I think I have Marine Velvet

[MattLaw]

Hello, All.
Over the last few days I have been having trouble with my fish. I will spare you the whole story, but on Saturday my midas blenny who eats like a champ stopped eating and was pale in color but showed no other signs of issue. Yesterday, Sunday we noticed tiny little dots covering my Royal Gramma, but so small we were not sure we weren't just making it up. Today none of my fish seem to have an appetite, the midas blenny is breathing super heavy and won't leave his cave, and the royal gramma is hanging out at the surface gasping for air, and definitely seems to be covered in hundreds of tiny dots.

What we were first hoping was just flukes is now looking to me like Marine Velvet. Unfortunately no matter how hard I try I cannot get a decent picture.

I have not introduced a new fish into the tank in over 3 months, but I have added new frags that I got from other hobiests in Atlanta.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Does anyone have experience with treating these issues and would be willing to help me?
I am about 8 months into this hobby and going mostly off of videos and forums, I would love help from a more experienced reefer.

Also, I have been reading about using formalin for treating Velvet in a bath, but for the life of me can't find the exact product or clear instructions on dosing. So any help here would be appreciated as well.

Thank you all for your help, I am hoping we can get through this!

 

[Steve Burton]

Thread 'Marine Velvet Disease' https://humble.fish/community/threads/marine-velvet-disease.12/

 

[Steve Burton]

I've got a 29 long and HOB filter if you need a QT tank

 

[chaples55]

Like Steve suggested Humblefish is the way to go for disease treatment plans. You need to act ASAP to have a chance at saving your fish. Velvet acts fast and kills fast.

Do one of the recommended dips. Peroxide is the best IMO and is easy to get if you don't have it. Then immediately put the fish into therapeutic strength copper quarantine. Fish stores should carry copper. I know Nemo's has copper power. Don't trust the dosing instructions on the bottle. Use a Hanna copper checker (should also be available at LFS) to get a precise concentration (2ppm for copper power, 2.5ppm for fritz coppersafe). Accurate dose is critical.

 

[msporleder]

Premier had a good collection of meds when I was there last time too.

You can start a thread on humble.fish to get confirmation too but most parasite treatments are similar.

 

[MattLaw]

Thank you all for your responses. This morning everyone is still alive and the royal gramma is no longer gasping, but no one ate any food. The midas blenny was out a little bit and I cannot see a single spot on him anyware.

My fear is that it has been over 4 days since the first signs of distress, if this was ich, wouldn't they be dead by now? I also fear if I put them through the trauma of catching them, dipping them etc and it is not Velvet, am I doing more hram than good?

I did add prazipro on Sunday night (originally this was suggested as we assumed flukes) and the gasping and stopping eating started yesterday.
Do you all think the loss of appetite and gasping could be from the meds?

 

[MattLaw]

I am new to this, and a bit of a mess, so I really appreciate all the community support! I love these little guys and just want the best for my little slice of the ocean.

 

[Saltienewb]

Thank you all for your responses. This morning everyone is still alive and the royal gramma is no longer gasping, but no one ate any food. The midas blenny was out a little bit and I cannot see a single spot on him anyware.

My fear is that it has been over 4 days since the first signs of distress, if this was ich, wouldn't they be dead by now? I also fear if I put them through the trauma of catching them, dipping them etc and it is not Velvet, am I doing more hram than good?

I did add prazipro on Sunday night (originally this was suggested as we assumed flukes) and the gasping and stopping eating started yesterday.
Do you all think the loss of appetite and gasping could be from the meds?

Do you have extra aeration going? When I’ve run prazi, I always run an extra couple of airstones and point the wavemakers towards the surface to aid in gas exchange.
Having your skimmer off and the prazi lowers oxygen availability.
It is also an appetite suppressant.

 

[MattLaw]

Do you have extra aeration going? When I’ve run prazi, I always run an extra couple of airstones and point the wavemakers towards the surface to aid in gas exchange.
Having your skimmer off and the prazi lowers oxygen availability.
It is also an appetite suppressant.

I had the skimmer running without the cup yesterday, but last night when I saw them gasping I added extra stones, and this morning they don't seem to be gasping.

 

[lmm1967]

I would check / double check all the simple things first (this is from experience) - confirm your temps, salinity, and that you somehow did not kick off a nitrogen cycle.

