Velvet Transfer Method - Updated 02/2021
Quarantine Goal
The best way to avoid having disease in your main display is to have a proactive and comprehensive quarantine system from the start, as professional aquarist have learned from experience. This article is to encourage all marine aquarist, from beginner to advanced, to have a quarantine system using current best practices, where you can easily proactively treat for 99% of all marine fish diseases before they show up in your main display. Ideally you will need to quarantine all new fish for 30 days yet this can be reduced to 14 days at a minimum. The last two weeks are mainly to verify that they are indeed disease free and to reacclimate them back to full salinity.
The idea is to develop a clear holistic approach for just about everything out there, without having to micromanage every fish individually. This becomes more and more practical and advantageous as you get into larger numbers of fish stock and investment levels to consider. Are you adding a damsel to a 20 gallon fish only or are you adding that damsel a fully stocked 400 gallon mixed fish and coral reef system? What about a 400,000 gallon mixed reef? How much work will an infestation then entail?
Dip All Rocks and Corals?
- One note worth mentioning here is that it is possible for a Cryptocaryon (Ich) or Amyloodinium (Velvet) infection to also occur from adding any new live rock and corals (with a small piece of attached rock) to the system where the tomites can be attached for up to 76 days for Amyloodinium and 6 weeks for Cryptocaryon. The 76 days for Amyloodinium drops to 6 weeks at 80 degrees F, according to Humble.Fish. It ’s known that they attach to rocky like substrates and could be attached to a snail’s shell, for example. Based on this, it might be advisable to quarantine all invertebrates if feasible, rocks and corals, in a fish free system for 6 weeks, or using one of the commercially available coral Dips, such as MediCoral Coral Dip by Brightwell Aquatics https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/medicoral-coral-dip-brightwell.html, before adding them to your main mixed fish and reef display might work. Try to add the least amount of foreign bag water to your display. Just how commonplace this contamination actually is in practice is not known. It might be that it's an extremely rare occurrence.
Quarantine All Fish
We are all familiar with the problems and frustrations of an Amyloodinium (Velvet) infestation yet according Jay Hemdal, curator at the Toledo Aquarium, Neobenedenia flukes are even a greater problem for them and they incorporate a dual copper and hyposalinity quarantine system, to eradicate both Cryptocaryon and Neobenedenia flukes, that they plan to publish in the 2017 Marine Aquarium Annual. Barret Christie, who is now at the OdySea Aquarium, developed a flukes hyposalinity treatment which consists of using a 15 ppt hyposalinity for 30 days. Hemdal has identified through his experience the following in order of how commonplace each affliction is for new arrivals: (Hemdal, Christie 2016.)
1) Bacterial infections – systemic bacterial disease, including Mycobacteriosis
2) Flukes
3) Uronema
4) Cryptocaryon
5) Amyloodinium
Therefore the goal of any quarantine process should be to tackle all 6 of these afflictions and using a combination of methods this can be accomplished.
1) Bacterial infections
Proactively fight with safe formalin such as SeaChem’s Paraguard. Only use an antibiotic based product if you see or highly suspect an actual bacterial infection.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2471362
2) Flukes
Eradicated with the Hyposalinity Method or a Prazipro type medication
https://humble.fish/flukes/
3) Uronema
Eradicate with a malachite green based medication or safe formalin based medications such as Sea Chems Paraguard (Bartelme, 2007.) http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/2/mini
https://humble.fish/uronema/
4) Cryptocaryon (Ich)
Limited number of white spots visible on the fish. Eradicated with the Hyposalinity Method - most of the time - as there are hyposalinity resistant strains (Bartelme, 2003.) http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/12/mini and a 3 day or less Transfer Method or copper CopperPower at 1.5ppm to 2.5ppm https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/copper-power-parasite-treatment-endich.html with the Hanna Copper Test Kit https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/copp...er-hi702-hanna-checker-hanna-instruments.html They stay on the fish from 3 to 7 days, then stay from 3 to 72 days attached to a hard surface and they have up to 2 days to find a new host. (Colorni & Burgess, 1997.) Therefore a 3 Day transfer will out run it.
