Help with ich or velvet?

[mcarroll]

I'd wait for any more fish additions until this stops happening plus several more weeks of continuous nothing-bad-to-report.  

 

Potentially months of no-new-fish, depending.

 

In the mean time if there are still corals or cleanup crew to add, continue gradually adding to both.

[Humblefish]

12 hours ago, Nick13 said:

Well still not sure if I'm in the clear or not. Every few days I'll notice a spot or blotch on one of them but then the next day it's gone. Also I have noticed the female has flashed in the sand once or twice in the last week but still not sure if it's something I should be concerned about. She has also gone to get cleaned by my cleaner shrimp a few times. Both are eating with no issues and don't seemed to have any labored breathing. Not sure what's going on but I've been hearing to add anymore fish untill I'm 100% my is pest free. Let me know if you have any input. Tia!

I'd black molly test your DT: https://hubpages.com/animals/Keeping-Breeding-and-Raising-Saltwater-Mollies

 

In addition to having no immunity/resistance to SW diseases, it is easier to see visible symptoms of ich, velvet, flukes, etc. on a black molly.

[Nick13]

Thanks guys maybe I'll try a black molly. Is the idea that if there is something in the tank it should get it right away? 

[mcarroll]

A good test in theory, but healthy black mollies are about as rare as hens teeth.

 

In my opinion you would have to quarantine and fully condition a set of your own mollies to do the test.

 

I keep mollies in my 125.   only one of my first three survived. She got pregnant and had babies four times after the other two died. Several of the babies lived for at least a few weeks or more so that growth was noticeable, but all that one ended up getting "eaten by the tank".  I did very little to cater to them – mostly just some extra feedings with Instant Baby Brine Shrimp.   The one baby that continues to survive got very good at hiding in algae patches early on and is about an inch and a half or 2 inches long now.  ...for what it's worth.

 

If you had a nice, healthy freshwater tank and had a healthy population of mollies is in it, then I would say taking one of them and doing the saltwater test with it might be a worthy proposition.

 

On the other hand, if you have to go to the fish store to acquire a black molly then I would say forget it. It's unlikely to survive no matter what condition your tank is in, so would not be a good test.

[Nick13]

Quick update, my larger clown has been spot free for a few days now, the smaller one still has a spot that shows up here and there. I got a block Molly over the weekend and acclimated it over about 8 hours put it in the tank but it didn't make it through the night. I may try again a acclimate longer I'm not sure. The one I had seemed ok during the whole process and even once in the tank.🤔 I'm assuming if this is Brook or velvet my clowns couldn't resist it? So maybe ick? I guess I'm not sure.

[Humblefish]

2 hours ago, Nick13 said:

Quick update, my larger clown has been spot free for a few days now, the smaller one still has a spot that shows up here and there. I got a block Molly over the weekend and acclimated it over about 8 hours put it in the tank but it didn't make it through the night. I may try again a acclimate longer I'm not sure. The one I had seemed ok during the whole process and even once in the tank.🤔 I'm assuming if this is Brook or velvet my clowns couldn't resist it? So maybe ick? I guess I'm not sure.

Try acclimating a larger black molly (Sailfin or Balloon) over a 2-3 day period.

[Nick13]

7 minutes ago, Humblefish said:

Try acclimating a larger black molly (Sailfin or Balloon) over a 2-3 day period.

Can it survive in a bucket for 2-3 days or would I need to set up a tank?

[Humblefish]

2 hours ago, Nick13 said:

Can it survive in a bucket for 2-3 days or would I need to set up a tank?

Bucket is fine, just provide aeration (a bubbler) and heater.

[Nick13]

14 hours ago, Humblefish said:

Bucket is fine, just provide aeration (a bubbler) and heater.

Ok maybe I'll give that a try over the weekend.

[mcarroll]

On 6/24/2019 at 6:44 PM, Nick13 said:

Quick update, my larger clown has been spot free for a few days now, the smaller one still has a spot that shows up here and there. I got a block Molly over the weekend and acclimated it over about 8 hours put it in the tank but it didn't make it through the night. I may try again a acclimate longer I'm not sure. The one I had seemed ok during the whole process and even once in the tank.🤔 I'm assuming if this is Brook or velvet my clowns couldn't resist it? So maybe ick? I guess I'm not sure.

