Arrrrg.....velvet

[angelcraze]

Okay, so it's confirmed, I failed to disinfect my new plants and now I have velvet in a 46g planted tank.  I have removed 5 platies (these are all the fish in that tank) and put them in a blacked out hospital tank with salt.  I have no idea if this will kill the parasite completely, and I still have to deal with the fishless, planted tank with snails and cherry shrimp.  I have no idea what to do.  Info is hard to find for this situation.

I don't want to lose all my expensive plants, but I don't want to kill my snails and shrimp either.

I'm not sure of the best way to treat my platies in the hospital tank.
additional info: 17g hospital tank, temp=85, 250ml of aquarium salt

I am very discouraged..........

Help!!!   Please!!!!!!!!

[blueknight0303]

if only we have access on anthelmintic meds in canada.. this wouldnt be a problem.

[Dan]

I am not an expert. All I can tell you is what I did and what worked for me (i.e. this is my disclaimer  )

I am not sure about Velvet but I did this for another parasitical infection last year. Once the "infected tank" has no more fish left in it (moved to hospital), leave the tank without any fish for a few days (I did 21 days), the parasites will not have any hosts to breed on and they will die off. You can then reintroduce the fish if they are cured. From my readings: Increasing the temperature of the water in the "empty tank" during this process will increase the speed of the reproductive cycle of the parasites and cause them to die off more quickly. I was also doing daily 25% water changes during this period.

However, I have used PraziPro by Health Aid in a heavily planted tank and it did not adversely affect my plants. From everything I have read on it, it's very gentle.  I had a crayfish in the tank and it was OK also. I had no snails at the time but I am looking a my PraziPro bottle now and it says that it's only unsafe were

"saltwater flatworm of the Polycladida order are being cultured and when used where feather duster worms or delicate worm-type relatives are kept"

. Nothing about freshwater invertebrate. The product worked great for me. I also found a few posts saying that it works on velvet.

[angelcraze]

Thank you Dan, I appreciate you sharing your experience.  I know nothing about velvet really, and haven't had to deal with an illness at all in a long time, especially not an infectious one.  I messed up and must have stressed my fish when fluctuations in temp occurred in my tank due to the cold fluctuating temps outside shortly after I moved them there.  I was stuck on what to do because I read velvet can photosynthesize, and survive in a dormant state without a host using this method, so the suggestion of using PraziPro really helps for my "empty" planted tank, thanks.  I will definitely research this route, as I haven't been able to find a single med I can use in planted tanks with invertebrates so far against velvet.

From what I read too, you are right to say that the parasite's life cycle will speed up at higher temps, and I have increased the "empty tank" to 82F and the hospital tank to 85F.  I don't mind leaving the 'empty" tank well, empty, for a while, but boosting the chances of killing the parasite so it cannot sustain life through photosynthesis with PraziPro reassures me.

I was also doing daily 25% water changes during this period.................The product worked great for me. I also found a few posts saying that it works on velvet.

This is a good suggestion, Thanks.

Lesson learned the hard way   I had never worried about disinfecting my plants before, (I am so careful about quarantining fish) I didn't realize that 'evil' can be introduced to the aquarium through plants also, but I guess it would, since a contaminated droplet can infect another tank, let alone nets, siphons etc...NEVER again.

[blueknight0303]

i know one thats 100% safe for plants except for snails and shrimps... 99% flubendazole A.K.A. dog dewormer... you can only buy them in U.S...  you can buy it here but you are going to need a prescription from a vet. where are the fish vets when you need them. 

[angelcraze]

says it's praziquantel???

http://uskoi.com/prazipro

I still don't know if it's ok with freshwater inverts, or if it will kill velvet, but I am looking...........

where are the fish vets when you need them. 

LOL.. ya seriously, I keep reading to bring them to the vet??

[Shawn84]

you can give Levamisole HCl a try. its a de-wormer also

[Cbellehumeur]

I had velvet as well but i tried to rush the cycle and kept an empty tank (no fish) for 30 days. It's recommend 60 days for life cycle. My fish got it again when i put them back in. so i did it right and waited 60 days and i've been a year without it now! Just keep the plants snails etc...in the tank with no fish for 60 days. Very important!!!! make sure not to get any water for you hospital to your planted when transfering your fish back in.

[angelcraze]

I looked into the de-wormers, but it looks like velvet is distantly related more to ich;  "Ich's evil cousin".  When I looked into PraziPro, it would be the safest med to use in the plant tank, but it works hand in hand with "ich-x" for velvet.  It seems velvet disease is not so common around here.  When I went shopping for meds, everyone seemed surprised about the outbreak. 

I decided to try ich-x for the platies in the hospital tank.  I will report the effectiveness.

i did it right and waited 60 days and i've been a year without it now! Just keep the plants snails etc...in the tank with no fish for 60 days. Very important!!!

Thank you so much for the info, letting me know about your bout with velvet really helps.  I would rather not medicate my planted tank, so this is perfect, I absolutely can keep the tank fishless for a complete 60 days.  I appreciate you sharing what worked for you (and what didn't).

I will try this, and update as it goes, to help anyone else, even though I hope this never happens to anyone!!!!!!

[blueknight0303]

you can give Levamisole HCl a try. its a de-wormer also

or that! works like a charm! it also works against snails if you have an infestation.

[angelcraze]

you can give Levamisole HCl a try. its a de-wormer also

or that! works like a charm! it also works against snails if you have an infestation.

Worked like a charm for which??  Parasite?  I don't know if it works so good against velvet since it's distantly related to ich.  Does anyone more familiar with this med know more about this?

I know... and the fact that i have an active quarantine tank! do you still have spare levamisole shawn?

Yes I still have the those stuff. But im sure you don`t need it since its ick. Get some Kordon and your set to go.

Maybe Kordon is better?

For now, I am using ich-x for the hospital tank, I will report back with the results.  So far all my platies are ok, they even had babies in the hospital tank, wow..............I sucked some out during a w/c and treatment., they were swimming around in the bucket.

[angelcraze]

I am a horrible doctor.   I used ich-x for 10 days and called the hikari hotline.  They told me I was under-medicating and I continued to treat for 4 more days with 3x as much meds (suggested by the hotline)  Maybe this was right, but 2 platys have died since then.  I can't find the mini platy, and I haven't seen the fry in a week.  I am diluting and removing all the meds today, just keeping salt.  Here's hoping the velvet is gone, but I think I might only have two platys left. 

[angelcraze]

Thank you all for your input.  So, here's the update as promised.  I have lost all my platys, one by one each day after increasing the meds.  Very disappointing.  After losing the first one, I removed the meds, but I guess it was too late.  I did however manage to salvage one survivor.  It is confirmed that he is velvet-free.  I have continued to use salt, and I will be slowly diluting this out.

The main tank with plants will be fish free with just inverts for at least 60 days.

Conclusion:  Ich-x for velvet for 7-10 days at 85F.  Do not take the hotline's advice and DO NOT over-medicate.