5) Amyloodinium (Velvet)
Vast number of white spots visible on the fish. Help fight with the Transfer Method, eradicate with copper (copper CopperPower at 1.5ppm to 2.5ppm https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/copper-power-parasite-treatment-endich.html with the Hanna Copper Test Kit https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/copp...er-hi702-hanna-checker-hanna-instruments.html) or Chloroquine Phosphate http://reef2reef.com/ams/tank-terror-identifying-and-treating-marine-velvet.26/
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tank-terror-identifying-and-treating-marine-velvet.26/
SeaChem’s Cuppermine is not recommended, by Humble.Fish, as it has a very small margin of error that is hard to accurately test and implement. If you go slightly lower, it's ineffective. If you go slightly higher mortalities will occur. In contrast CopperPower has a much bigger margin of error.
Amyloodinium (Velvet) possibly can complete a lifecycle in just 36 hours, according to Humble.Fish. Therefore a 2 day transfer might not work in all cases but a 1 day transfer will out run it for sure.
With Cryptocaryon (Ich) and Amyloodinium (Velvet) it's first important not to get the names and the two mixed up as people will interchange them without knowing. Cryptocaryon (Ich) is slower and Amyloodinium (Velvet) is much more virulent and devastating. HumbleFish and community has the best information I've seen https://humble.fish/
Based upon the Amyloodinium (Velvet) life cycle http://www.ultimatereef.com/articles/marinevelvet/ the Transfer Method is effective against Amyloodinium (Velvet) using 1 Day transfers for a total of 13 days to out run it.
Other than copper or chloroquine phosphate is the only known proven cure for Amyloodinium (Velvet) (Miller, 2007), http://reef2reef.com/ams/tank-terror-identifying-and-treating-marine-velvet.26/ and (Hemdal, 2013) http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/2/fish. If you still have an infection after doing the transfers, then you will need to incorporate or switch over to one of these treatments. If you do not have any small angles, sharks or rays then you could incorporate copper from the beginning.
Velvet Transfer Method
This is an alternate version of the Transfer Method (Colorni, 1985.) http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/3daytransfer.html, to proactively eradicate Cryptocaryon from new fish arrivals.
This method seems to work most of the time and most importantly is practical for the average hobbyist, retailer or wholesaler, to use proactively to eliminate any infestation before it occurs on all new arrivals. (Please note this can be mildly stressful on fish yet much less so than an infection and then a post treatment of Copper.) As opposed to the Transfer Method here (Miller, 2016.) http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tank-transfer-method.192655/ sterilization and ammonia levels aren't a concern nor is there a large amount of water wasted.
You can use two 5 gallon buckets or transfer aquariums and transfer, from one to the other, every day for 13 days. Once you have transferred out the fish you let the other one completely dry out to eradicate the parasites. On day 13 you can transfer to an established quarantine aquarium for a further 14 days for verification.
Ammonia levels are not a problem over a short period of just 1 to 3 days between transfers. To avoid shock upon a transfer systems should be exactly the same setup and original source water to have the same water parameters. You can also incorporate a quick 1 to 3 minute freshwater dip between transfers that most fish can tolerate.
- Day 1 - Place your fish in the first transfer aquarium
- Day 2 - 13 - After the first day transfer your fish from the first to the second transfer aquarium. Transfer them over in a small container with just enough water for them to be submersed under or if you have to with a net. At each transfer transmission become less likely and by the fifth transfer the fish should Cryptocaryon (Ich) and Amyloodinium (Velvet) free after 13 days. There is a very small chance of transfer of a Tomont or Protomont in this process (with the water and on the fish of course) yet not to worry that's why you have a series of transfers and the parasite will be left behind.
- Day 14 - Transfer to the display aquarium.
