Velvet

[reef_junkie]

I'm losing all of my fish, how long after everything is dead does the tank need to be fishless? It is a reef and if I have to shut it down this is it for me in the hobby.

 

[melypr1985]

If you still have living fish, why not treat them in a QT and try to save them? Humblefish has a protocol for velvet that works pretty darn well. To answer your question, if it's really velvet then the fallow period is 6 weeks with 76 days to cover every parasite including ich.

Salvage protocol : https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/alprazos-salvage-protocol.213599/
Velvet: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/

 

[reef_junkie]

Ive been attempting treatment and it kills them within 8 hours.

76 days? What exactly is fallow?

 

[reef_junkie]

I'm not doing that. I'll be taking this tank down before I do that.

 

[melypr1985]

Ive been attempting treatment and it kills them within 8 hours.

76 days? What exactly is fallow?

What treatments have you done?
Fallow is simply leaving the tank running without fish for the allotted time which starves out the parasite in question leaving your tank parasite free.

 

[joshkirkland83]

Ive been attempting treatment and it kills them within 8 hours.

76 days? What exactly is fallow?

No fish in the display tank is fallow.

 

[reef_junkie]

Cupramine and this is severely disheartening

 

[melypr1985]

I'm not doing that. I'll be taking this tank down before I do that.

You would tear down the tank instead of enjoying the corals and inverts for a couple months to get a clean slate? Thats your choice, but not one I understand to be honest. Anyway, I hope we can help you not do that and maybe save some of your remaining fish. What treatments have you tried and do you have pictures of your remaining fish?

 

[reef_junkie]

I had an alk crash last year. I'm not going to keep repeating this yearly disaster and waste hard earned money.

 

[melypr1985]

Cupramine and this is severely disheartening

We are posting on top of each other! Sorry about that..... So the fish are in a QT and your using cupramine? What concentration have you kept it at and for how long? Has it been weeks of fish dying in the copper? Or just one fish at a time? Please give me a little more info so I can help better.

 

[reef_junkie]

Thank you for the quick responses.

 

[joshkirkland83]

If reef keepin was easy my friend, everyone would have a reef tank.

 

[4FordFamily]

It's hard and some lessons are learned the hard way. The key is to keep at it and learn from them going forward

 

[Humblefish]

If reef keepin was easy my friend, everyone would have a reef tank.

^^This. In this hobby, you can either take your licks and keep on ticking. Or walk away in defeat. I've killed probably hundreds of fish/corals due to my own ignorance or negligence. And for the longest time I thought that's just the way it is. There was a time I even thought about quitting. But then I figured out it's better to learn from my mistakes than to just keep repeating them and being bitter with myself over them.

Nowadays I make sure every mistake I make is a lesson learned. @reef_junkie my advice to you is to make this a learning experience and use it as an opportunity to sharpen your skills. Save the fish you can and learn how to utilize proper QT moving forward so you can restock.

 

[reef_junkie]

I feel that I've done the proper way and due to some unforseen variable im just unsuccessful at keeping fish. Coral is easy, all of my pieces grow well, color up. It's fish.

My qt experience is this:

Cycle qt tank with hob filter (rubble, carbon pad) until stable and fish safe

Add fish

Feed every other day with subsequent water change of 30% to vacuum un eaten food

Check ammonia and nitrates levels on opposite feeding days.
Haven't found any yet.

Repeat this for 4 weeks or more until all fish are dead.


This is how it goes everytime I qt. And before someone asks it has not been with the same tank. I have bought new tanks so the possibility of heavy metal poisoning is not there.

My display is not overstocked, it's not even appropriately stocked.
150 gallons
50 gallon sump
Oversized skimmer
Tank ran, cycling (ghost feeding) for 4 months before the first chromis went in.
I intentionally took this tank slow and im just defeated.

 

[melypr1985]

Can I ask? Are you leaving the carbon pad in the filter during treatment with the copper? Using amquel or prime during this time at all?

 

[reef_junkie]

No, for any med treatment ive done the chem pads come out. The qt has always had the same water as my display. I have a 6 stage rodi and have always made my own water.

 

[melypr1985]

How about where you buy the fish? Are they all from the same source? Do you get to inspect them before purchase?

 

[reef_junkie]

A little history on me,
I've had many tanks from high tech freshwater, breeding discus,
300 gallon reef, 60 gal reef, 30 gal nem tank, etc... my last crash was last year and was an alk crash. I autopsied my methods and found that I was at fault by hand dosing and not double checking test results.

This problem has me stumped. I qt and fish die, I don't qt and fish die.

 

[Humblefish]

Are you using a permanent QT? If so, how long has it been setup?