sharks and disease?

[AMD30]

Hi, i have a hippo tang that i acquired thru a local reefer and the said it was healty and a month and a half later it came down with what seems to be velvet and not ick, but i also have a marble catshark that shows no signs of what the hippo has .

i think i remember hearing something that sharks dont get ick or velvet? or are very resistant to it?

Also is marine velvet like ick where it needs a host to live and will die off if the tank has no fish? or is it strictly with that one fish ?

any info or help would be appreciated.

 

[Puffer Queen]

Velvet is an external parasite, as is ich. Both require a host to continue its life cycle - fish, shark, seahorse, etc.

Velvet is not eradicated by hyposalinity. It requires copper to be eradicated.

While sharks have tougher skins than most fish, they can suffer from or transfer external parasites. The gills are usually the first area of parasite infestation as this is the area where the greatest volume of water passes and exposes. Parasites can not be detected by the human eye when they are in the gills and a scraping or biopsy can quickly diagnose the problem.

 

[AMD30]

oh and i have the hippo in a QT and am medicating with API general cure that says it cures Gill and skin flukes, hone in the head disease, anchor worm, velvet, and fish lice. its consists of 250mg Metronidazole and 75mg Praziqantel. it says to dose one packet for every 10 gal and i placed two packets 18 gal of a 20 gal qt. it says to repeat the dosage after 48 hours.
any opinions on this brand? any success?

 

[AMD30]

so can i dose the shark with this medicine also? it is not copper of any sort. so is it shark safe?

 

[Puffer Queen]

Copper is recommended for velvet. Are you sure that it is velvet. I would not treat the shark until you confirm the diagnosis.


I have used Seachem cupramine with sharks. This is something that needs close daily monitoring of copper levels with the appropriate test kit for this type of copper and water parameters - ammonia, pH & nitrites. Some sharks will become anorexic with exposure to copper, others will show no drop in appetite.

 

[AMD30]

i dont think its ich. this seems to be more like white dots that are not on the outside of the skin, but looks as if they are pushing out through the skin, as if it were just underneath the skin layer. and it can only be seen at certain head on angles, and other angles it is tough to see anything at all.

 

[Puffer Queen]

Can you post a picture?

 

[AMD30]

i'll try, but it will be off of my built in webcam. its not showing much sighns now, as it appears to have fallen off of him. but first started shownig signs last saturday...(5 days ago). it eats alot of formula two flakes and some reef pellets with garlic. not so much off the algae clip. and still swims very fast and not showing high respiratory gill movement. my shark still eats like a pig and is fed silver sides, shark formula, squid, krill, all soaked in selcon.