# Plants & Velvet



## gypsydancer (Feb 10, 2012)

How hard is it to get velvet off plants in an infected tank. Also what would be safer boiling or microwaving the substrate? I can't afford to throw it out. Namaste Gypsy


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Turn off the lights (velvet needs light) and treat for it as if there were fish. It'll go, and probably return. Velvet is a pest in soft water. You'll never completely eliminate it, but if your water's clean it won't be able to get a toehold on your fish.


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## gypsydancer (Feb 10, 2012)

This IS my second bout with it. I've done the light and heat routine. It's just driving me nuts.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

You may have an idea how much I hate the little parasites... My tapwater comes out at 60ppm and pH 6.6. If I miss a water change, oodinium can profit. I assume it is always present, but that fish that are fit and healthy resist it.

Here, it strikes fry, and livebearers being kept without my hardening the water. I never do a water change on the swordtails, mollies, gupppies etc without adding some minerals to harden the water. In soft water, they don't seem able to keep up the skin slime production - the first line of defence against velvet.

Keep using the meds and light route. If you scrub, you have to re-cycle, and velvet flourishes in a new, over-clean tank (as it does in one with uneaten food, etc), since it is an opportunist that attacks stressed fish. 

Leave your substrate, maintain your cycle, and if your fish can support it, add a little salt. Inconvenience the parasite as much as possible. I have sometimes gone a year or more without seeing it, even though my water is perfect for it to thrive. 

You will never physically remove it - it's too tiny. It must die....


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## gypsydancer (Feb 10, 2012)

Thanks, I think I'll just quarantine the fish. Do a good substrate vacuum, and medicate with nox ich instead of copper. Do a light bleaching of the plants, put them in a QT tank them darken and great the 55g again. I'm going to cut back on feeding. My fish are quite "fat and happy". They could use a bit of a diet. Namaste Gypsy


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## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

Adding a UV sterilizer helps. It has worked wonders in my tank, and i never do water changes, i only top off. I also go to great lengths to maintain the water quality just where i want it, mostly by adding different types of plants based on what they pull from the water column. The only times i have ever had problems with any diseases is when my UV sterilizer stops working, and i have even added diseased fish to my tanks just to see if the sterilizer would prevent it from spreading, although i would never recomend anyone do so to their tanks(expirement). Most of the time the fish recover, and no other fish have so far been infected(yet!).


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## gypsydancer (Feb 10, 2012)

Auban said:


> Adding a UV sterilizer helps. It has worked wonders in my tank, and i never do water changes, i only top off. I also go to great lengths to maintain the water quality just where i want it, mostly by adding different types of plants based on what they pull from the water column. The only times i have ever had problems with any diseases is when my UV sterilizer stops working, and i have even added diseased fish to my tanks just to see if the sterilizer would prevent it from spreading, although i would never recomend anyone do so to their tanks(expirement). Most of the time the fish recover, and no other fish have so far been infected(yet!).


That may be a way to go as well. And YES, I HATE velvet. This is the only problem I have ever had in any tank. Except when I hater a batch of fin root fish in a QT tank that I just got at Petco. Luckily, I got all my money back because Petco has a30 day guarantee. Namaste, Gypsy


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Just a small point - velvet is a living creature that swims - hence the uselessness of cleaning plants. They are on the move, looking for hosts for their parasitic lifestyle, so you will never clean them out. You have to kill them.


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## gypsydancer (Feb 10, 2012)

Yes, I'm discovering that now. I'm just going to do pwc's between dosages, then vacuum the gravel when treatment is done. Not a complete black or anything, but enough to make sure I get rid of most of the excess food. I'll take the plants out and rinse all the sediment off them, but nothing more. It will make it easier to vac. Thanks ever so much guys. I've learned a lot here. Namaste Gypsy


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