sobersteve323
Aquarium Advice Freak
I'm looking for advice from those that have had success treating velvet.
I've been treating for it with CopperSafe for 3 months and while I haven't lost a fish since the second week of treatment, it seems like I'm not really making any new progress. After many hours google searching it appears that the most recommended treatments are copper based. Seeing how most information indicates the infestation should have been eradicated after a few weeks I'd like to see if there is a better treatment out there that people have had success with.
Even though I'm certain it's velvet, I know that a lot of fish diseases are misdiagnosed so I'm open to suggestions (even though the symptoms are spot on and my fish look like the fish in picture results).
Here are the symptoms my fish display:
Occasional flashing (maybe once a week; frequently when I first started treatment), inflamed gills and redness, brown dusting over heads and back, gold dusting around gills and base of fins when flashlight is shined at an angle, and some apparently peeling skin on the worst of the infected cories. They're not nearly as bad as the "worst" cases and pictures I've seen on the internet, but I know they can't be comfortable. Everyone still has a voracious appetite and no one is laboring for oxygen at the surface so it appears I'm just maintaining a "liveable" level of infection!
Treatment: Tank temp raised to 86 degress to speed up life cycle. Coppersafe dosed and checked with API liquid copper test kit maintained at 2(ppm?). I do a 50% water change weekly and redose back to the correct ammount. I had originally tried a blackout for a week at the start of treatment but that didn't appear to do anything (and most websites seem to now say it's not necessary? Oh well, it's the internet lol).
Any advice from those of you who have beat velvet is greatly appreciated! I don't feel like buying another economy sized bottle of CopperSafe! Oh and I have cories so I can't do a salt treatment (but some sites say velvet is more salt tolerant than say ich... figures).
I've been treating for it with CopperSafe for 3 months and while I haven't lost a fish since the second week of treatment, it seems like I'm not really making any new progress. After many hours google searching it appears that the most recommended treatments are copper based. Seeing how most information indicates the infestation should have been eradicated after a few weeks I'd like to see if there is a better treatment out there that people have had success with.
Even though I'm certain it's velvet, I know that a lot of fish diseases are misdiagnosed so I'm open to suggestions (even though the symptoms are spot on and my fish look like the fish in picture results).
Here are the symptoms my fish display:
Occasional flashing (maybe once a week; frequently when I first started treatment), inflamed gills and redness, brown dusting over heads and back, gold dusting around gills and base of fins when flashlight is shined at an angle, and some apparently peeling skin on the worst of the infected cories. They're not nearly as bad as the "worst" cases and pictures I've seen on the internet, but I know they can't be comfortable. Everyone still has a voracious appetite and no one is laboring for oxygen at the surface so it appears I'm just maintaining a "liveable" level of infection!
Treatment: Tank temp raised to 86 degress to speed up life cycle. Coppersafe dosed and checked with API liquid copper test kit maintained at 2(ppm?). I do a 50% water change weekly and redose back to the correct ammount. I had originally tried a blackout for a week at the start of treatment but that didn't appear to do anything (and most websites seem to now say it's not necessary? Oh well, it's the internet lol).
Any advice from those of you who have beat velvet is greatly appreciated! I don't feel like buying another economy sized bottle of CopperSafe! Oh and I have cories so I can't do a salt treatment (but some sites say velvet is more salt tolerant than say ich... figures).