Or Ideally Day 14 - 29 Transfer to the quarantine aquarium to verify and possibly treat for anything that arises.
- Day 30 - Transfer to the display aquarium.
There is the unproven theory out there that Cryptocaryon is capable of aerosolization and can pass from one aquarium to the next on tiny droplets. Until we know more it would be advisable to avoid air pumps, to use top lids and perhaps to have a barrier between each transfer aquarium (this according to Jay Hemdal 2016 and Miller, 2016). http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aerosol-transmission.190292/ .
Popular Quarantine Options to Incorporate
- Treat with Nitrofurazone, for bacteria using API's FURAN-2 https://apifishcare.com/product/furan-2
- Treat with Prazipro https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tank...i/prazipro-praziquantel-treatment-hikari.html for worms on day 3 and for 24 hours on day 13 (Humblefish, 2016). Although it’s known that this does not work 100% of the time for flukes, (Hemdal, 2016). http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tank-transfer-method.192655/, or use API's GeneralCure https://apifishcare.com/product/general-cure
- Hyposality Method
Also see Humble.fish's similar Transfer Method for Velvet!
https://humble.fish/ttm-for-velvet/
Discuss this Article Here
References
Quarantine Goal
The best way to avoid having disease in your main display is to have a proactive and comprehensive quarantine system from the start, as professional aquarist have learned from experience. This article is to encourage all marine aquarist, from beginner to advanced, to have a quarantine system using current best practices, where you can easily proactively treat for 99% of all marine fish diseases before they show up in your main display. Ideally you will need to quarantine all new fish for 30 days yet this can be reduced to 14 days at a minimum. The last two weeks are mainly to verify that they are indeed disease free and to reacclimate them back to full salinity.
The idea is to develop a clear holistic approach for just about everything out there, without having to micromanage every fish individually. This becomes more and more practical and advantageous as you get into larger numbers of fish stock and investment levels to consider. Are you adding a damsel to a 20 gallon fish only or are you adding that damsel a fully stocked 400 gallon mixed fish and coral reef system? What about a 400,000 gallon mixed reef? How much work will an infestation then entail?
Dip All Rocks and Corals?
- One note worth mentioning here is that it is possible for a Cryptocaryon (Ich) or Amyloodinium (Velvet) infection to also occur from adding any new live rock and corals (with a small piece of attached rock) to the system where the tomites can be attached for up to 76 days for Amyloodinium and 6 weeks for Cryptocaryon. The 76 days for Amyloodinium drops to 6 weeks at 80 degrees F, according to Humble.Fish. It ’s known that they attach to rocky like substrates and could be attached to a snail’s shell, for example. Based on this, it might be advisable to quarantine all invertebrates if feasible, rocks and corals, in a fish free system for 6 weeks, or using one of the commercially available coral Dips, such as MediCoral Coral Dip by Brightwell Aquatics https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/medicoral-coral-dip-brightwell.html, before adding them to your main mixed fish and reef display might work. Try to add the least amount of foreign bag water to your display. Just how commonplace this contamination actually is in practice is not known. It might be that it's an extremely rare occurrence.
Quarantine All Fish
We are all familiar with the problems and frustrations of an Amyloodinium (Velvet) infestation yet according Jay Hemdal, curator at the Toledo Aquarium, Neobenedenia flukes are even a greater problem for them and they incorporate a dual copper and hyposalinity quarantine system, to eradicate both Cryptocaryon and Neobenedenia flukes, that they plan to publish in the 2017 Marine Aquarium Annual. Barret Christie, who is now at the OdySea Aquarium, developed a flukes hyposalinity treatment which consists of using a 15 ppt hyposalinity for 30 days. Hemdal has identified through his experience the following in order of how commonplace each affliction is for new arrivals: (Hemdal, Christie 2016.)
1) Bacterial infections – systemic bacterial disease, including Mycobacteriosis
2) Flukes
3) Uronema
4) Cryptocaryon
5) Amyloodinium
Therefore the goal of any quarantine process should be to tackle all 6 of these afflictions and using a combination of methods this can be accomplished.
