velvet? or not?

[leokiss]

Hi loach fans, i was wondering if anyone has dwarf loaches and if so do they have a yellowish gold shiny tint to them? Mine have but always seem to have (i think) they seem fine although i have seen occasional scratching in them and also a couple of other species. This tank was treat for velvet a month or so ago as the scratching was quite regular,it seemed to do the trick although no change in colour still yellowish look to them and the zebra danios and endlers? Which was the original reason i treat for velvet. Is it possible its on its way back. And also im beginning to wonder if the tank lighting is making them look yellow!? Maybe i never had velvet,some other kind of parasite that velvet meds just held back a bit?
All help welcome thanku

[mickthefish]

if you could do a pic it would be a great help, it's unusual for livebearers to get velvet though.
what kind of lighting is it?.
also what loaches are they?.

mick

[Diana]

My Endlers do not look yellow-gold at all. The females vary from grey to somewhat silvery, not really very shiny, and the males are brightly colored, but not metallic silver or any other color. Red and green, with some darker spots, and a little blue on the dorsal fin, mostly.

My Sids have a sort of metallic silver-gold sheen in the lighter areas, the dark areas are almost-black, but I would call it charcoal. Flat black, not shiny.

Zebra Danios can have a metallic sheen to them, silver to blue. The basic color is silver with stripes. The bluer stripes is one sex (males, I think), the yellower stripes is the opposite. The colors flash and change in the light. Even the yellower striped version does not look gold at all, the yellow or blue is sort of an underlying color, and the silver predominates.

[NancyD]

I have sids from 2 batches. The younger ones have a definate yellow/gold look to the top "chain" area as compared to the older loaches. The larger ones are getting more dark patterning & have a creamy light color. No pics, sorry, but it has never looked like what I think velvet looks like.

[leokiss]

I tried in vain to get some pics but a combination of an old camera and camera shy fish made for bad pics! I tried using a flash light with lights off to see what they looked like (the flash light being blue/white) and round back of head and there underside still showed gold like but a metalic shine to it. I also put a couple of sids in my endler fry tank for a while,as the lighting is blue/white rather than yellow/white of their home tank.Their home tank has two juwel tubes: day and nature.I must say they looked less yellowy gold in the fry tank but im still not convinced.I decided to treat the whole tank for velvet using waterlife protozin.
I gave first dose last night,all breeds of fish still scratching though except cardinals which never scratch anyway.I guess i'll have to complete the dosage to judge if they are any better!
My sids are of a mature age and it just dosen't seem right for them to appear yellowy/gold all over.Thanks 4 replys

[mickthefish]

Nancy i bought all mine from the same tank most were the whites but about 6 had the yellow base colour plus heavily marked below the central stripe.
leokiss if i put a pic on you can tell us if yours look like it.


mick

[NancyD]

Wow, mick, that sid is a lot more yellow below the lateral line than mine I think. Pretty. I'll have a look at bedtime snacks. I thought mine would outgrow it but it's been over 1 1/2 years. My older ones look almost like kubotais they're so dark.

leokiss-- try the flashlight with lights out to see if they have gold "dust", that's how I remember velvet. I know British meds are different, is Protozin a malachite green? Darn, I've lost all my links in a computer crash. Grrr.

[leokiss]

Hello again,Mick thats exactly how my loaches look and when they catch the light right they are really shiney.
So i did my 2nd dose of meds last night and still the scratching.Looking at your pic loaches can have a gold look so i guess i better stop treating for velvet and start with( i have waterlifes sterazin) something for internal worms,flukes n such?
Oh that pic was of a healthy sid?
If i run carbon for a few hours in the filter would it be ok to start with other meds tonight? On the bottle it says at least 48hrs between meds.
NancyD,yes it does contain malachite green along with copper sulphate and formaldehyde it treats ich n fungus too.
Thanks for replys.

[mickthefish]

yes leokiss she is a healthy looking fish she looks alot better now that she has the distended stomach of a female.
at the time that pic was taken she measured just over an inch SL she's put size and good proportions now but virtually impossible to get a pic of.

mick