which seems to not be very effective with brook. From what ive read API general cure is decent.

Didn’t have anything more to add, but was following along on the thread for the treatment process. Sorry to hear that! You seem like you sincerely tried your best to save them.
As for API general cure, I seem to remember an article saying that using triple sulfa and erythromycin in combination with general cure was a good “shotgun” approach to medicating mystery illnesses. However, I must clarify I never tried this myself!

 

[InformerAnts]

UPDATE: ALL FISH ARE STILL ALIVE (besides sixline and royal gramma)! What a relief, although not all doing the greatest. Im prepping their Freshwater bath now and i dosed API quick cure that I was able to pickup today. My only worry about the freshwater bath was that i tried it this morning and EVERYONE was on on their side hardly breathing and looked dead so I immediately took them out and placed them back into the tank. The first time i tried a FW bath they still swam, but just looked shocked so that scared the crap out of me.

8 hours later they are still swimming and keeping themself upright, the goby and cardinals respiration slowed to a more normal state while both clowns keep breathing heavily. My little orange guy looks the worst. My little bro was able to take some nice pictures to upload . All i have access to is the Copper, prazi and metro so hopfully thats enough to keep them alive. My copper test is in the mail, Nowhere near me in Northern Minnesota has a proper test kit in stock so im stuck without one until mail delivery happens.

I appreciate all of you, Much love for our wet friends.

 

[InformerAnts]

Has anybody used Ruby Reef Rally with success for eliminating Brook? Im pretty sure at the end this is what im dealing with right now. Everyone (cardinals, goby and file fish) seem to be doing fine, eating and have their speed back espicially my goby that jumped out of the tank while netting my clownfish. Still the clowns are extremely lethargic, not eating and one has his fins starting to rot off with the same white coloring pictured above. From what im reading formeldahyde is the main treatment but I dont want it in my house with the kiddo running around and I see formalin is one of the ingredients of RRR, although probably safer than using formalin 37% alone, does anybody have comments on the overall safety of using it and keeping it in the household? Thankfully BRS is about two and a half hours away and i can get it as soon as tomorrow.

My hannah checker came in the mail as some of you suggested to buy a copper test! TY amazon prime. Test came back as 2.29ppm for copper, from what i was reading chelated copper is therapeutic at ranges of 1.5ppm-2.5ppm so no needed attention there.

Continuing freshwater baths, dosing API quick cure and copper treatment in the meantime. I just want to know any safety precautions using Reef Rally and it will be on my list, taken the clowns last that long

 

[MischiefReef]

Has anybody used Ruby Reef Rally with success for eliminating Brook? Im pretty sure at the end this is what im dealing with right now. Everyone (cardinals, goby and file fish) seem to be doing fine, eating and have their speed back espicially my goby that jumped out of the tank while netting my clownfish. Still the clowns are extremely lethargic, not eating and one has his fins starting to rot off with the same white coloring pictured above. From what im reading formeldahyde is the main treatment but I dont want it in my house with the kiddo running around and I see formalin is one of the ingredients of RRR, although probably safer than using formalin 37% alone, does anybody have comments on the overall safety of using it and keeping it in the household? Thankfully BRS is about two and a half hours away and i can get it as soon as tomorrow.

My hannah checker came in the mail as some of you suggested to buy a copper test! TY amazon prime. Test came back as 2.29ppm for copper, from what i was reading chelated copper is therapeutic at ranges of 1.5ppm-2.5ppm so no needed attention there.

Continuing freshwater baths, dosing API quick cure and copper treatment in the meantime. I just want to know any safety precautions using Reef Rally and it will be on my list, taken the clowns last that long

I have also had reservations about using formalin in the house. I’ve set up a hospital tank in the garage the past before to work around this. Not sure if this advice works for your case.

 

[MischiefReef]

Has anybody used Ruby Reef Rally with success for eliminating Brook? Im pretty sure at the end this is what im dealing with right now. Everyone (cardinals, goby and file fish) seem to be doing fine, eating and have their speed back espicially my goby that jumped out of the tank while netting my clownfish. Still the clowns are extremely lethargic, not eating and one has his fins starting to rot off with the same white coloring pictured above. From what im reading formeldahyde is the main treatment but I dont want it in my house with the kiddo running around and I see formalin is one of the ingredients of RRR, although probably safer than using formalin 37% alone, does anybody have comments on the overall safety of using it and keeping it in the household? Thankfully BRS is about two and a half hours away and i can get it as soon as tomorrow.

My hannah checker came in the mail as some of you suggested to buy a copper test! TY amazon prime. Test came back as 2.29ppm for copper, from what i was reading chelated copper is therapeutic at ranges of 1.5ppm-2.5ppm so no needed attention there.

Continuing freshwater baths, dosing API quick cure and copper treatment in the meantime. I just want to know any safety precautions using Reef Rally and it will be on my list, taken the clowns last that long

I have also had reservations about using formalin in the house. I’ve set up a hospital tank in the garage the past before to work around this. Not sure if this advice works for your case.