Dee
Wed Aug 03, 2005, 03:59 PM
Hi All,
Well it has been about 3 or so weeks since I treated for a Velvet out break I had with my Discus. In the end I ended up visiting Dr Rob Jones at Dandenong Vet Clinic with one of my worst effected fish. He took gill snips and a skin scraping and diagnosed Piscinoodinium - Velvet, he then sent the samples off to a pathologist for confirmation. Although when I got the pathology results back no parasites where found only gill damage was detected, which was consistant with a Velvet infection. Dr Jones told me no parasites where found in the sample due to the time it took for the results to come in (3 weeks) :roll: and the fact the samples where sent in a Formulin solution nuking the parasites.
Anyway in the 3 weeks that i waited for the results to come in, I lost 3 fish (these 3 where pretty ill by that stage) :cry: even though I had blacked out the tank and had begun using salt at 200g's per 100L. I then bought a comprehensive book on fish diseases and their respective treatments. In that book it stated you could use Metronidazole against Velvet, using a high dosage for 5 days. I did the 5 day Metro treatment and I am very happy to say that my 10 remaining fish are now all eating and growing very well again.
What I learnt from this expereince is that it is important to know what parasite or disease it is your dealing with. When my fish first started showing symptoms ... ie: flashing, scratching, coughing and being very skittish (Velvet has pretty much the same symptoms as flukes) ... I thought it was flukes and treated with prazi twice with no result. If I had just taken a fish for a biopsy in the first place I would more than likely not have lost fish. The time I waited (2 or so weeks) and treating with the wrong meds cost me 3 fish. My own fault ... lesson learnt !
In the future I would not hesitate to take a fish for a biopsy ... this process is stressfull on the fish but will in no way kill it ... discus are very hardy little fish from what I have seen. Infact the fish that I took to Dr. Jones for the biopsy is now eating like a pig and picking on the bigger fish in the tank.
Sorry for such a long winded post, but hopefully this will help others if they ever come across Velvet.
I would like to thank Merrilyn for all her time and help with my fish, it is very much appreciated :) :) :) I would also like to thank Rod Lewis and Andrew Soh for taking the time to offer their advice and opinions ... thanks guys :) :) :)
For anyone in Melbourne I can highly recomend Dr Rob Jones at Dandenong Vet Clinic. He knows his fish and their ailments .. he's the vet for Melbourne Aquarium. His contact details are listed in the Fish Friendly Vets post that is posted here in the illness section of the forum.
Time to kick back and enjoy some healthy fish again :D
Cheers,
Dee :)
Well it has been about 3 or so weeks since I treated for a Velvet out break I had with my Discus. In the end I ended up visiting Dr Rob Jones at Dandenong Vet Clinic with one of my worst effected fish. He took gill snips and a skin scraping and diagnosed Piscinoodinium - Velvet, he then sent the samples off to a pathologist for confirmation. Although when I got the pathology results back no parasites where found only gill damage was detected, which was consistant with a Velvet infection. Dr Jones told me no parasites where found in the sample due to the time it took for the results to come in (3 weeks) :roll: and the fact the samples where sent in a Formulin solution nuking the parasites.
Anyway in the 3 weeks that i waited for the results to come in, I lost 3 fish (these 3 where pretty ill by that stage) :cry: even though I had blacked out the tank and had begun using salt at 200g's per 100L. I then bought a comprehensive book on fish diseases and their respective treatments. In that book it stated you could use Metronidazole against Velvet, using a high dosage for 5 days. I did the 5 day Metro treatment and I am very happy to say that my 10 remaining fish are now all eating and growing very well again.
What I learnt from this expereince is that it is important to know what parasite or disease it is your dealing with. When my fish first started showing symptoms ... ie: flashing, scratching, coughing and being very skittish (Velvet has pretty much the same symptoms as flukes) ... I thought it was flukes and treated with prazi twice with no result. If I had just taken a fish for a biopsy in the first place I would more than likely not have lost fish. The time I waited (2 or so weeks) and treating with the wrong meds cost me 3 fish. My own fault ... lesson learnt !
In the future I would not hesitate to take a fish for a biopsy ... this process is stressfull on the fish but will in no way kill it ... discus are very hardy little fish from what I have seen. Infact the fish that I took to Dr. Jones for the biopsy is now eating like a pig and picking on the bigger fish in the tank.
Sorry for such a long winded post, but hopefully this will help others if they ever come across Velvet.
I would like to thank Merrilyn for all her time and help with my fish, it is very much appreciated :) :) :) I would also like to thank Rod Lewis and Andrew Soh for taking the time to offer their advice and opinions ... thanks guys :) :) :)
For anyone in Melbourne I can highly recomend Dr Rob Jones at Dandenong Vet Clinic. He knows his fish and their ailments .. he's the vet for Melbourne Aquarium. His contact details are listed in the Fish Friendly Vets post that is posted here in the illness section of the forum.
Time to kick back and enjoy some healthy fish again :D
Cheers,
Dee :)