# Treating for velvet in a planted tank?



## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

As far as I know formaldehyde or copper based treatments are usually effective for treating velvet(Oodinium) but I can't say if they are safe for plants and snails though. This parasite can get into the intestines of fish where it can be protected from medication. Oodinium is a protozoan parasite that is able to photosynthesize. The best way to eliminate this parasite from an aquarium is to remove all fish, reduce or cutting down on light levels and raising the temp to 82-86 for a couple weeks. Good luck as this can be a nasty little parasite to eliminate.


----------



## Imaginary1226 (Jul 27, 2010)

Quick cure works great against velvet. It does not say whether or not it is safe for use with plants, so you would need to contact the company. It does say it is not safe for shrimp and snails, but most meds say that.


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Quick Cure? I'll go do some research. This is what I get for trying this LFS again....sigh. I just wanted a few platies to vary the gene pool. Thanks for the help, guys. I haven't ever had this before, the flash light to discover it was a cool trick. If it wasn't bad for fish, it would be cool to leave it.


----------



## monkeyfish (Jul 5, 2010)

What's the flashlight trick?

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Oh, sorry. I should have explained that. Turn off all the lights in the room and take a flash light and shine it on the fish. I like to do this immediately after lights out to make sure not to startle them too much. It'll have a shiny reflective look. In this case, it was golden colored. Works for ich, too but not as well. Got this trick years ago in a fish magazine. I just never treated it with plants in a tank before. I figure it's like ich and can attach itself to plants, substrate

From more searching, it looks like it is similar to ich and can be treated the same way. I am going to try the salt/temperature increase first. This is a prime example why we should always quarantine!  Could you imagine if I introduced this to my main tank?


----------



## monkeyfish (Jul 5, 2010)

Good to know, thanks. 

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

*flubendazole*

My latest wonder drug discovery via the internet.

Quote from pg2 - 3.
_With the continued thought that Flubendazole not only killed the hydra and was effective_
_against the protozoa Hexamita, I anticipated that this drug could also be effective against the_
_other two common protozoan pests in the aquarium hobby, Oodinium (velvet) and_​_Ichthyophthirius (ich)._
_I didn't have a chance to treat either disease until the first part of_
_December 2002. I had neglected a tank of __Epiplatys lamottei and to my dismay a coating of __velvet enveloped each fish. I had purchased these fish about nine months earlier. While I did not_
_observe a velvet infection when I purchased these fish, from what I know about this disease, it_
_would appear that these fish were probably infected with the parasite before I got them. It was_
_only my neglect that allowed the parasite to flourish. I treated the tank with Flubendazole in the_
_usual manner, beginning with a complete change of water, then I added 1/4 teaspoon of_
_Flubendazole (5% powder) to the tank, bubbling and stirring it to dissolve it. I reported my_
_results in “KillieTalk” in December 2002, to many unbelieving eyes. The parasite dewormer __seemed to eliminate the velvet infection in my fish._​

Works in a planted tank without damage to the plants (first hand) I'm now using it on new arrivals in quarantine and as a preemptive treatment on all my tanks.
http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/FlubendazoleArticle.pdf

It does eliminate snails also.


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Sweet! I have flubendazole on hand! I've used it in my shrimp tank for hydra, so I'd be comfortable trying it in the quarantine tank for velvet. I'll try this out and report back to everyone for prosperity sake. Thanks for the link! Sounds much better than machlite green and copper sulfate based medicines.


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Curious, how do you go about mixing a dose?

I'm using the 10% Charles sells and have tried several mixing methods.
The best one so far (Hee Hee,, hick up:tongue came to me on TAFF II. Carol uses near boiling water for premixing the powder. Another member posted using a splash of vodka added to the dry powder (happy fish). Then adding it to the tank. Mixing tonight for my 20L planted quarantine I've tried a combination of both. When I added .5ml of vodka to the 1gram of powder in my scale glass it dissolved instantly. Before I've always had some trouble mixing the meds into the tanks. The powder seemed to want to float a good bit. Even mixed in with 2 cups of scalding water it filmed but not as bad.

Do you have a favorite trick/method for mixing?


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I used hot water from the tap and a tuperware container that holds about 2 cups of water. I also crush it up really fine between two spoons before adding. Then, I shake the dickens out of the container for over a minute. Seems to help quite a bit, but I get a little bit of undisolved bits. Not as bad as it was though.


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Thanks for the recommendation, wkndracer. I am happy to report the fish are now all free of velvet and the plants are in great shape as well. And this was only after one dosage. Within a few days they had started eating again and were no longer lethargic, flashing. Interestingly enough, at this dosage, the snails have indeed seemed to all die as you said they would. Not a single pond snail to be found.

Yay for forums!


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Just curious, where do you guys get flubendazole?


----------



## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

mistergreen said:


> Just curious, where do you guys get flubendazole?


http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html as far as I know the only domestic location. (Plymouth discus) in England

sewingalot congrats on clearing things up. Nice to read of success.


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I buy Safeguard. It is a dog dewormer but made of only 100% flubendazole. Got it at a pet-store. You usually have to ask for them because it's behind the counter. Used to also buy a brand named Pancur.

I did loose one fish, but this one was really sick by the time I got the dewormer in the tank. He didn't last the first night.


----------



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Oh, I thought safe guard was fenbendazole. I was looking around the web and found a jug of pancur on a livestock site. I'm assuming it's liquid and it's flubendozole?


----------



## sepehr (Oct 6, 2010)

If it's an INTERNAL parasite you could use Seachem's Metronidazole mixed with frozen food or live brine shrimp (flake food won't absorb the medicine) thus you won't have to worry about adding the medicine directly to the tank risking shrimp, snail, or plant casualties.


----------



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

mistergreen said:


> Oh, I thought safe guard was fenbendazole. I was looking around the web and found a jug of pancur on a livestock site. I'm assuming it's liquid and it's flubendozole?


Yeah, it's commonly used for livestock. I called a local tractor supply store and they have it really cheap in larger quantities. Fish are still velvet free and starting to show interest in the opposite sex. If all goes well, I'll be moving them over into the 20 next month. Being extra cautious to make sure the illness doesn't return.


----------



## movan84 (Nov 12, 2013)

Curious, what would be the dosage for a 55 gallon tank? I'm not sure I read the actual dosage amount anywhere?


----------

