7 deaths in 3 days - twitching, white patches, torn fins

[mnowicki]

Hey guys,

Hopefully someone can help out here as I'm stumped as to what this is and need some immediate help as things seem to be spreading real quick.

I have two QT setups. One of which had 11 green chromis 3 days ago, I'm now down to 4 and stumped as to what is killing them. They go from looking perfectly healthy, eating, and swimming around normally to dead within a few hours. During those few hours before dying they exhibit different symptoms, but these are the few things I have noticed thus far on at least a few of them:
Vertical swimming,
white patches (not spots, patches as big as half their side)
twitching
turning dark colors
torn fins
The one common thing on all of them is gasping for air. I have had them on crypto-pro for the last week, but stopped treatment 2 days ago.

The most worrying thing to me at the moment is my second QT that potentially has the same disease in it since the fish came from the same place. But the fish I have in there is a blue throat trigger, harlequin, puffer, and achiles. I noticed today that my harlequin tusk was occasionally swimming erratically/vertically, twitching, spitting water,and had some torn fins. I'm afraid whatever is in the chromis QT is now also in this QT.

Attached are two photos of one of the chromis that is currently on its way out.

Please help and thank you in advance!

 

[mnowicki]

Water parameters are:
1.020
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Temp 77

 

[coral_lagoon]

Could be flukes. Prazipro would be needed..

 

[VeL]

Considering the fast kill rate and the patches it could be velvet. Maybe someone else can confirm as the pics aren't really good. Do some research on google images for Amyloodinium and compare the pics to what it looks like in your tank. Copper medications or Chloroquine Phosphate will do the job. For fast relief, if it is velvet, formalin bath will help a lot - 1 ml Formalin (37%) per gallon of water in a separate container for ~40-60 mins. Water must be aerated for at least couple of hours as formalin drains out all oxygen. Pm me for link with exact instructions if you are interested.

 

[snake42490]

Hey man, I will let you know the last 3 batches of chromis I have gotten have randomly died and fast. Someone replied in one of my posts that said every distributor has had sick ones in and that you shouldn't buy them for a while. Mine would died within 3 days of getting them. A couple would push on for 5 days, but the all would die. It started off with lack of eating, then high respiration rate. The scales would get a discolored spot on them then the following day they would be an open sore. A couple of mine had that same appearance that yours had. I think it was a fungus that took over after the open wound from it. Maybe I am wrong. Anyway, mine had Uronema Marinum.

Uronema Marinum - U. marinum are single-celled, microscopic, ciliated, opportunistic invaders that normally feed on bacteria in the aquatic habitat.
They are constantly in an energy acquisition phase (always looking for food. When the fishes immune system is stressed, U. marinum will attack the fish, invading muscles and internal organs, eating red blood cells and other cells. Uncontrollable or recurrent infestations are typically indicative of underlying problems such as introduction of new fish, overcrowding, and poor water quality.
Life cycle. This takes place by simple mitotic division, but there seems to be quite a body of evidence that in marine Aquariums at least, that high organic loads appear to favor the reproduction of the ciliate.
The parasite can be confused for brooklynella which if treated is not a problem in misidentification since the usual formalin treatment will destroy both types of parasites.
This parasite is just as deadly and as quick acting as brooklynella and will remain viable for some time even after the fish has died.


I would try and get a refund for your fish, and I wouldn't buy any more chromis. Something is definitely going on. I bought mine from three different places and the same thing happened to every batch. I tried treating with copper and didn't have any luck. I have read that formalin is a good treatment only if the fish doesn't have open sores. If it does that will kill it by dehydrating the fish. Chloroquine Phosphate seems like the other drug of choice to use for this.

I had a tang that was in the tank with the chromis when they got this. When I finally diagnosed what was going on I did a formalin batch for 1 hour at 200 ppm with 37% formalin. This comes out to be .5 ml/ liter . Watch the fish closely as this is a very high ratio. The study that I read said that if the parasite hasn't invaded the muscles of the fish yet that this will clear the parasite in 1 hour. They did this treatment for 4 days though just to be safe.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I wouldn't buy any chromis right now under any circumstances. There're croaking like flies and many carry uronema . I know a online dealer that is considering not selling them until someone can figure this out. Not that it matters, they just kill each other anyway. ( And remind me of baitfish, sorry)

Just a guess, but the 2nd tank may be OK. I just don't know how contagious uronema is or even if the chromis have it (I think they do, the discoloration on the flanks is typical. I don't think its brooklynella, which is always accompanied by sloughing or peeling skin. . I agree with coral_lagoon's post and would treat with PP.

The elephant in the room hasn't been mentioned yet: why are these fish in a QT and are you treating them with anything other than the crypto-Pro?? What are you using for bio-filtration and what is your ammonia reading now? What size tanks are these fish in? How long have they been there? Are they eating? The erratic behavior of the tusk is a real concern. Fish acting like this are in the middle of something serious. Time is a real enemy right now, but we cant help without knowing why the fish are in your QT now and what you are doing to help them. Is Crypto-Pro a brand of quinine sulfate? IMO, this stuff may work on ich sometimes, but I won't use it for a few reasons. If you were treating for ich: I'd do a massive water change, run good carbon, Cuprisorb, and/or a Poly filter (a specific brand, not just floss. If you think fish can wait a couple of days, great. But I don't think they will. Again, assuming its ich ,or velvet. Velvet is easiest to diagnose if you look at the fish from all angles; there will be blotches of white or gold-ish velvety sheen to the fish. Copper will work on either. I'd treat with Cupramine ASAP. Remove all of the carbon, etc. before dosing the copper. I would call SeaChem (mfg of Cupramine) tech support (1-888-seachem) ASAP. These are great folks that know their stuff) they can help with the switch from Crypto-Pro to copper. Be sure to tell them about the chromis and possible uronema. Also, let SeaChem know that you're getting some advice from RC, they like us. Again, all my drivel is based on the assumption that you were treating for ich. Sorry about typos and sentences that don't make sense----listening to the news about Boston.