1) Bacterial infections
Proactively fight with safe formalin such as SeaChem’s Paraguard. Only use an antibiotic based product if you see or highly suspect an actual bacterial infection.
2) Flukes
Eradicated with the Hyposalinity Method or a Prazipro type medication
3) Uronema
Eradicate with a malachite green based medication or safe formalin based medications such as Sea Chems Paraguard (Bartelme, 2007.) http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/2/mini
4) Cryptocaryon (Ich)
Limited number of white spots visible on the fish. Eradicated with the Hyposalinity Method - most of the time - as there are hyposalinity resistant strains (Bartelme, 2003.) http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/12/mini and a 3 day or less Transfer Method or copper CopperPower at 1.5ppm to 2.5ppm https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/copper-power-parasite-treatment-endich.html with the Hanna Copper Test Kit https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/copp...er-hi702-hanna-checker-hanna-instruments.html They stay on the fish from 3 to 7 days, then stay from 3 to 72 days attached to a hard surface and they have up to 2 days to find a new host. (Colorni & Burgess, 1997.) Therefore a 3 Day transfer will out run it.
5) Amyloodinium (Velvet)
Vast number of white spots visible on the fish. Help fight with the Transfer Method, eradicate with copper (copper CopperPower at 1.5ppm to 2.5ppm https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/copper-power-parasite-treatment-endich.html with the Hanna Copper Test Kit https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/copp...er-hi702-hanna-checker-hanna-instruments.html) or Chloroquine Phosphate http://reef2reef.com/ams/tank-terror-identifying-and-treating-marine-velvet.26/
SeaChem’s Cuppermine is not recommended, by Humble.Fish, as it has a very small margin of error that is hard to accurately test and implement. If you go slightly lower, it's ineffective. If you go slightly higher mortalities will occur. In contrast CopperPower has a much bigger margin of error.
Amyloodinium (Velvet) possibly can complete a lifecycle in just 36 hours, according to Humble.Fish. Therefore a 2 day transfer might not work in all cases but a 1 day transfer will out run it for sure.
With Cryptocaryon (Ich) and Amyloodinium (Velvet) it's first important not to get the names and the two mixed up as people will interchange them without knowing. Cryptocaryon (Ich) is slower and Amyloodinium (Velvet) is much more virulent and devastating. HumbleFish and community has the best information I've seen https://humble.fish/
Based upon the Amyloodinium (Velvet) life cycle http://www.ultimatereef.com/articles/marinevelvet/ the Transfer Method is effective against Amyloodinium (Velvet) using 1 Day transfers for a total of 13 days to out run it.
Other than copper or chloroquine phosphate is the only known proven cure for Amyloodinium (Velvet) (Miller, 2007), http://reef2reef.com/ams/tank-terror-identifying-and-treating-marine-velvet.26/ and (Hemdal, 2013) http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/2/fish. If you still have an infection after doing the transfers, then you will need to incorporate or switch over to one of these treatments. If you do not have any small angles, sharks or rays then you could incorporate copper from the beginning.
Velvet Transfer Method
This is an alternate version of the Transfer Method (Colorni, 1985.) http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/3daytransfer.html, to proactively eradicate Cryptocaryon from new fish arrivals.
This method seems to work most of the time and most importantly is practical for the average hobbyist, retailer or wholesaler, to use proactively to eliminate any infestation before it occurs on all new arrivals. (Please note this can be mildly stressful on fish yet much less so than an infection and then a post treatment of Copper.) As opposed to the Transfer Method here (Miller, 2016.) http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tank-transfer-method.192655/ sterilization and ammonia levels aren't a concern nor is there a large amount of water wasted.
You can use two 5 gallon buckets or transfer aquariums and transfer, from one to the other, every day for 13 days. Once you have transferred out the fish you let the other one completely dry out to eradicate the parasites. On day 13 you can transfer to an established quarantine aquarium for a further 14 days for verification.
