I just found out today that my blue green chromis has Uronema. It started the other day with one of the 4, with a super red splotch on the side and he was sitting in the corner all day, not moving or eating, than the next day he was nowhere to be found. And just today another one has it, but it is not as bad and he is still eating and swimming around. What should i do? Is this going to effect my other fish? I've got 8 other fish in the tank (not including the 2 other chromis) shrimp, a star fish, and anemones. Is it spread through the water or through contact? I definitely don't want it effecting my other fish and i'm going out of town this weekend for 3 days? What do I do? :sad2:
Uronema
- Thread starter chels.ann
- Start date
Psionicdragon
New member
Its a bit contagious from my experience. You might want to QT the fish, but no idea about the inverts.
supra400hptt
Member
If you google uronema you will find some info on another forum. Basically it's a parasite. Spreads through the water. Highly contagious. Usually wipes out the fish population. Recommendations have been made to euthanize the fish. My one experience with it was when it wiped out six green/blue chromis that I had just bought. I didn't know any better when I saw the telltale red area on one. 48 hrs later they were all dead.
MrTuskfish
Team RC
Chromis have been showing up with this parasite very often lately. I have no idea why. This is a protozoan parasite, as are ich and velvet. The parasite spreads through the water column. If you won't use a QT/HT; I'd put off any future fish purchases. A QT is vital, just not a nice thing to have. Quarantining these new chromis would have prevented the parasite from threatening your other fish. Uronema seems to be less contagious than similar parasites; but all of your fish need to be treated. You cannot treat parasites in your DT. You can find all you need to set up a QT on Craigslist for less than the cost of one moderately priced fish.
Deinonych
New member
+1 on quarantining all new fish.
Uronema is a free-living parasite; it does not need a fish host to survive, but it often infects them when the opportunity arises (i.e. injury, poor water quality, stress etc.) I'm not sure if it's possible to get rid of it once it gets into your display tank, short of tearing everything down and starting over. I agree with MrTuskfish that it is not as contagious as other obligate parasites like amyloodinium or cryptocaryon. You can treat the infected fish with either chloroquine phosphate @ 80mg/g or formalin, but only in a dedicated hospital tank.
Uronema is a free-living parasite; it does not need a fish host to survive, but it often infects them when the opportunity arises (i.e. injury, poor water quality, stress etc.) I'm not sure if it's possible to get rid of it once it gets into your display tank, short of tearing everything down and starting over. I agree with MrTuskfish that it is not as contagious as other obligate parasites like amyloodinium or cryptocaryon. You can treat the infected fish with either chloroquine phosphate @ 80mg/g or formalin, but only in a dedicated hospital tank.
It's really weird because I've had my chromis for at least 4-5 months, if not more than that. Temperature has not fluctuated majorly, and water quality is pretty good besides phosphates being a tad high but nothing to be concerned about. And today i soaked a cube of frozen food in API Triple Sulfa that I had; I was going to use it anyway because my blue hippo tang has fin/tail rot and has had it for quite some time, and I read on the back it treats Hemorrhagic Septicemia ( which describes it as showing blood streaks on the body and fins and bleeding red patches- which is what I saw on my first one that disappeared/died). So therefore, I put it directly into the tank (my reef display tank) after soaking the food in it ( but strained out the water before). . . should I not have done that? :/
Uronema is an opportunistic pathogen affecting fish which are immunocompromised and reaching systemic infections through external lesions. Chromis are notorious for having a pecking order where the smallest one gets picked on causing stress and immunocompromisation in a sequence. Research in aquariums demonstrates most aquariums actually have a uronema species living in them and it's only able to infect healthy fish when they reach high enough levels (through feeding off of rotting biological material). Externally metronidazole, formalin, chloroquine, copper, and even a dewormer such as levamisol or a coccidiostat such as toltrazuril have shown some efficacy against the major group this protozoan is a member of; cheatophoraceae. Once internalized and causing damage to organs, prognosis is dire.
Unless you have a microscope an have identified this organisms on a living chromis, be careful to cry wolf. I have done skin scrapes recently on the exact same lesion on chromis viridis, pink behind and dorsal to pectorals, and found brooklynella and on a separate occasion nothing at all (which I then assume is vibrio bacteria and shotgun antibiotics for (which worked)) in recent months.
A note on comments in this forum, I can appreciate people trying to help but in this case, the recommendation to depopulate your tank (and I think there was even a suggestion to restart the tank) are poorly substantiated.
Unless you have a microscope an have identified this organisms on a living chromis, be careful to cry wolf. I have done skin scrapes recently on the exact same lesion on chromis viridis, pink behind and dorsal to pectorals, and found brooklynella and on a separate occasion nothing at all (which I then assume is vibrio bacteria and shotgun antibiotics for (which worked)) in recent months.
A note on comments in this forum, I can appreciate people trying to help but in this case, the recommendation to depopulate your tank (and I think there was even a suggestion to restart the tank) are poorly substantiated.
Oh i hope so :/ i've been worried constantly the past few days! I wish i could upload pictures of my fish so you knew exactly what I was talking about, because you and another thought the same thing about it not being uronema. I try to do it as an attachment, but no luck. Any one know an easy way to upload pictures?
And thanks everyone for your feedback! It's all been of great help!
And thanks everyone for your feedback! It's all been of great help!
Mrscribbled
Team RC
I find photobucket the easiest way to upload pics.
tylersarah
Member
I wish we were neighbors.
I hope these work, let me know!
http://s851.photobucket.com/user/4s.../20130926_190153_zps2be20951.jpg.html?filters[user]=137736833&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0
http://s851.photobucket.com/user/4s...20130926_190032C_zps3a99afd9.jpg.html?filters[user]=137736833&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1
http://s851.photobucket.com/user/4s.../20130926_190153_zps2be20951.jpg.html?filters[user]=137736833&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0
http://s851.photobucket.com/user/4s...20130926_190032C_zps3a99afd9.jpg.html?filters[user]=137736833&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1
Psionicdragon
New member
Its not just chromis. Many fish are coming in with this issue. I know two wholesales in LA that are selling fishes with Uronema to customers which results the lost of life and money.
Similar threads
