Marine Velvet

[EMS503]

After moving my fish and corals to the only tank free (29gal.) due to my 75 gal. springing a leak. My PB tang became overly stressed and died from Marine velvet, following him 4 perculas, 1 Coral beauty & sixline wrasse. I was treating the tank they were in but to late. The corals and clams were moved into the new 75 gal. tank. but I held all fish due to the Velvet. The only fish left are four Red FireFish, These fish show no sign of illness, neither did the Wrasse. Do all fish contract Marine Velvet or are some immune. I am holding the Firefish in the 29 gal. tank for fear they still might have it but not showing. If it is possible how long should I Quarintine these fish before moving them back to the 75 gal. tank

[ChrisPrusha]

First of all, I'm very sorry to hear about your losses . Marine velvet is a real stink, and rather difficult to cure. I don't believe any fish are immune to it, although certainly some fish are very disease-resistant.

First of all, what are you treating your q tank with?

Chris

[EMS503]

I am using Rally by Ruby Reef it is a copper free water treatment which specifies Marine Velvet. I also lowered the salinity from 1.024 to 1.020 over two days and raised the temp. to 83.0 from 80.0. I also decreased the light time for the tank. Unfourtanetly I believe it was to late. From all I have read once you see it it is usally to late. I also did a 5 gal. water change prior to medicating. and carbon was removed.

[ChrisPrusha]

That's a fairly big jump in salinity over two days. At this point obviously try to keep them as stress-free as possible! I think you are right...once you see it it's too late. How are they doing now? Unfortunately I have never heard of Rally, but I think the quarantine in this circumstance is measured in weeks, not days. Hopefully someone else can speak to this. I wish you well, and keep us posted!

Chris

[CAT]

From what I can remember, velvet (amyloodinium) hits most fish hard and fast. According to some experts, the only effective treatment is with copper. Seachem makes the safest one. They also have a test kit so you can measure the dose.

But if the fish aren't showing any signs in the q tank I wouldn't do anything right now except get the parameters back to normal and watch them for a few days.

I've known of a couple of cases where the tank got velvet from new additions that had not been quarantined and only a couple of fish survived -sounds like you have some tough fish left.

Good luck

[EMS503]

The last fish that died from the Velvets disease died on the 18th.
How long of a period should I keep the Firefish which still are showing nothing and acting normal in a seperate tank. I dont want to bring this into my reef tank. Thanks for the help.

[CAT]

Don't release them into the new tank until you're very confident that they are healthy -firefish are fast and timid, you'll never catch them again without tearing the display apart.

It sounds like it's only been 3 days. I'd wait another week before releasing them. . As you said, it's almost too late by the time you see the signs and you need to be able to treat them immediately. Hopefully, the water in your quarantine tank is cycled and stable.

There's a disease forum at Reef Central. The site can be really slow during peak times but it might be worth posting your question there to get more expert advice.

Btw, you need to log in to access the Expert forums or nothing comes up on the page.

http://reefcentral.com/vbulletin/for...d=87&x=10&y=10

Good luck

[dgasmd]

I had multiple tangs and other fish in my 360 until this freaking velvet crap killed just about everything except the 6-line wrasse and a yellow tang. The tang is a mirarcle it survived since I thought he was dead one night just to see him agonize in the morning and the resurect himself by that night. He is doing great now.
Later, I found out that mandarin fish and 6-line wrasses actually ahve no scales and because of it they don't get ich or velvet. Don't quote me on this one!
I would let the fish in the other tank for at least 2-3 more weeks, then slowly bring parameters to the main display tank over a week. Then add them back..
Very sorry to hear about your fish. I truly know how it feels since in 12 years of keeping fish, FW/SW, I had never had a fish die on me. There goes over $800 in fish.