Fish parasite?

[nbd13]

Hi,

i was refered to you by some people.

anyway to make a long story short about 3 weeks ago i upgraded tanks. went from a 180 to a 275. its an SPS tank.

i had

1 lineatus fairy wrasse
1 labouti fairy wrasse
1 orange back fariy wrasse
1 rhomboid fairy wrasse
1 blue sided fairy wrasse

1 foxface lo
2 ocellaris clowns.

so after i trasnfered everything over, i got a Regal Angel from an online vendor to remain nameless at this point. the regal angel was eating very well and doing quite well actually!

BUT then after a week in the tank i noticed something. i started to notice these symptoms on the regal angel,

1. saw they started to ignore food

2. started to swim around less

3. heavier breathing

4. noticed some white batches (not spots, but a cluster of them) on thier fins

5. then they would not be able to swim right (fins not working right)

6. VERY heavy breathing

7. followed by death

this then repeated itself with ALL of my fairy wrasses dying!

this all happend 2 weeks ago and lasted for 1 week.

so now all the fish i have left are 2 ocellarsis clowns and 1 foxface Lo. nothing has been added to the tank is about 7-9 days.

so after reading your articles on marine velvet and ich. i am not sure which i have ich or marine velvet.

here are my questions to you,

1. What do you think i have ich or marine velvet.

2. what should i do if anything for the 3 fish left in the tank (clowns and foxface)

3. how should i go about adding more fish? i mean how do i know it will be safe to add fish and them not contract this disease and die?

4. i am guessing i should quartine new additions from now on correct? if so i was alittle unclear is 6 weeks ideal and 4 weeks ok? so ideally i should qaurtine for 6 weeks?

thanks for your help!

Nick

[Steven Pro]

1.) I am leaning towards velvet based on your description and how quickly it spread and killed the other fishes.

2.) I would remove all to a proper quarantine tank and treat with copper, Cupramine being my favorite. After the treatment is completed, keep the fish in quarantine for an additional month to ensure the treatment was effective. This time will also allow any parasites in the display to die without a fish host.

3.) Quarantine all new additions.

4.) One month is the minimum, but longer is better.

[nbd13]

Thanks,

i will see if i can catch the other 3 fish in the tank.

why do you think these 3 havent died yet?

do you think they built up an immunity like you talked about in that article?

what happens if i cannot catch the fish. is it just a matter of time before they die?

i mean how long do i need to wait before adding any new fish (obiviously after i quartine them). i mean is a month good? or should i wait longer?

thanks again Steven.

Nick

[Steven Pro]

why do you think these 3 havent died yet? do you think they built up an immunity like you talked about in that article? I would bet they had some previous acquired immunity.
what happens if i cannot catch the fish. is it just a matter of time before they die? Maybe, but I think it is unlikely at this point. They probably would have already died by now.
i mean how long do i need to wait before adding any new fish (obiviously after i quartine them). i mean is a month good? or should i wait longer? Six weeks should be enough.

[nbd13]

ok thanks again. so to make sure i have this right and do NOT kill anymore fish.

1. i am not going to take the 3 current fish out, i will just leave them in there.

2. i should just watch and see what happens, like you said i think they will be fine, they are really eating and appear to be very healthy.

3. i will wait 6 weeks before i add ANY new fish at all.

4. the new fish will be quartined for 4-6 weeks and then be introduced into the main tank.

now does this sound right?

and this procedure will prevent the new fish from getting marine velvet. correct?

oh yeah one more thing.

when i get a new fish from a LFS (i am only buying from a LFS now after this) should i do a fresh water dip. following your advice in the article it seems very praticle and it seems that it might help some.

after the fresh water dip i would then quartine the fish for 6 weeks. during this time i will watch the fish closely and treat for whatever i see.

then introduce the fish into the main tank (with the 3 other fish that have obtained an immunity) and the new fish should NOT get marine velvet correct?

so basically the life cycle of marine velvet will eventually die off because the 3 fish in there have an immunity and the marine velvet cannot surrive right? or is this wrong?

thanks!

Nick

[Steven Pro]

I am sorry if I was unclear. While the three remaining fish may have enough immunity to protect them from death, they also may be carriers able to infect new additions which don't have similar protection. That is why I would take out the remaining fishes and treat them with copper at this point while leaving the tank fishless for 6 weeks.

Freshwater dipping fish that you buy locally on their way into a quarantine tank is a fine practice.

[nbd13]

ok. thanks.

what if i cannot get the fish out? my tank is fairly large.

so basically there is no way to cure this by just letting it sit.

i mean lets say someone does not have the opition to quartine the fish (in my case or cant get them out of the tank).

what are the opitions.

so this disease or parasite will just stay dormant (sp?) until a new fish is introduced at which point the new fish will contract the disease (marine velvet) because it will still be in my system in the 3 fish that i have in there now.

dang this really sucks.

so no matter how long i wait the marine velvet will still be in my system.

thanks.

Nick

[Steven Pro]

All I can say is, your best option is to remove the fish. As to getting them out, here are many tips and tricks which have been mentioned here on RC. A quick search should yield several promising options.

[nbd13]

thanks again.

i am thinking a fish trap would be best.

anyway thanks again.

the one thing that confuses me and maybe you could help clear this up,

this marinve velvet is a virus correct? so it goes through life stages.

so if the 3 fish in the tank have an immunity to it, wont the marine velvet eventually die off because it needs a host (fish in this case).

or am i missing something here?

thanks Steven

Nick

[Steven Pro]

No, velvet/Amyloodinium is actually a parasitic dinoflagellate, not a virus. Secondly, in the controlled studies dealing with immunity to this parasite, even the immune fish were able to have parasites attach, although the parasites never fully developed. Then there is also the factor of the level of immunity that these fish have. My gut tells me they are more than likely safe at this point, but velvet is a very nasty disease that spreads fast and kills quickly. In my opinion, it would be very much in your best interest to remove all the fish for treatment. That is by far the safest course of action. You already made an error in not quarantining the regal angel in the first place and lost most of your fish because of it. Better to get things right now.

[nbd13]

Thanks Steven i understand it now.

so basically your are thinking (or your gut) is saying that it might be alright to add new fish, BUT you would suggest quartining the 3 remaining fish just to be sure. correct?

very excellent articles BTW. really helps me understand whats going on.

thanks once again.

Nick

[Steven Pro]

Yes, if I were in your shoes, I would go through the extra trouble of removing and treating the remaining fish. Better to be safe than sorry. Good luck!

[nbd13]

Thanks Steven.

Nick

[Steven Pro]

You are welcome!