Reef Discussion

[mickvick]

Hi all, I think my fish have velvet disease. I have lost a few fish over the past day and have arranged to get a spare tank for the corals while I treat the tank. My question is I have been reading about the treatment and how copper will kill corals, how do you get rid of the copper later and when I take out the anemone will the clowns be ok? Thanks

 

[thepubenator]

Catch the fish and treat them in the spare tank

 

[holly]

The clowns might stress a little but will be fine. I would also treat the fish in the separate tank.

 

[mickvick]

Catch the fish and treat them in the spare tank

Thanks, that makes sense :)

 

[MagicJ]

Once you use copper in a tank it will stay there for a long time - I understand that it is absorbed by the silicon. So, never use copper in a tank that you ever plan to use for corals and crustaceans.

Are you sure it is velvet?

 

[mickvick]

Once you use copper in a tank it will stay there for a long time - I understand that it is absorbed by the silicon. So, never use copper in a tank that you ever plan to use for corals and crustaceans.

Are you sure it is velvet?

Thanks, no I'm not 100% but I asked where I get my fish from and he said it won't hurt to use even if it's not velvet.
He is lending me the tank.

 

[thepubenator]

Thanks, no I'm not 100% but I asked where I get my fish from and he said it won't hurt to use even if it's not velvet.
He is lending me the tank.

Copper will treat velvet and ich but if it's brook, which to naked eye can look similar to velvet, will be ineffective treatment and just stress the fish even more.

 

[Franklin Dattein]

I just recently had Velvet and was by far the worst fish disease I ever had. It killed all my fish in about 5 days, with the exception of one large Yellow Tank. Google told me Velvet is not so harmful to large fish.

Once I noticed they were getting sick fast, I realised it wasn't simple white spot disease and I started treating them with Hydrogen Peroxide in a bucket. That didn't help at all and I wish I had a quarantine tank to do a stronger treatment with cooper.

Next, I wasn't totally convinced it was Velvet (everything happened so fast) and I ended up adding a small Occelaris 15 days later. It died within 3 days.

Then I ended up selling the Yellow Tang (I told the next owner it was contaminated) and left the tank fishless for 30 days (Velvet cycle is 28 days). New fish are now happy and disease free.

So, treat all your fish in a separate tank ASAP and leave the main tank fisheless for a month.

Cheers,
Franklin