Fish are dying. What is it

[ricwilli]

I purchased some fish from my lfs. 5 chromis, 1 bangaii cardinal and 5 threadfin blue eyed cardinals. Two of the five chromis had a red patch on it. I questioned the owner about it and he immediately said that they are gonners. I asked him if the others will die and he said "no, its an internal thing". So I took three of them home with the rest of the other fish.
I put all the fish in a tub and started the Transfer method. While the days passed the chromises started dying one by one. Each of the dead fish had the red patch on them. They didn't have it at the store like the other two. A few more days passed and one of the threadfin blue eyed cardinals died. I woke up this morning and I found my bangaii cardinal dead. Now I only have 4 threadfin blue eyed cardinals. My next transfer is to my display tank, but now I'm affraid to put them in there. Does anyone know what the red patch is? Will the other fish get it too and die? I took a pic of the dead chromis with it.

 

[h2so4hurts]

Looks like uronema to me. Formalin dips and antibiotics (nitrofurazone), but usually when it gets that bad the fish dies anyway. Tank transfer won't do anything (but it's a good system for treating fish with antibiotics).

 

[b0bab0ey]

It's Uronema. DO NOT put any of these fish in the DT.

 

[ricwilli]

OH GREAT!!!!!!.

So anyone buying fish from that fish store should quarentine for Uronema?

 

[MrTuskfish]

OH GREAT!!!!!!.

So anybody buying fish from that fish store should quarentine for Uronema?

Every fish, from anywhere should always be quarantined.
Chromis seem to be dying like flies from uronema for several months; I have no idea why.
I assume this is uronema too; but the way it always seems to show up behind a pec fin, and almost always on Chromis, and I've never heard of a Chromis being successfully treated after the red area becomes visible.....I wonder if its something else?

 

[ricwilli]

I know all fish needs to be quarentine but is it safe to say that the other fish in that lfs also have Uronema? I'm asking cause I know that all the tanks in a lfs are connected to each other and it looks like it can spread to other fish.

ps Thanks for all the responce so far.

 

[b0bab0ey]

I know all fish needs to be quarentine but is it safe to say that the other fish in that lfs also have Uronema? I'm asking cause I know that all the tanks in a lfs are connected to each other and it looks like it can spread to other fish.

If the LFS owner is running a properly calibrated UV sterilizer on his return line, then, in theory, that should kill any & all parasites (such as Uronema) before they reach the other tanks. Now, this doesn't help the fish in the same tank(s) you bought your fish out of. And if he's not running a UV, then it's likely a lot of his fish are infected or will get infected with Uronema.

 

[snorvich]

I know all fish needs to be quarentine but is it safe to say that the other fish in that lfs also have Uronema? I'm asking cause I know that all the tanks in a lfs are connected to each other and it looks like it can spread to other fish.

LFS which use fish systems spread whatever any fish brings in to all fish in the system. Which is why, inferentially, the longer a fish is at a LFS, the greater the chance that it will bring in something to your system. Also, be especially wary of LFS that run a low level, non-therapeutic dose of copper.

 

[h2so4hurts]

Whole system UV is a bacteria and algae clarifier at best. Parasites only die if they pass through the UV at the right flow rate and with fresh bulbs. A lot probably get to fish before they see the return line

Uronema is a protozoan parasite, so their entire system is probably infected. This is why I formalin dip everything before it even sees my QT system, let alone my DT!

 

[ricwilli]

Where can I get formalin? Does the lfs sell it.

 

[pktech]

I bought my formalin @ petshanty

 

[stingythingy45]

Kordon's Rid Ich Plus is a combination of two powerful medications.
Contains formaldehyde and premium quality aquaculture-grade zinc-free chloride salt of malachite green.

I've used this to treat all incoming fish for a dip and treatment and it works well.

 

[ricwilli]

Just got home from work and another one gone. I'm guessing by the end of tomorrow, they will have all died. Three more left.

 

[h2so4hurts]

Stingythingy, Yep, that's what I do too, 5mL rid-ich plus in a gallon of tank water for an hour. They come out squeaky clean. I will say that I've killed a lot of chromis doing this though.

 

[stingythingy45]

Oddly enough Chromis have a way of killing themselves off.
I started with 5 and now have only one.
They have a pecking order like chickens and will kill each other off till the biggest one is left.
This can leave lessions,lost tails that often look like a parasite or tail rot.

 

[stingythingy45]

Stingythingy, Yep, that's what I do too, 5mL rid-ich plus in a gallon of tank water for an hour. They come out squeaky clean. I will say that I've killed a lot of chromis doing this though.

Only thing is it tends to stain stuff greenish blue.
Especially if you treat in a tank with clear silicone.

 

[snorvich]

Oddly enough Chromis have a way of killing themselves off.
I started with 5 and now have only one.
They have a pecking order like chickens and will kill each other off till the biggest one is left.
This can leave lessions,lost tails that often look like a parasite or tail rot.

That seems to be what happens almost all of the time, at least in the long run. As mentioned above, there seems to be a pandemic among chromis coming in at the moment (it seems as if it has been a year?) wherein they all come in damaged. I do not know if this is a collection issue or something else.

 

[h2so4hurts]

I do it in a 3 gallon painter's bucket I don't care if that thing stains!

I started with 30 chromis, killed 15 with the dip, down to 2 over 5 months of them beating the crap out of eachother.

 

[cngreg]

I spoke with some quarantine staff of a very well known public aquarium today about this exact lesion pattern today. Chromis in small groups (<10ish) play pecking order, stress each other out, and make each other more likely to suffer from opportunistic infection. Specifiaclly this high turbulence area directly behind the pectoral fin...where the slime coat is turned over fastest and in a stressed individual compromised most quickly. To top it off, they come in from nature commonly carrying uronema, yes. I've seen the parasite on skin scrapes a few times myself in the last year on blue reef chromis. Uronema is also one of th ciliate protozoans that can live ambiently on detritus and, while not able to infect healthy happy fish, can live and thrive especially in dirty tanks. I feel ideally you would have 10 chromis + in a very low density fish only tank or a very stable reef tank. A few chromis in a huge reef tank. Or one chromis.