Marine velvet

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Bazza7

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jun 16, 2013
Messages
70
Hi all. I'm new to this site and also new to this marine keeping game. Just need advice. My water parameters are 0 nitrate and ammonia. Ph is around 7.5. I have uv steriliser. Water at 1.025 salinity and a kh of about 13. 90 gallon tank and I can't get my fish to survive. I have had some that have survived the outbreak but all my new fish seem to last about a week. Except for my Achilles tang who died of hunger Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi all. I'm new to this site and also new to this marine keeping game. Just need advice. My water parameters are 0 nitrate and ammonia. Ph is around 7.5. I have uv steriliser. Water at 1.025 salinity and a kh of about 13. 90 gallon tank and I can't get my fish to survive. I have had some that have survived the outbreak but all my new fish seem to last about a week. Except for my Achilles tang who died of hunger Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Okay, let's start with water parameters and acclimation procedures.

What kind of water do you make your saltwater from?

Are you sure on the parameters? Kh is pretty high for such a low Ph.

How do you acclimate and what do you feed?

Why do you think it's MV?
 
Last edited:
I use ro water and I feed mainly mysis frozen shrimp and algae pellets.
 
Small specks on fish and die within days . Stop feeding then next day dead
 
Okay. Curious as to how Kh got so high. Do you add buffer? Or anything else? Is top open for good gas exchange? Is there a sump?

Sorry for all the questions. If you have MV, then there is a prescribed method you need to go thru that requires quarantine of the fish in copper. About the only sure treatment for MV.
 
Small sand like spots appear one day. Then they stop feeding then dead the next. Very swift and brutal
 
Yes large sump. I added buffer to get kh up as stockist said kh of 9 was too low so I upped it. And ph is probably nearer 8
 
Top is not open. Lidded but air escape in glass corners
 
We need to be sure stress or water quality isn't lowering the fishes immune system, opening them up to parasites. Your UV unit, if working, should be eliminating free swimming parasites, but that's all it can catch.

I suggest some water changes to get the water chemistry on track. If the fish have Ich, then a dip might help, but most of the time they need copper treatment. MV is seen with rapid breathing first as gills are affected. Others on the forum may have additional suggestions, we have all dealt with it.

Kh of 9 is about right. Mine runs from 8-10. You're a bit high. Stop the buffers. Make some water changes.
 
Last edited:
I quarantined my fish a few months ago for 36 days. Treated them with copper then put them back. All was fine until I added more fish (1 at a time). Also my corals only ever seem to be half ok. So hard to get things right.
 
Will get the kh down and do the changes. Many thanks.
 
It takes time and lots of patience. That's why it's worth doing.

Fish get sick because of a combination of two things; environmental stress that crashes the fishes immune system, which is their slime coating and the existence of parasites. Obviously, in the ocean they are constantly exposed, but their slime coat protects them. Tangs have very thin slime coats, so stress will get them exposed first.

So it's the basics that matter, water quality and a low stress environment. Good feeding habits also decrease stress.


As to corals, again it's water quality along with flow and lighting.
 
Following...hoping for a happy ending...

I had MV and am finally going to leave my DT fallow and treat my surviving Chromis in a QT. I'm going to try Marex (by Aquatronics). Read that it works like copper, but is not as finicky with levels. Found it on eBay (apparently it is difficult to find). Never used it, so we will see...
 
That stuff has been around a long time.

Yeah, just never tried it before. I think its something slightly different than copper, but I think less time treating and supposed to work as well or better. Just trying something new....we'll see how it goes...
 
I'll look up that treatment. I presume it's reef safe?
 
I'm going to read up on it more. I'm not sure that it is reef safe. I'm using it in QT, so I'm not so worried about that. I like that its not copper, so apparently not as harsh on the fish and does not stay in the tank forever like copper does.
 
Back
Top Bottom