Fish Disease Help? Uronema - Is My Tank Sick?

[shawnriv]

Hey Everyone!

I was wondering if you could help me with a problem I may be having. I just cycled my new tank (both ammonia and nitrite were zero), did a water change, then purchased three chromis from my LFS. I broke down my previous tank and have all the livestock set up in holding tanks with the live rock and water from my previous build. After about four days, those three chromis died in what I thought was uronema (after doing some research). I did originally notice one of the chromis having a small spot on it's side before adding it to the tank, but thought it may of been a spot it was nipped (since chromis will try to be dominate). Every bit of research I did told me to tear down the tank and start over. Before doing so, I figured I would throw in my other chromis (from the holding tanks) and see what happened. After two days, the chromis is doing well. So...since this disease can harm chromis, anthias, and clowns I'm want to make sure my tank is not effected before I add more fish. So, is there a time period that a disease/parasite will kill a fish once added?

Thanks!

 

[HotRocks]

Hey Everyone!

I was wondering if you could help me with a problem I may be having. I just cycled my new tank (both ammonia and nitrite were zero), did a water change, then purchased three chromis from my LFS. I broke down my previous tank and have all the livestock set up in holding tanks with the live rock and water from my previous build. After about four days, those three chromis died in what I thought was uronema (after doing some research). I did originally notice one of the chromis having a small spot on it's side before adding it to the tank, but thought it may of been a spot it was nipped (since chromis will try to be dominate). Every bit of research I did told me to tear down the tank and start over. Before doing so, I figured I would throw in my other chromis (from the holding tanks) and see what happened. After two days, the chromis is doing well. So...since this disease can harm chromis, anthias, and clowns I'm want to make sure my tank is not effected before I add more fish. So, is there a time period that a disease/parasite will kill a fish once added?

Thanks!

This is a tough one to answer.

A newly arriving fish would likely show symptoms of disease in 14 days. A fish you have had for while that is in good health it could take longer. Keep in mind in the wild these fish deal with these parasites on a regular basis. It is just not at the concentration that we deal with in aquaria in a closed system. If you are going to wait it out, I would say 14-21 days minimum before you can be sure it is not present. Or just treat all of the fish in the tank that has possible uronema with metroplex for 14 days, transfer them to the other tank and sterilize the tank in question.

Uronema does not need a fish host to stay present in a tank since it has a direct life cycle. So if it was uronema that killed the other three, it would still be in the tank they were housed in until it is sterilized.