Marine Velvet

[Susan Edwards]

@Robin Haselden that is what I'm going to try although will blackout harm the corals? Those that I can might get moved to display refugium while I deal with main tank Then I'll deal with the refugium same way. Rocks I pull out will get separate peroxide soak or dip. Airstones good enough for flow?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

3 days will not kill your coals.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Robin Haselden thanks. My corals are doing so well!

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Humblefish I have the Rally product which says it is reef safe. Can that be used in the main tank during the fallow time to be sure?

I also have a temp qt set up with about 4 gal of water (out of 10 with one scooter blenny so far--trouble catching the others) for doing the rally's bath. How much do I use or do I follow the directions on the bottle and let them stay in there the 60-90 minutes or is it a stronger bath..

Also, as these four seem to have survived the current outbreak, should I add half the coppersafe to the qt tank and add the other half 24 hrs later? Can I skip the Rally's as they don't seem to show any signs?

 

[Humblefish]

@Humblefish I have the Rally product which says it is reef safe. Can that be used in the main tank during the fallow time to be sure?

I wouldn't use it in the DT, as Rally provides temporary relief for the fish but would provide no benefit to a fallow DT. It also turns the water a nuclear green color.

I also have a temp qt set up with about 4 gal of water (out of 10 with one scooter blenny so far--trouble catching the others) for doing the rally's bath. How much do I use or do I follow the directions on the bottle and let them stay in there the 60-90 minutes or is it a stronger bath..

2/3 teaspoon - 1 teaspoon per gallon, for 90 minutes. No harm will come from using the higher 1 tsp dosage..

Also, as these four seem to have survived the current outbreak, should I add half the coppersafe to the qt tank and add the other half 24 hrs later? Can I skip the Rally's as they don't seem to show any signs?

Yes, that is fine. But test it after the second dose, as you will probably need to add more to reach 1.5 - 2.0 ppm.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Humblefish thanks for the reply. You've been so much help. Yuck on the green color. Plain fallow. Will add half the coppersafe before I add the fish, add next dose day after and test.

No luck or time to tear rocks apart today. Tomorrow those last three will be snatched... Assuming I do not need to acclimate if temp is same? or should I?

Assuming I follow the directions on the mardel coppersafe but split into two doses. 1 mil per gal. 20 gal tank. Prob. 19 gal with some sand and pipes and a large "townhouse" decoration. So that is 25 mil total for 20 gal or around 23 for 19 gal

 

[Humblefish]

Assuming I do not need to acclimate if temp is same? or should I

No need to acclimate if temp & SG are the same.

 

[aykwm]

^^ Agree

Dont use rally on fallow tank, it won't work on the cysts, also it will change the color messing up the photosynthetic light available, I dont believe it's reef safe if used more than 2 weeks because the color change will stress and mess up the corals. I did use it before and then SPS started bleaching after 2 weeks, so I removed it, but it works great in providing relief from velvet (although not cure unfortunately) so definitely do it as a bath on fish.

When doing a bath I recommend to provide plenty of aeration, as it will deplete oxygen. You can skip rally if the fish is not heavily infested with velvet, but always make sure to monitor them closely, sometimes it might be heavily infested but shows no signs except for rapid breathing (especially if it has thick coat like wrasse or clown...), if thats the case then do a bath. Velvet will suffocate the fish by infecting the gills and and slowly blocking it until the fish suffocates. But since they already survived the outbreak then they should be fine for another few days until the next life cycle, hopefully by then they will be in copper.

For the half dosage, halving the dosage mentioned on the bottle should be fine, but make sure to use the test kit for the final full dosage, as some variation might occur especially that you are using sand which might absorb some.

Also, I suggest to remove the decoration if you don't know from what it is made from, PVC will do fine for providing hiding spots. Decoration might absorb copper, leach chemicals during treatment, ...


Best of luck, and keep us updated

 

[Susan Edwards]

@aykwm <<Also, I suggest to remove the decoration if you don't know from what it is made from, PVC will do fine for providing hiding spots. Decoration might absorb copper, leach chemicals during treatment, ...>>

Petsmart said it was safe for saltwater. Should I not believe them?

