I previously wrote about upcoming changes to our reef, the glassbox, but what has occurred over the past couple weeks was never on the radar. An outbreak of Amyloodinium ocellatum, known as velvet or marine velvet, nearly took the lives of all our fish–and still may from secondary infections, but some how things are looking positive. A few [...]
I previously wrote about upcoming changes to our reef, the glassbox, but what has occurred over the past couple weeks was never on the radar. An outbreak of Amyloodinium ocellatum, known as velvet or marine velvet, nearly took the lives of all our fish–and still may from secondary infections, but some how things are looking positive.
A few weeks back we purchased two new butterflyfish (C. collare & C. xanthocephalus). The order was supposed to be pushed back by 1 week, but a mix-up happened and was shipped out that morning. I requested the order to be pushed back because that weekend a fitting on our RODI units broke, leaving me with no freshwater reserves for top off or acclimation.
Regrettably the fish arrived, but in sub-par condition with obvious large lymphocystis growths. I mistakenly took the gamble of adding them direct to the display. In hindsight, borrowing an RODI unit from a friend to set up a quick QT, would have been the correct move…
Chaetodon collare with Lymphocystis and early “signs” of white dots
The new fish settled in well and ate with vigor on the second day. Beyond the lymphocystis growths all appeared well, only that later that evening I realized that lymphcystis was not the only thing these fish were harboring– small white dots on the body appeared to be Cryptocaryon irritans, known as ich or “cryp”. I was a bit upset at the time, but it was nothing alarming. So be it, I will have a reef that has ich.
The other fish in the system were extremely healthy. Some garlic, selcon and metronidazole mixed in with hefty feedings was my initial plan of action. It’s very common for certain fish to show signs of ich (e.g. Achilles Tangs). I am of the belief that ich free systems can be achieved, but fish can live just fine with cryptocaryon if in a healthy and stress free environment.
A few days later I noticed the Roaops Hybrid had some dots. I muttered some curses under my breath and began feeding even heavier with garlic along with daily waterchanges. I doubt garlic does anything (correlation is not causation), but it makes us feel better as caretakers.
At this point the dots were dispersed and on the fins of the Hybrid, appearing to me as a classic case of “Cryp”. They left the fish in 4-5 days, fitting of marine ich’s lifecycle. I knew the mini-battle was not over, but there was a part of me that was happy to see no more “white dots”. At this point Ich goes into its protomont stage, it leaves the fish host and travels to the substrate were it subsequently encysts and becomes a tomont. While in cyst form the parastite multiplies rapidly to then hatch, swim in the water column (called theronts) and then re-infect the fish starting the process all over. (Velvet takes a similar route, but as a dinoflagellate it can live significantly longer without a fish host.) For both the parasite it’s an extremely effective strategy, but the bane of aquarists all over the world. Some fish develop immunity to Ich and velvet, but I was not so lucky. Sure enough the dots came back.
At this point only the Roaops hybrid showed any signs. Breathing was not labored, and all fish appeared normal. Over the next few days the hybrid had increases and decreases in the number of dots (5-20). I considered taking the fish out for QT, but without letting the tank go fallow for 8+ weeks it would have only been re-infected by what I still thought was ich. I made the decision to wait it out. Five “ich” dots was nothing to fret about, but on a fish that I prize I was not at ease.
I woke up the next day, Saturday, to find an explosion. The hybrid now had 1 “dot” for every half inch and it had spread to the Declivis. Was this now a severe case of ich or velvet? It still did not appear to be velvet as the dots seemed much too large, but the number of them had me concerned. To be on the safe side, I immediately began aerating a bucket of freshwater, adding baking soda and a heater for proper temperature and pH matching. I left the house for a couple hours, by the time I got home the dots had rapidly increased as did the fishes’ slime production and breathing rates. Damnit, it’s velvet. Typically when velvet reaches this point the fish are too far gone to recover; the infestation of the gills is too far advanced. The fish get a light dusting over the entire body, creating a sickly velvet appearance. I loathed in self-pity for a second as I realized I was about to lose my two favorite fish and then kicked my self into gear for a freshwater bath.
