Syptom differences between Ich and Velvet?
 

What are the differences in visible symptoms between Ich and Marine Velvet?

I have 2 fish that I thought had ich, were treated, spots went away and now they are back again (less than a week). I know the lifecycle for ich is extended, but before I treat the fish for Ich again I wanted to be sure it was not something else.

I am assuming it is ich and not velvet because all I have read on velvet says if these fish are showing outside symptoms they show be dead by now.

Both fish are actively swimming and eating very well.

Thanks for any help/info you can provide.

How did you treat the fish for ich? Did you treat all the fish in the show tank? How did you handle the ich remaining in the show tank (did you leave the show tank fallow for 5 weeks?).

Couldn't get fish out so I treated the entire tank. First was garlic with double dosing RubyReef Kick Ich (did not help) then Malechite Green. The MG worked very well and cleared the fish within days, however it has returned.

Crazy thing about the infection is the Scopas Tang in with the angels has cleared and the spots have not returned. That is why I am questioning whether it is Ich or not.

Ich naturally falls off of fish and its common for people to think that whatever med they stuck in their tank worked.

There is no "reef safe" medication that works on any consistent basis with ich.

If you want to cure ich .. then catch the fish .. QT them and treat with either hyposalinity or copper .. leave the show tank without fish for about 5 weeks (ich will die off because they require a fish to perpetuate their life cycle).

Here a nice short article which may help.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...marineich.html

I also would like to know in picture prespective what the difference is. I once had a fish that had white dots for awhile than turned red. Hey kevin is it alright to briefly describe the difference between ich and velvet. I cant seem to tell the difference. Thanks

In most cases ich is easy to distinguish from amylo (marine velvet). Ich often starts out a few "dots" similar to grains of salt and then expands from there. Amylo tends to be a much smaller parasite making it difficult to see and often only visible at an advanced stage .. looks more like "velvet" or a coating of dust.

There are a zillion pictures of fish with ich ... but its hard to find a good picture of a fish with amylo ( partly because sometimes you can only see it from a particular angle and because it tends to kill fish quickly).

I used to have a good library of fish disease pics but I lost my hard drive. Perhaps someone can provide a good amylo pic?