 

[aykwm]

The problem is you dont know what it will do with medication. Usually decorations are fine, but in some cases they are not, so better safe than sorry.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I agree with @aykwm. If it's porous then it could absorb copper. It might be saltwater safe but we don't know if it's medication safe.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Robin Haselden @aykwm gotcha. Will remove for the 30 days of copper treatment and add in after meds while I'm waiting on tanks to fallow. Will use superglue to built pvc pipe condos.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Zip ties work. All my fish are hanging out in the corner tho.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Robin Haselden Even better. My task first thing in AM. I know hubby has some in garage!

 

[Maritimer]

Petsmart said it was safe for saltwater. Should I not believe them?

Pretty much never believing Petsmart or Petco is your safest bet. Some stores have folks who really know their stuff working in the fish department, others have folks who are just there to get paid at minimum wage.

~Bruce

 

[jeff190]

Using purigen, rox carbon, gfo, is much more effective in reactors. Also canister filter on sw tank is a nitrate factory.

 

[drawman]

Susan you've had some great advice here I wish you well! Keep up the fight I know tearing down the display is a huge pain but in the end the peace of mind is more than worth it. Going forward you will quarantine every new fish from this experience

A few things:
1. You may want to pick up an ammonia alert badge. That way you won't have to guess on how your biological filter is performing.

2. Use a colander to transfer fish instead of a net. It may not work for the initial catch (unless you drain most of the tank) but will be very helpful when transferring from FW dip to acriflavine bath to QT. I pick mine up at a local dollar store and they have a nice handle on them.

3. Use as little sand as you need. You can place it in a cheap tupperware container so it doesn't get everywhere and you can remove it when needed. Sand may absorb some of the copper so testing daily is probably even more important.

Velvet is not fun but gaining the tools to treat it makes this hobby so less daunting.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Maritimer no reactors yet. Not even sure how to plumb them into an all in one tank with sump in rear. In line with a chiller? I do use purigen and phosguard and carbon in built in sump. I added a canister filter to the display refugium to use until the two tanks get plumbed together. I have rubble rock, carbon, purigen and floss. When tanks are plumbed as one, figured I'd use it just for rubble rock and a place for copepods. I was given a chiller that if I can fix, I might use the canister with only some rubble rock and maybe some floss to catch debris to hook the chiller up. I also ordered a 30 gal size for a temp filtration of the 20 gal qt as it will be over loaded with fish--7 fish. I set up one for a ten gal tank last night and I don't think it would be suffienct for a 5 gal tank! Returning it. Love amazon... New one will arrive today

@drawman Yes, great advice and I hope others benefit from it as well. I will qt every fish, snail, shrimp, coral, etc.... I have an Am badge if still good. I didn't find that it was very good, until at high numbers but will add it or buy another. I'll also be testing every day! I'll look into the colander idea and yeah, not much sand and will test copper daily as well. My attitude is this is a reset and redo of what I found didn't work so well. Good thing most of the corals aren't epoxied down yet.

I laugh at the gaining of tools as that is a nice way of saying bleeding out more money <g> but you are right. Necessity has pushed me into a good qt system.

Because the remaining fish, including the damsels in other tank are not showing any signs of velvet, I'll skip the stress of the freshwater bath, do a rallys dip then into the main qt

 

[SashimiTurtle]

@Susan Edwards, check snd see if inTank makes a media basket for your RSM250. I have one in my IM Fusion 14 and it's loaded with filter floss, Purigen and Chemipure Elite. Nutrients are undetectable. Check out my build thread there's photos in there.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/turtles-14g-sps-nano-build.306603/

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Robin Haselden I went back and recked your thread. Nice basket. I have a rather flimsy one made of plastic so will see if there is a nicer one available. Right now I have ceramic rings (thinking I should have enough bio built up and don't need anymore), carbon, purigen and phosguard in mine. Might add the filter floss when I next change out media