Help Plz. Velvet Disease strike

[MAK]

Hi Everyone,

This is the first time i m posting a question on any forum on the internet. Sp if i end up making a mistake please forgive me. Ok, so about 8 months back i bought a 38 galon tank and went through the entire process of cycling. I then added 6 green barbs, 3 tiger barbs, 2 bala sharks and 10 neon tetras at different time intervals keeping the tank stability in mind. About 3 weeks back i added 4 more neon tetras and everything was smooth until a couple of days back when after a routine water change i realized some of my green barbs had white specs on them. What alarmed me was that one of my green barbs had swollen eyes with a greyish layer on them. Atleast to my understanding it looks swollen. I quickly looked up the situation over the internet and found that its probably "Velvet" disease that s spreading in my tank. I looked up some of the remedies which were to add salt and raise the temperature to 80 degrees and bloc any source of light coming into the tank. I did all of this and today in the morning when i peaked inside the tank to check how the fish were doing i found two of my green barbs already dead and two almost fighting for survival. I dont know what to do. I m so confused. Its absolutely devastating for me. I loved my barbs. If somebody can please guide me on how to manage this situation. One thing that i would like to add. I did a mistake the last time i added the 4 neon tetras i bought. I mistakenly added them with the water from the fish store. I dont know if that caused the problem. PLEASE HELP!!!!

[bushwhacker]

you probably added the ick along with the fish and that water. should never add water from the store to your tank. you really need to set up a quarentine tank, to hold all new fish for a few weeks to make sure they are healthy. there are several ick cure meds on the market. i couldnt name one as i havent had ick in my tanks in 4-ever, but i'm sure someone here can. oh by the way the reason i'm saying ick is because velvet is normally the salt water version of the same disese. good luck with your tank and i hope it clears up..no need for the blackout on the tank bump up the temp a few degrees that and the salt is usually enough

[Lady Hobbs]

Doesn't sound like velvet to me. Velvet is in patches and a brownish or gold color. If you turn the tanks lights off then shine a flashlight into the tank, you should be able to see it plainly.

Treatment :

Raise water temperature
Dim lights for several days
Add aquarium salt

Treat with copper sulphate for ten days

Discontinue carbon filtration during treatment

[bushwhacker]

Lady H, using that copper sulphate will mean the op can never put shrimp or snails in that tank. there are other meds for ich i just dont know the names

[190MPH]

FWIW, I had good luck using the heat and salt method for a minor ich outbreak in my community tank with tetras, danios, rainbows, and cories. Do a good water change/substrate vac before starting. I used about 2 tsp/gallon of regular table salt. I pre-mixed(dissolved) half of the salt one day and added slowly over a few hours, and did the other half the same way the next day. At the same time, I began increasing the tank temp slowly. Over about 3 days, I gradually raised it to 85. I let it stay that way until I saw no more signs of ich. Then I did another water change with a good vac job of the substrate. Slowly start bringing the temp back to where you had it originally. Don't worry about the salt, it will gradually get removed with your water changes. Do a search for ich and you will get many different opinions on cures, this one included. Good Luck.