I don't know under what overall conditions you're doing an acclimation that long, but you'll have potential worries about oxygen, temperature and ammonia levels after that long.

 

A longer time would magnify all three concerns.

 

I didn't do that long of an acclimation on the mollies I have, for what it's worth.  Only about 20 minutes....possibly less.

 

In your case it's also likely (inferring from my experience) that the mollies were unhealthy...making it just that much harder for them to endure a long acclimation.

 

While it's specific to saltwater fish, Sustainable Aquatics has a white paper on acclimation that is very informative.  I haven't seen anything to suggest mollies are more sensitive....as a euryhaline fish (able to live in fresh, salt OR brine) they should be MUCH less sensitive if anything.   

 

Here's their white paper section: http://sustainableaquatics.com/white-papers/   Check it out!  :) 

Edited June 28, 2019 by mcarroll
typo

[Humblefish]

44 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

Here's their white paper section: http://sustainableaquatics.com/white-papers/   Check it out!  🙂

This is eye-opening to say the least, especially about cyanide still being used in the Philippines. There are many who believe that is a thing of the past. I mean, it's illegal so people mustn't do it. 🤐

[mcarroll]

1 hour ago, Humblefish said:

This is eye-opening to say the least, especially about cyanide still being used in the Philippines. There are many who believe that is a thing of the past. I mean, it's illegal so people mustn't do it. 🤐

 

Indeed!  

 

(You were reading http://www.sustainableaquatics.com/docs/Cyanide-and-the-Live-Fish-Business.pdf I think, right?)

 

This was written not toooo long ago in 2013, so it's hard to think that too much would have changed since then:

 

"Most all of the live food fish [which are 85+% of the total live fish shipments] are caught with cyanide. This is done to avoid damage and injury (especially from hooks) but especially because it is much more efficient."

 

"In the 90s much testing for cyanide was done in the Philippines, and by 1999 when the testing programs were shut down, it was estimated that cyanide usage for ornamentals had been reduced due to this program of testing to 8%. Today cyanide-use has been estimated to be over 90%. This is primarily because virtually all live food fish are caught with cyanide, and the fishers, who are also catching ornamental fish, have easy-access to cyanide."

 

Just a couple of selected quotes, both of which are elaborated upon in the "Cyanide..." article.

[Humblefish]

8 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

 

Indeed!  

 

(You were reading http://www.sustainableaquatics.com/docs/Cyanide-and-the-Live-Fish-Business.pdf I think, right?)

 

This was written not toooo long ago in 2013, so it's hard to think that too much would have changed since then:

 

"Most all of the live food fish [which are 85+% of the total live fish shipments] are caught with cyanide. This is done to avoid damage and injury (especially from hooks) but especially because it is much more efficient."

 

"In the 90s much testing for cyanide was done in the Philippines, and by 1999 when the testing programs were shut down, it was estimated that cyanide usage for ornamentals had been reduced due to this program of testing to 8%. Today cyanide-use has been estimated to be over 90%. This is primarily because virtually all live food fish are caught with cyanide, and the fishers, who are also catching ornamental fish, have easy-access to cyanide."

 

Just a couple of selected quotes, both of which are elaborated upon in the "Cyanide..." article.

Yup, that's the one. I don't know which is worse: Most all of the live food fish are caught with cyanide, or 90% of our aquarium fish are. 😧

 

This is another reason why fish from Australia are so expensive vs. fish from the Philippines. The former polices the industry, while the latter does not.

[Ortega37]

I got a reef tank with about 100g. About a month ago I got ich or velvet and wiped out my whole tank. I got a 6 line wrasse left in the tank with no signs of parasites. I know I most leave my tank with no fish for at least 75 days but I cannot get the wrasse out. My question is ; the wrasse has 0 signs of parasites, do I need to get him out in order for the parasites to disappear from the tank? 

thank you, I really appreciate any help.