All my fish died from ?velvet :(

S

Shilpan

Member
Hey guys!
As some of you may know I've been getting ready to treat my 8 fish in a hospital tank for Ich while my tank fallows.

Yesterday something weird happened. I saw the tang acting strange and then the skin started sloughing off, breathing rapidly, and then lying on its side and dying. This then happened to each of the fish and they all died within 6 hours. So no fish left. Is this velvet? I fear this must've come on my tang with the Ich too because I didn't medicate during my 4 week quarantine.

Anyway I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the help you gave me while my fish were sick, you really helped relieve my stress.

I guess now I'll wash and shut down the hospital tank, and complete my fallow (I'm gonna go 15 weeks since there are no fish to put in the tank). Afterwards I'm changing to a 6 week quarantine period with pre-emptive medicating or TTM. And in the meantime I guess I'll continue feeding my one shrimp and one hermit crab 1 cube of mysis once a week. They're having fun in the 100 gallon tank lol.

Any things I can do in order to get things right next time round in January when I get new fish please let me know :)

P.s, ammonia and nitrites were at 0 after they died (I removed the most immediately), and nitrates at 20-40ppm. Airstone bubbling away and Ph=8.4. They were all fine and not a trace of Ich on them for the past week while in the tank. Yup I completed the re-cycle. And I had not yet dosed any cupramine.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
So sorry that happened. You worked so hard to do it all the right way.
Velvet looks a lot like ich but kills faster so I kind of doubt that is the culprit. But who knows. Possibly Brook. That can look like skin sloughing off. Your nitrates are on the higher side but not really high. Mine are above 50 and fish are fine.
I'd clean the QT with bleach and air dry. You might want to set it back up as your QT and get it cycling in the next few weeks. You bought the hospital tank new right?
 
S

Shilpan

Member
Thank you :) and ahh that's ok I've learnt a good lesson about doing quarantine right. I now understand the importance of thorough quarantine. I almost feel like leaving all new corals and rocks and inverts for 72 days quarantine in future lol.

Yup that's right the hospital tank was brand new. And I haven't used any copper in it which is a bonus I guess. Thanks I will do that, I'll bleach clean it.

How do I work out how much to feed my shrimp for the next 4 months? Ive never really paid attention to it's eating before so I don't know how often she eats. I've seen her eat off the rocks and eat food when I feed. The hermit crab I know just grazes on the rocks.
 
S

Shilpan

Member
Ah yeah since I'm not getting fish till Dec/Jan I'll probably re-cycle the hospital/QT tank a little closer to that time.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
You aren't just feeding the shrimp but also the bacteria so maybe a quarter cube every 2-3 days
 
S

Shilpan

Member
HEY guys

So I just found my firefish it's still alive! Weird it doesn't even seem affected.

I'm really confused however as I didn't identify the disease when they died (the other fish are buried now). I'm not sure what to do? Obviously I can treat with copper for the ick and velvet. But if it was brook what do I do?
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I think formalin for brook but might be wrong. Chloroquine phosphate treats all three I believe. Here in the US you need a prescription from a vet. So it might be hard to get.
 
S

Shilpan

Member
Hmm so the 12 week observation period wouldn't suffice? I will need to treat them for brook eh? Maybe I'll give them back to the fish store
 
lagatbezan

lagatbezan

Member
Skin pealing off sounds like brook and Formalin treatment is the best form of treatment for it. For confirmed cases of it, 6-one hour baths of formalin every other day is recommended (250ppm for formalin 37%).
I would do the 4-6 formalin baths followed by maybe two weeks of copper to be safe. I hate using copper but in this case the combination of the two should knock out brook, velvet and ich but they are harsh treatments.
Remember after each formalin dip, the fish would have to be transferred to a totally new tank and not back in the same tank it came from to prevent reinfection. All qt equipment should be cleaned, disinfected with bleach and let air dry for a min 24 hours to fully dry before reusing.
your main tank would need to be fallow for 7-9 weeks min.
good luck.
 
S

Shilpan

Member
Thank you very much for your advice I am sure it will be useful for me in future.

The last firefish died sadly. So that's all my fish gone for now. I will behin a 12, probably longer fallow since I have no fish to put back in.

Cheers guys :) I might ask some questions later about sandbeds and getting the DT ready. Thanks!
 
lagatbezan

lagatbezan

Member
sorry to hear that but from now on, make sure you qt anything thats wet. Even corals, rocks and inverts. they can't harbor it themselves but there is always a chance that the water they are in could have some kind of a parasite.
 
S

Shilpan

Member
Thank you I will do :) I do quarantine but the mistake was I didn't medicate the tang and so it's Ich was suppressed until it was added to the tank.

So for corals would I have to do a 72day quarantine day?? In case there was an Ich cyst on it?
 
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