follow up on marine velvet: Clownfish?

[TTU_Reefer]

Situation: Tank had out break of marine velvet(I strongly believe) and I have QT all fish and am using meds.

Question: the mated pair of clarkiis never once showed signs of sickness and are lovely and happy as ever. Treat their QT tank? or just sit back and watch? Can marine velvet be carried dormant in fish?(like ick) If so will 8 weeks empty display be good enough to kill it off in DT?

-If I add the clarkiis into the DT will they keep the velvet from dying off even if they never show symptoms? I have them in a very ghetto QT, and would much rather return them to DT but not if their is any chance they will host velvet.


Thanks again!

 

[drwgk3]

HFF, from Auburn AL but I can't help with Your question unfortunately.

 

[TTU_Reefer]

haha cool, thanks drwgk3

 

[Steven Pro]

Do not introduce fish to an infected display. If they were exposed to velvet, I would treat them like all the other fish.

 

[TTU_Reefer]

Right I understand that, they have been in the DT during the velvet out break and never showed signs at all, while every other fish did. I guess I will just keep Qt them.

Really looking to know if velvet needs a fish host to live in a DT?

 

[jnc914]

First off, are you sure you are dealing with velvet? If you can start to see a powdery dots and a yellowish film covering the fish, then it is velvet. Unfortunately it is likely your fish don't have long to live regardless if you medicate or not. Velvet attacks the gill tissue initially and the fish eventually sucumbs to suffocation. However when it can be seen on the fish it is considered to be in an advanced state of infestation. I have read different perspectives on if velvet can survive in a tank without a host. I have read posts previously that state that velvet can survive in hypo conditions and in very low temps. In addition I have read that velvet can survive in a tank without a fish host and that the only true way to rid a tank of the disease is to use copper.

It seems like getting velvet in the display is basically the kiss of death, or at least that is my experience. I have dealt with this recently as velvet wiped out my entire 300 within a 2 week span thanks to the addition of a regal angel that was not fully Qt'ed the whole 6 weeks. I was contemplating hanging it up and emptied the tank, cleaned everything and let it sit for dry for 2 months. I opted to start over and the tank is back up and running with a bare bottom, new pukani Eco Rox, and completely sanitized equipment. There is currently 5 fish in the tank(all Qt'ed and medicated for 6 weeks +), and no sign of any disease. Now, my experience is a bit extreme, but velvet is much more resilient than ich and much deadlier. I will keep an eye on this thread as I am also interested in hearing about others experience dealing with this parasite.

 

[TTU_Reefer]

Thanks a lot, i needed a first hand account.

I also introduced an angel w/o enough QT, I suspect started the issue. However mine is an interesting story, I had stray voltage in my tank that stressed all my fish and gave one tang lateral line. I had my ground probe in a non-grounded outlet (smart huh?) I fixed that and my fish improved and healed.(all effected but my clarkiis)

Days later I observed what seemed to be symptoms of "Dropsy"

-fish(all but my two clarkii) were hiding, lethargic, color loss, with a few red streaks on one fish. Thinking it was bacterial I was going to treat with maracyn-two.

then I saw white blisters forming on a few fish(tang,angel,trigger,butterfly) these "blisters" were larger than ich and fewer (10-15 on whole body) the fish also all were rubbing them selves all over the rocks (another sign of velvet I hear). One trigger had the yellow tint to his back half of his body.(none other showed this) needless to say this all happened fast and killed everyone but the two damn clarkiis and a trigger.

Clarkiis have never shown any signs at all of anything being wrong through out this whole process!

Right now Trigger is in QT, treating with coppersafe (1.25ppm) for 14 days(on day 3) then I will use maracyn-two for a week, then 3 weeks carbon/water changes.

Clown fish are in a bucket with a heater and PH happy as can be.

So really I have had all different things happen at once, and I think the stress from the stray electricity and the angel bringing Dropsy or velvet in caused everyone to get it.

Question is, what’s up with the clownfish?? And should I rip my reef down and build it up again? (hope not...)


Thanks again all!

 

[TTU_Reefer]

any insight? I dont want to copper these healthy clowns but if I have to to keep it from coming back I will.