Is this velvet?

[asylumdown]

I've not added any new additions to my tank since mid January, the last being a small cleaner wrasse (my first one jumped after a year). Everyone has been happy, eating voraciously, tons of pep.

Tonight my Tennenti tang has hardly been moving at all, and won't touch the nori sheet that I put in there for it. It seems to be having slight difficulty competing with the current from my power heads, and is generally lethargic. It's also breathing (gilling I guess) about 3 times faster than normal.

I also noticed that today the cleaner wrasse has disappeared. It's not on the floor anywhere so my only assumption is that it must have died and is wedged in a rock getting eaten by a crab. Yesterday it was fat, (the thing eats like a pig), happy, energetic and showed no signs of illness.

Now that the lights are out I've given the tang a complete once over with a flash light (something it wouldn't normally stand for) and it's skin is pristine, not a scratch, mark, or spot of anything that looks like velvet or ich anywhere.

I thought velvet worked much faster than this, if the cleaner wrasse brought it in 2.5 months ago, shouldn't it have made an appearance before this? Is there anything else it could be?

Water parameters are all good, in fact the best they've ever been in terms of phosphates and nitrates. Ammonia and Nitrite are 0, as always. They only other thing I've changed recently was switching out the main pump that drives my sump yesterday and upping from a Rio HF17 to a Rio HF20.

[The Grizz]

If the cleaner brought velvet in you would have seen it already, if the tangs scales (body) is clear of spots or a milky film I would not suspect velvet.

[asylumdown]

Thanks, in the past the tang has developed crazy white patches on parts of it's face that are only really visible when the lights go out as they glow in the LED moonlights. They're about half the size of a dime when they happen; it's got really light silvery skin that shows even the tiniest scratch like a billboard though. They've always cleared up in 24 hours so I've assumed them to be scrapes from rubbing up against rockwork (it likes to wedge itself in crevices that aren't exactly large enough for it).

It's skin has been flawless for several weeks now though. Either way those don't sound like velvet either.

I'll check on it in the morning. Hopefully it will improve.

[The Grizz]

That does sound like rock rash to me, my sailfin had done that as well.

[apex82]

Just got finished with my horror of velvet... Most fish did not show any symptoms other than heavy breathing and hiding. By the time I saw some evidence on body they died the next day or so... Could just be the initial stage and its hard to tell at this point. I say watch like a fn hawk and try to find the wrasse. If they stop eating I would be very concerned. I must have had velvet in my tank for awhile before it broke out as well( same like you, no new additions for awhile) Everybody was healthy, eating like pigs, you know the story. The velvet was brought out from the stress of a mysterious poison. How long ago did you change the rio pump, was it brand new? Only reason I ask, the morning after installing new powerheads is when I woke up to all 13 fish lying on side, breathing heavy and possibly the cause of unleashing the velvet outbreak.

[asylumdown]

I stood here this morning watching the tank waiting o=for the lights to come on. The tang still isn't as spunky as normal, but at least it's reacting to my presence. Last night it had that 100 yard stare that fish seem to get before they croak. It's also nibbling at the nori clip.

As soon as the lights came on, the cleaner wrasse wriggled out of a hole in the rock that i didn't even know was there. He must have 'gone to bed' a good 2 hours before the lights went off last night because.

So, I think I was freaking out for nothing!

[The Grizz]

Did your tank temp get a little high with the nicer weather? Just thinking out loud :biggrin:

[asylumdown]

It was at 26.5 celsius when the lights shut off. The tank is set to 25, so it's only a little warmer than usual, but thinking about it I think it's the first time my tank has gotten that warm during the day this year. I didn't think anything of it because it hit 26.5 degrees practically every day last summer, but I got the tang in... December? The dead of winter anyway. This would be the first time the tank has gotten that warm while it was in it. *smacks hand to forehead*

hmmm, maybe I'll have to lower my holding temp a couple of degrees so it's a cooler starting point in the morning. In the summer we have the A/C set to 19 or 20 when we're sleeping, so the tank always falls to it's holding temp overnight, and only seems to rise a degree or two above it over the course of the day.