Nasty velvet.

[saltwater blues]

I had Velvet in my tank for a week before I knew anything about it. I simply thought it was nothing serious. I then noticed the dusting and velvet sheen and knew something was going on. I treated with copper Safe at 1.5 level about 1.5 weeks after I diagnosed the velvet. Since then I lost a lemonpeel angel and fuzzy dwarf. My maroon clown and damsels seem to be alright. Is there anything else I need to do and how long should I keep the cooper in the tank. I plan on removing copper by useing poly filter and 40% water change?

 

[beth]

I'm assuming that you are treating the velvet in your main tank? And, hopefully, you only have fish in there [meaning no live rock, live sand, inverts?]
The treatment needed for velvet is copper sulfate; the bare minimum maintenance level of copper sulfate to be effective is at .15 ppm. Fish are safe up to a .25 ppm level, so running the copper at a .20 to .25 ppm is good. Be sure to not let the copper level fall below .15 ppm, otherwise, it will not work and the problem will continue. Keep the fish under treatment for at least two weeks, but preferably 3 weeks. This helps to make sure there are no hidden cysts that may continue the life-cycle of the parasite following treatment. You MUST use a reliable cooper test kit that is compatible with the copper product you are using. Check the labels of both the medication as well as the test kit to ensure compatibility. You MUST check copper levels daily [better 2X a day] to ensure that theraputic medication levels are maintained at all times.
You should use carbon to remove the copper following the treatment.

 

[saltwater blues]

I'm 99.9 percent sure it is velvet. I have lost all my fish except one damsel from the disease that I have. My regal tang, maroon clown, and flame hawk all had hundreds of tiny dots that were much smaller than the salt like granules descriptive of ick. However, only the regal tang had the velvety sheen on him and he was the first to go down I made a mistake by saying I used copper safe, I actually used Sea Cure and brought the levels to .20. I believe, like Beth said, my other fish simply died from overdose. Should I abandon this tank and start over? If so, do I need to do anything special with my tank (such as clean it) and filtration systems? I now realize I need a hospital tank in order to properly take care of sick fish

 

[saltwater blues]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I appreciate the feedback. Now you have me thinking that it is ick. I had ick befor in my freshwater tank and it was much different then what
i have now, therefore I assumed it was velvet because of the different shape and number postules. So ick can come in different forms? Do all velvet infected fish first start with the gold sheen, then the white postules? I'm not trying to vascillate ,I just want to make sure we are communicating properly. All of my fish were not infected at the same time either. But when the whie postules began to show they were dead in a few days. I feel totally in the dark about this and I want to be thorough as possible with the diagnosis. Do you still feel that it is ick? One other odd situation, the only creature I have left is a chocolate chip star fish. This is after all of the copper treatment. Is this normal?

 

[saltwater blues]

I have another question. Since I'm treating with Sea Cure copper treatment, will this kill off ick also? Should I start a new tank? If not, what should I do with my esisting tank?

 

[saltwater blues]

Thanks for educating me anthem. You said that salt water ick is really cryptocary irrians or something like that. Early in the conversation I believe you stated that the gold sheen that I saw on the regal tang was ******. Is this a symptom found on some fish who have marine ick. (******)
If so, that only re confirms it was marine ich.
Thanks for the info.
Mike