I haven't dealt with Velvet for several years. Turns out I brought in home and infected my tank. My Clownfish are dead, Lemonpeel Angel is effected, but doesn't seem to be as bad on him. There's also a 6 Line, Mandarin, and Starry Blenny that have yet to show any signs. Unfortunately I got the diagnosis wrong and had to go out of town the next day and couldn't treat appropriately. My question is, once it's ran through the system, and whatever fish live, how long do I have to wait before getting another pair of Clowns? This was a horrible mistake on my part and I'm devastated and furious with myself. I've had the Clowns for like 6 years, and they were my babies. So please keep that in mind with responses. Thank you.
Question about Velvet
- Thread starter thedevilscandy
- Start date
I realize I got spoiled over the years from having some really great LFS guys inland. I never had to worry with Broc, Ron, and Matt. Now I'm way South OC and the stores suck. $10 Magenta Psuedo cost me my babies. I think my Starry Blenny is gone too. Haven't seen him all day. My fiance is going to be so bummed. At this point I have to let it run it's course and start over :/
Here is a really good article about velvet in r2r. Hope this helps
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/#post-2499437
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/#post-2499437
Thank you for the article. I effed up by misdiagnosing. I had a feeling I was wrong, now we all pay the price. I think all I can do at this point is see who's left in a couple weeks and go from there. I appreciate the article. I didn't realize it was Ich's even worse cousin. I won't make this mistake again.
In my last reply I mentioned my past luxury of good store owners. Moving forward, I think I will have to break down and set up a QT for the first time ever. Luckily I've got everything here. How do people keep it stable it terms of nitrogen cycle? I've got some Dr. Tim's and can swap filter sponges, but how do you keep it cycled to avoid spikes? I also keep Microbacter 7, so I always have beneficial bacteria on hand. I just wouldn't want to end up killing any new fish with ammonia or nitrite. I'll probably start with Clowns first, then add new fish one at a time to QT as someone moves out til I'm restocked. This sucks! I'm so sorry you lost so many fish. Ich is so much easier to deal with. I hate myself right now for not realizing it was Velvet. I should've trusted my insides.
I just had a canister filter with ceramic rings and did WC once a week. I also used a sponge from my display. Only way to know is by testing. Just remember every time you add a fish to QT you are resetting the clock. Meaning the 6-8 weeks QT time starts all over again.
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Ok. Sounds like adding some sponge from my DT and some Dr. Tim's should cover it. I figured the resetting the clock part, which is why I'll add the QT fish to the DT before adding a new fish to QT. What a pain! I know most people have QT's, I've just never had to go through all that before. I've had a couple bumps in the road along the way, but not like this. SO far the 2 fish I expected to find dead this morning are still holding on. I dosed a little extra Hikari Ich X. I remember years ago it saved a pair of Clowns that got Velvet, but I was dosing at a higher rate.
The worst part, I got the infected Magenta Psuedo from the store. 2 weeks later I went back to the store, before the Velvet started, and told the owner I got a couple little pieces of macroalgae from the beach. He tells me that's crazy, that can kill everything in the tank. I had noticed his fish stock was pretty low and he had one sick Magenta Psuedo that day, but didn't put 2 and 2 together til yesterday. I washed the hell out of the macro. He clearly had a big loss due to Velvet in his system and knew, so gave me the BS about the macro to cover his ***.
The worst part, I got the infected Magenta Psuedo from the store. 2 weeks later I went back to the store, before the Velvet started, and told the owner I got a couple little pieces of macroalgae from the beach. He tells me that's crazy, that can kill everything in the tank. I had noticed his fish stock was pretty low and he had one sick Magenta Psuedo that day, but didn't put 2 and 2 together til yesterday. I washed the hell out of the macro. He clearly had a big loss due to Velvet in his system and knew, so gave me the BS about the macro to cover his ***.
I wouldn't know about the macro but I personally wouldn't have added to my tank. There are so many nice macro available we can add to our reefs. Well stores gotta flip fish pretty quick, the longer it sits in their shop the more money they lose if they die. They don't have time to properly QT since they are replacing fish every week. The wholesalers don't QT either so a lot of fish come in so stressed and filled with flukes, velvet, ick. so yeah it a good habit to QT fish will save you money long run. Also stablished fish need to be QT even if you know the person.
I guess I've just always gotten lucky. My original fish stores had their fish a while, didn't do a lot of business, plus i was long time friends with the owner. Broc and Ron only got fish from SA, etc. I've added macro before with no problems. Just rinse it well if freshwater. There's nothing available in San Clemente lol. This place is not saltwater friendly, and the 2 stores in Mission Viejo are a joke. Thank you for all your help though 
I was in your position once as well. I waited too long to treat for velvet and killed almost every single one of my fish (had one or two survive).
After reading alot about velvet, mostly on r2r that someone posted above, I feel i now know how to react/prevent Velvet.
First step is you need to make sure you actually have velvet. If you can confirm, then I would start a QT right away if you want to save the remaining fish. If you dont, theyll likely perish or whoever survives will carry the disease and might infect future additions. Fish can apparently build immunity to the disease but can still carry it.
Zoarder already mentioned how to get a QT started. You have to watch for ammonia closely and change water whenever you detect it. (ive killed alot of fish with ammonia poisoning also).
Then you need to get your hands on copper or Chloroquine Phosphate (CP), CP is preferred. Treat for 30 days, then observe for a couple of more weeks after treatment.
Your DT will need to be fallow for 6 weeks, again, if you have velvet.
Alot of this info is available on R2R, but if you have questions, you can PM me.
After reading alot about velvet, mostly on r2r that someone posted above, I feel i now know how to react/prevent Velvet.
First step is you need to make sure you actually have velvet. If you can confirm, then I would start a QT right away if you want to save the remaining fish. If you dont, theyll likely perish or whoever survives will carry the disease and might infect future additions. Fish can apparently build immunity to the disease but can still carry it.
Zoarder already mentioned how to get a QT started. You have to watch for ammonia closely and change water whenever you detect it. (ive killed alot of fish with ammonia poisoning also).
Then you need to get your hands on copper or Chloroquine Phosphate (CP), CP is preferred. Treat for 30 days, then observe for a couple of more weeks after treatment.
Your DT will need to be fallow for 6 weeks, again, if you have velvet.
Alot of this info is available on R2R, but if you have questions, you can PM me.
Thank you for all your info. It's definitely Velvet. I had a gut feeling it wasn't Ich, but had to leave the following day. Too many bad situations at once. For now, I'm treating the DT with low dose formaldehyde, which will kill the tomont stages of Ich and Velvet. I've increased the dose a bit and watching closely. I don't want to tear the tank apart right now to catch the 6 Line, that would add a lot of stress. Nor do I have the test kits to set up a QT at the moment, only the equipment. Given all the factors, I'm going to have to let it runs it's course with the couple fish that are in the tank. I'll probably treat for at least an extra week to kill the remaining cysts in the system and see where I'm at from there. I will definitely be setting up a QT for new fish, as well as any possible relapses. Thank you again. The worst part of reefing is sick fish. I can deal with losing coral, but I get way attached to my fish.
