Possible Velvet on Pearl Gourami pair -- please advise

Hi all,

It would seem my Pearl Gourami pair have Velvet. It's definitely not ich and none of the other fish have developed anything. No new tankmates, plants, or ornaments, so haven't got a clue where it's come from...

I read a post by the Professor earlier (quoted below) regarding protozoal disease meds, and he said to use Flagyl instead. I have read that the medicatio we get for ich is very dangerous for scaleless fish. My question is, will the crushed Flagyl be safe for my Gold Nugget Pleco? Also, I have some Platy fry in a breeding net, do you think they will be okay with the Flagyl?

Thanks in advance
Giulia

 

Can you not separate the 2 gouramis into a treatment tank? I have successfully treated velvet with Seachem Cupramine, but your pleco will not tolerate this I think.

 

@GG13 as @Broder has said... since you ae only seeing symptoms on the gouramis it would be much better to take them to a different tank and treat them on their own. treating an entire tank would cost a lot more and also put the rest of your fish which are not sick through unnecessary stress.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

I do have a small (1ft) QT that I can put them in, my worry is that the Velvet parasite is in the main tank, and might remain there (even if passively).

I remember when I had ich, I ended up medicating and bleaching everything just to be sure it was gone. Do you think that the same would be necessary here, or would it be enough to just keep an eye on the rest of the fish for signs of Velvet and treat them accordingly?

 

@GG13 i have battled velvet before. similar case to yours where it had only affected one particular species. due to my personal experience i would say to rather put them in the 1 foot and treat them and at the same time just keep an eye on the other fish. its up to you in the end though. in my tank the velvet did not spread to any of my other fish. please do keep us updated as to what you decide to do. what treatment method you use and the results. wish you all the best

 

I will definitely keep you updated. Reckon I'll give the Flagyl a go first (if I can convince the pharmacist without a script).
Thank you for the wishes. I would be so bummed if I lost this pair, after all we've been through together... *crossing fingers and holding thumbs*

 

You can get Flagyl from a vet as well (I paid R1/400mg tablet two weeks ago) - my chemist would not budge.

 

Sorry guys but is "possible velvet" a "definitely velvet" now.

Shouldn't we have a proper diagnose first.

Besides of that to my believe one should treat velvet, just like Ich, in the main tank cause if it's that the parasites will be all over the tank.

Regards Aad

 

I agree with Aad here, treat in main tank same as Ich

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Hi @GG13

Any feedback yet on your sick fish and treatment course you took?

Very interested to know.
Hope All went well!



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Hello everybody!

I had to go away for a few days, so I decided not to take any drastic action while my fish were being looked after by a friend. Luckily nothing has gotten any worse.
@DoubleDutch I agree that a proper diagnosis is the right way to go. I was just checking on information regarding Flagyl effects on my Pleco.

Tank specifications:
3ft (88 litres free water)
25% weekly changes
Penn Plax Cascade 600 Internal Filter (600l/h)

Water parameters (after w/c):
Cl:0
NO3: 25
NO2: 0
GH: 8
KH: 6
pH: 7.2

Tankmates:
2x Pearl Gourami
1x Gold Nugget Pleco
1x Bronze Cory
3x Leopard Cory
9x Rummy Nose Tetra
4x Black Knight Emperor Tetra
4x Sunset Platy
5x Platy fry in breeding net

Below are photos of the female (she's almost impossible to catch in a photo). The male is better than he was, so I haven't taken any of him.

The best way I can describe it is as if she has a thin film, on the top of her, between her pectoral and dorsal fins, with tiny white spots -- almost as if dust particles are stuck to the film. She damaged her left pectoral fin a few years ago (it grew back a little wonky), which now has 3 white spots on it. She also has a single white dot in the middle of her left eye.

She doesn't seems agitated, or short of breath at all.

 

I'd say it is a parasite like you suspected. I'd treat with an anti Ich / velvet med.

 

@GG13, you sure this is velvet?

Im no expert but, I thought velvet looks more sort of like a layer all over the fish
This looks more like (if not ich) something stuck to them so some parasite?

 

Well, no, I'm not 100% sure... What got me off the idea of ich was the fact that they do appear to be attached to a sort of thin film. I thought it might be Velvet a week ago, but it hasn't spread, or turned gold, so I am at a loss now.

It seems that people are at least in agreement with the fact that this is parasitic (whether Velvet or Ich or something else). Which ideally means treating the whole tank to ensure the parasite is dead.

So, I end up back at my first question -- will Flagyl (Metranidazole) harm my more sensitive fish (ie: pleco, cory cats, fry), the way that meds with methylene blue does?

 

I would first use a milder anti Ich med such as Esha Exit, seachem Paraguard or so.
Flagyl is an antibiotic as I understand.

 

Thanks @DoubleDutch I am going to try find Esha Exit, I read up about the product and it is safe for sensitive fish and fry.

The Prof suggested using Flagyl (he is quoted in my first post), instead of the stuff you can find on shelves, as the active ingredient is the same.

 

Flagyl is an antibiotic isn't it? I'd expect that to heavy and also killing all kind of bacteria that you might not wanna kill.
Esha Exit doesn't mess up your cycle.

 

I've done some reading, and according to the Prof @Dirk it's an antiprotozoal (kills protozoan parasites), not an antibiotic (kills bacteria) and does nothing to plants and filtration.
After more reading though, I found @f-fish saying that it is not good for anaerobic bacteria. So, the confusion continues...

I'm super keen on giving the Esha Exit a try. Struggling to find it though! I imagine it's easy to find in Europe, not so much in South Africa.

 

It's Dutch so it is quite available indeed. Try to get other Anti-Ich meds.

 

Will do, just going to have to double check precautions before dosing with my sensitive fish.