Ammonia levels are not a problem over a short period of just 1 to 3 days between transfers. To avoid shock upon a transfer systems should be exactly the same setup and original source water to have the same water parameters. You can also incorporate a quick 1 to 3 minute freshwater dip between transfers that most fish can tolerate.
- Day 1 - Place your fish in the first transfer aquarium
- Day 2 - 13 - After the first day transfer your fish from the first to the second transfer aquarium. Transfer them over in a small container with just enough water for them to be submersed under or if you have to with a net. At each transfer transmission become less likely and by the fifth transfer the fish should Cryptocaryon (Ich) and Amyloodinium (Velvet) free after 13 days. There is a very small chance of transfer of a Tomont or Protomont in this process (with the water and on the fish of course) yet not to worry that's why you have a series of transfers and the parasite will be left behind.
- Day 14 - Transfer to the display aquarium.
Or Ideally Day 14 - 29 Transfer to the quarantine aquarium to verify and possibly treat for anything that arises.
- Day 30 - Transfer to the display aquarium.
There is the unproven theory out there that Cryptocaryon is capable of aerosolization and can pass from one aquarium to the next on tiny droplets. Until we know more it would be advisable to avoid air pumps, to use top lids and perhaps to have a barrier between each transfer aquarium (this according to Jay Hemdal 2016 and Miller, 2016). http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aerosol-transmission.190292/ .
Popular Quarantine Options to Incorporate
- Treat with Nitrofurazone, for bacteria using API's FURAN-2 https://apifishcare.com/product/furan-2
- Treat with Prazipro https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tank...i/prazipro-praziquantel-treatment-hikari.html for worms on day 3 and for 24 hours on day 13 (Humblefish, 2016). Although it’s known that this does not work 100% of the time for flukes, (Hemdal, 2016). http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tank-transfer-method.192655/, or use API's GeneralCure https://apifishcare.com/product/general-cure
- Hyposality Method
Also see Humble.fish's similar Transfer Method for Velvet!
https://humble.fish/ttm-for-velvet/
Discuss this Article Here
References
- Bartelme, D. Terry. “Aquarium Fish: News From The Warfront With Cryptocaryon Irritans, Part Two Of Five” Advanced Aquarist, December, 2003. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/12/mini
- Bartelme, D. Terry. “Feature Article: Identifying Parasitic Diseases in Marine Aquarium Fish - A Hobbyist’s Guide to Identifying Some Common Marine Aquarium Parasites” Advanced Aquarist October, 2007. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/10/aafeature1
- Colorni, “Three Day Transfer Method” ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site, 1985, 2008. http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/3daytransfer.html
- Colorni, A. & Burgess, P.J. “Cryptocaryon irritans Brown 1951, the Cause of White Spot Disease in Marine Fish: an Update.” Aquarium Sciences and Conservation, 1997.
- Hemdal, Jay. Christie, Barret “Cryptocaryon and Quarantine Methods” email communication, 2016.
- Hemdal, Jay. “Aquarium Fish: Chloroquine: A "New" Drug for Treating Fish Diseases” 2013. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/2/fish
- Miller, Bobby., “Tank Transfer Method” REEF2REEF, 2016. http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/tank-transfer-method.192655/
- Miller, Bobby., “TANK TERROR: Identifying And Treating Marine Velvet” REEF2REEF, 2015. http://reef2reef.com/ams/tank-terror-identifying-and-treating-marine-velvet.26/
- Leebca, “A Hyposalinity Treatment Process” Reef Sanctuary, 2007. http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/a-hyposalinity-treatment-process.23131/
- Lowry, Toby. D.V.M., “Short Take: Quarantine of Marine Fish (Teleost) Using Hyposalinity” Advanced Aquarist, November 2004. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/11/short
- “Marine Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum)” Ultimate Reef, 2007. http://www.ultimatereef.com/articles/marinevelvet/
