Could it be "Velvet" Disease????

[MARITA]

I have 2 goldfish (approx. 3 inches), 1 Calico Fantail - and 2 Khuli Loaches. Stupid me - I had bought 4 Calico Fantails from Walmart & placed them directly into the Community tank!
3 of them died within 2 weeks. One of my goldfish started acting sickly a few days ago. I checked with a magnifying glass and saw what seems to be velvet disease. My two loaches have been hiding, but I finally saw one of them tonight .... and he has the same tiny white sprinkles as the goldfish. Ironically, the other two fish don't exhibit anything (yet). I don't know about my second loach, since he has been in hiding for days!!
Now - finally, my questions.
Can loaches have velvet disease? If so, how to I treat them. I have been reading about the dangers of certain medications to loaches. I have set up a hospital tank - thought about placing my loaches in there and treat the regular community tank with Velvet medication. But I'm scared to use anything for my two little ones - don't want to harm them.
PS: Still very new in the fishkeeping business; but long enough to REALLY love the little loach-guys !
Thanks for any comments/advice.
Marita

[brochtune]

Hi Marita,

Are you sure it's Velvet disease? It may be possible that it's "Ich" instead of Velvet. Ich produces larger (but still tiny) cysts on the fish whereas Velvet is more powdery(or velvety?). Here's a link with a description and pictures for both (and many others). If you are still unsure about the disease, you can always post a picture, there are a number of experts here.
http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Ich

I'm relatively new to fishkeeping as well and have not yet had to deal with disease, so I won't try to tell you how to treat the fish. There's a "sticky" in the loach forum dealing with the treatment of Ich:
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=2599

Also, goldfish and kuhli loaches are not really compatable. While goldfish are a cold-water fish and can tolerate a wide range of temperatures, your fantail's range is 46-68 F, your goldfish's range is 33-68 F, and the kuhli loach, being a tropical fish, has a range of 78-82 F. Someone in your tank isn't happy... If your tank is not around 80 F, this may be the reason why your kuhlis are showing signs of disease and the two goldfish aren't. Healthy and less stressed loaches (and all fish) are less prone to disease.
Goldfish temps: http://www.petlibrary.com/goldfish/variety.htm
Kuhli Loach: http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pangio-kuhlii

Also, do you know your water parameters? If you don't have a water testing kit you can take your water to your local fish store (other than wal-mart, I hope!) and they should be able to do it for you for free.

What are you water readings? Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite. Temperature?
How often do you do water changes? How much do you usually change?

I'm still learning as well but hopefully this can get you started.
Good luck, I hope you can help your fish!

-Thomas

[MARITA]

Yes, I do test my water regularly ... and it is is good shape. I use bottled springwater since we have wellwater here.
I was told that goldfish & loaches are alright in same tank, that's why i got them in the first place. Temperature is around 74 degrees - which, again, I was told by was ok as long as I keep it constant with a heater.
I looked at pictures of ich and velvet and the latter seems to be it. You cannot see the white dots with the bare eye on either the one goldfish or the loach. I used a magnifying glass and saw the dots.

[Setsuna]

I was told that goldfish & loaches are alright in same tank, that's why i got them in the first place.

Hey Marita. NEVER trust what the petshop/aquarium tell you about fish unless you've heard the same thing on here. The only loaches that I know of that would tolerate the same water conditions as goldfish would be dojos (or weather loaches as they're known here).

How long has you're tank been setup for and as brochtune said, what are your pH, ammonia, nitrAte and nitrIte readings?

Good luck ^_^

[mistergreen]

Always quarentine from a not so good pet store like wallmart.. I think they're on the bottom of reputable fish store. Well, you should always quaretine from any store really.

Ich is white specs/dust
velvet is a white carpet on their slime coat.

And yes, fish will give each other diseases.

[MARITA]

I have decided to NEVER buy fish from Walmart again! And I will ALWAYS place newcomers into a QT first!
The water readings are just fine in the 29 gal tank - which I set up about one month ago. They were in a 10 gal tank before for about 2 months.
I have set up the old 10 gal tank 2 days ago - and want to make it a "loach tank" only. Hopefully my little ones will be happier there - higher water temperature and no goldfish to chase them.
I really, really hope they'll survive this ordeal. Thanks for all your advice and comments. Will keep you posted.

[mistergreen]

This site has articles on how to treat loaches.