Marine Velvet - HELP :(

[kouma]

Hi,

Just now I noticed my new blue-ring angel has velvet. I inspected it carefully before several times but nothing was there, however tonight today under actinic lights I saw ting white dots perfectly scattered along its back and head. I do not have Cupperamine, they don't sell it here (or atleast I haven't found it in any of our big LFS). I do have SeaCure by Aquarium Systems. The recommendation is 1 drop per gallon to produce 0.15ppm ionic copper concentration.

I have a 30-40 gal QT with substrate and pvc pipe running a skimmer.

Please someone help me through this process, I have never treated velvet before and i really love this fish.

thanks.

 

[lcstorc]

Does the fish have velvet or ich? I really know very little about velvet but the spots you describe sound like ich.
Can you post a pic of the sick fish?
Also post as much info as you can a about your reef. Size.filtration,maintenance routine, additives you are using, tank mates, As many parameters as you can. Numbers please not good or bad.
Has anything changed in the tank recently? A new fish, change in food, new bulbs, anything you can think of. Oh and what you feed, how much, and what schedule.
Also list any other symptoms such as scratching or heavy breathing.

 

[lcstorc]

Dosn't sound like velvet symptoms See below
Symptoms
The symptoms of marine velvet usually involve the skin and lungs. Mild infections will usually only infect the gills and the fish may show minimal symptoms. As the infestation becomes more severe, the gills will become inflamed, bleed, and the lung tissue will begin to die. The fish will show signs of irritation and distress, with rapid breathing and lethargy. As the inflammation increases, the fish will lose its ability to transport oxygen across the gill membranes resulting in a fish that shows symptoms of suffocation, and if treatment is not initiated, death will often result.
The skin is the site of attachment for the organism and in severe infections, small gold-colored spots will cover the skin, which can progress to create a "velvet" appearance which gives the disease its name. By the time the gold-colored velvet appears, however, the gills may be so infected that treatment is usually too late. Many fish die from this disease without ever showing any visible skin changes. It may be possible to visualize early forms of the infection on the skin by using indirect illumination. This works best on dark fish and can be done by shining a flashlight on the dorsal surface of a fish in a darkened room. Viewing infected fish against a dark background may also be helpful.

 

[lcstorc]

It sounds much more like ich. Read the thread linked below
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html

 

[kouma]

but I have seen ick before, this looks different..the dots are much smaller and spread in a consistant matter..I really hope it is ich

 

[kouma]

This fish is new, less than a week old. I am charging my camera so I could try and take a picture. At the moment, I will give the fish a fresh water dip and return him back to DT. The QT should be ready by tomorrow.

 

[Dentoid]

Dosn't sound like velvet symptoms See below
Symptoms
The symptoms of marine velvet usually involve the skin and lungs. Mild infections will usually only infect the gills and the fish may show minimal symptoms. As the infestation becomes more severe, the gills will become inflamed, bleed, and the lung tissue will begin to die. The fish will show signs of irritation and distress, with rapid breathing and lethargy. As the inflammation increases, the fish will lose its ability to transport oxygen across the gill membranes resulting in a fish that shows symptoms of suffocation, and if treatment is not initiated, death will often result.
The skin is the site of attachment for the organism and in severe infections, small gold-colored spots will cover the skin, which can progress to create a "velvet" appearance which gives the disease its name. By the time the gold-colored velvet appears, however, the gills may be so infected that treatment is usually too late. Many fish die from this disease without ever showing any visible skin changes. It may be possible to visualize early forms of the infection on the skin by using indirect illumination. This works best on dark fish and can be done by shining a flashlight on the dorsal surface of a fish in a darkened room. Viewing infected fish against a dark background may also be helpful.

Where did you get this list of symptoms? Fish don't have lungs! The author can't decide if he/she should use lung or gills.

 

[kouma]

you are correct, it is ick. I won't bother post a picture because with the restrictions on this forum with the picture size you won't be able to tell anything.

 

[DaveK]

Velvet is sometimes called gold dust disease, since it looks like very small gold spots, almost like the fish is covered in gold dust. If it's really velvet, work vast, it's extremely contagious.

Treatment must be done using copper, at .15 ppm. Hyposalinity does not work for velvet. All the restrictions about copper apply. Treat all fish in the QT tank.

Since you seem to think it's ICH, some of the above may not apply, but since the disease is in the main tank, all fish shoud be removed and treated.