Not likely to be any of those things since you can see dots - but double check them all carefully.

Ich does not necessarily kill most fish - a very high percentage of hobbyist tanks have ich. It's nearly impossible to keep out. a large/quick swing in temp or salinity can kcik off an ick event - allowing it to overtake some fish's immune system.

As others have said - the team over at humblefish will be your best bet.

Ich = you can likely save most things although copper is gonna wipe out your cleanup crew if you use it int he main tank. If you don't use it in the main tank, you'll always have ich in the tank.

Velvet or brook (not likely brook - I think you would have lost them already) = it's worth the risk of capturing them and treating IMO.

 

[MattLaw]

I checked my nitrate, nitrite, slanity, alkalinity, temp, Calc, mag, ammonia. I think I had a small salinity swing after a water change but like 1.026 to 1.025.

 

[MattLaw]

Would anyone with experience on this subject be willing to come take a look in person? I live in Norcross near the buford highway farmer's market. I would love another opinion. I only see tiny dots on one fish, and they are not getting worse, so I really am at a loss for what the issue is.

My understanding of velvet is that it kills within days, is this always true? Can a fish survive for a week + after showing the first signs?

Thanks.

 

[msporleder]

humble says if you can count the dots it is likely ich but if it's too many to count then it's probably velvet.

The difference between ich & velvet

Many people have a hard time telling the difference between ich & velvet, or incorrectly assume all "white spots" are ich. Below are some pics of a Hippo Tang - the first one has ich, the next 4 show velvet. Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans) - Oval shaped white dots, can usually be counted. These...

humble.fish

Both drop off the fish and then re-infect as a part of their lifecycle. Since none of your fish are dead yet it's probably ich!

---

Take pictures!

 

[MattLaw]

After two days of trying I was finally able to get a video of the only one with spots. You can see mostly on his fins.

What do you all think?

 

[msporleder]

I don't see any spots

 

[chaples55]

At 1080p res you can definitely see the tiny white spots. I am 99% sure that is velvet. Please do not delay, follow the instructions above. Velvet will not resolve on its own. The fish will die if you don't treat it, so you may as well try.

I would treat all the other fish too, but preferably separately from the heavily infected royal gramma if possible. It may be too late for the royal gramma, but if the other fish don't have obvious symptoms yet treatment should work.

You will also need to leave the tank fallow to eradicate the velvet, otherwise re-infection will occur.

I'm sorry this is happening to your tank. It happened to me in my first year in the hobby too and I lost every single fish in the tank. I have been following Humblefish quarantine protocols ever since.

 

[MattLaw]

At 1080p res you can definitely see the tiny white spots. I am 99% sure that is velvet. Please do not delay, follow the instructions above. Velvet will not resolve on its own. The fish will die if you don't treat it, so you may as well try.

I would treat all the other fish too, but preferably separately from the heavily infected royal gramma if possible. It may be too late for the royal gramma, but if the other fish don't have obvious symptoms yet treatment should work.

You will also need to leave the tank fallow to eradicate the velvet, otherwise re-infection will occur.

I'm sorry this is happening to your tank. It happened to me in my first year in the hobby too and I lost every single fish in the tank. I have been following Humblefish quarantine protocols ever since.

Thank you for your response this is definitely what I was thinking too. I appreciate your information.

 

[msporleder]

I'm 90% sure I was Ruby Reef Rally at Premier Aquatics a few weeks ago (call before going) and get some methylene blue while you're there.

The dips provide relief but going fallow is probably your only option for your main tank.

 

[MattLaw]

I have ich-x and copper power. I was planning to do a peroxide dip, then copper power in the quarantine.
Is there any reason I should not use a plastic storage container? I have a 10 gal that is the perfect size.

 

[chaples55]

I have ich-x and copper power. I was planning to do a peroxide dip, then copper power in the quarantine.
Is there any reason I should not use a plastic storage container? I have a 10 gal that is the perfect size.

As long as you can put a heater and some kind of filter and air stone on it (primarily for aeration) then it should be fine. I would prefer glass though for the sake of being able to observe the fish clearly.

Btw, I'm located in Snellville and can lend you a Hanna copper checker if you'd like.