Chromis dying

lbagnall

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We got 6 little blue-green chromis a few weeks ago and they’ve been dying one by one over the past week and I found the third one dead this morning (well half of it - our shrimps clean up)
Just wondering if we’ve done anything wrong or if it’s just something that happens when there isn’t many of them, since they live naturally in much bigger groups
 

vetteguy53081

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Especially chromis are susceptible to urinema disease and should prior to purchase show no sign of skin blemishes, eratic swimming, not wating and normal breathing.
I advise also ling acclimation followed by freshwater dip. If quarantining, add formalin as a bath for them
 

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Absent any further information or a picture, it is hard to offer much in the way of specific advice. As noted green chromis are highly susceptible to uronema, and that will kill them quickly (though usually with telltale body ulcerations). They are also legendary at picking each other off, though that would typically take a bit longer than a few weeks. It may also be feeding. They eat like anthias …. small, frequent amounts. When small, they are quite easily starved if you don't feed them multiple times a day.
 
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lbagnall

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Especially chromis are susceptible to urinema disease and should prior to purchase show no sign of skin blemishes, eratic swimming, not wating and normal breathing.
I advise also ling acclimation followed by freshwater dip. If quarantining, add formalin as a bath for them
They were completely fine for weeks and seem completely fine until they just die pretty much
 

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Display tank. Our fish get quarantined in the store before they’re given to us
So you need to carefully check the chromis for Uronema. Once it's in a tank, it's in there forever. You cannot starve it out like you can with Brook, velvet, ich. If possible a skin scrape of the dead fish could be examined under a scope for the parasites.

It's sad to say but the only QT you can truly trust is your own. All it takes is one drop of water. It's so easy to make a mistake with just one QT setup. Imagine how easy it would be in a LFS with dozens of tanks, fish coming and going, etc. :(
 
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lbagnall

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So you need to carefully check the chromis for Uronema. Once it's in a tank, it's in there forever. You cannot starve it out like you can with Brook, velvet, ich. If possible a skin scrape of the dead fish could be examined under a scope for the parasites.

It's sad to say but the only QT you can truly trust is your own. All it takes is one drop of water. It's so easy to make a mistake with just one QT setup. Imagine how easy it would be in a LFS with dozens of tanks, fish coming and going, etc. :(
We weren’t able to get the dead fish out because we weren’t there when it happened and our shrimps get at dead things
There have been no visible issues with the fish though and when we checked the bodies of two we couldn’t see an issue.
I’ve heard about small groups of these fish rejecting each other in a way they wouldn’t in nature as a big group and am wondering if it could just be that
 

Big G

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We weren’t able to get the dead fish out because we weren’t there when it happened and our shrimps get at dead things
There have been no visible issues with the fish though and when we checked the bodies of two we couldn’t see an issue.
I’ve heard about small groups of these fish rejecting each other in a way they wouldn’t in nature as a big group and am wondering if it could just be that
Lots of stories posted about chromis picking each other off until just one remains. Best of luck!
 

vetteguy53081

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They were completely fine for weeks and seem completely fine until they just die pretty much
As Big G stated- its not overnite but eventually overtakes the fish. I still believe uronema
 
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lbagnall

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I suspect that this one might not survive. It’s hard to get pictures of him from where he is. He was swimming at the top of the tank a few minutes ago, which my brother said that each of the others did the night before they died

9D0E8F71-E7CC-404C-B237-7152E63B0E2B.jpeg E90FD19D-AB39-40E8-8165-BAD0F554C5D0.jpeg
 

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lbagnall

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Should it be Uromena, I’ve read that it is mainly an issue for Chromis, but we recently got two small clowns, will they be okay?
 
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lbagnall

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I suspect that this one might not survive. It’s hard to get pictures of him from where he is. He was swimming at the top of the tank a few minutes ago, which my brother said that each of the others did the night before they died

9D0E8F71-E7CC-404C-B237-7152E63B0E2B.jpeg E90FD19D-AB39-40E8-8165-BAD0F554C5D0.jpeg
Also, this fish seemed completely fine a couple of hours ago
 

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I have had the same issue with my 4 chromis except mine have dies one by one in a matter of 24 hours. My parameters in the tank are where they should be but 3 of the 4 have already perished. The 4th is swimming around with no issues. He is eating fine at this moment. My tank is only a month and a half old and its not fully matured so I went with the chromis at first before going with my normal stocking list for my 55 gallon but I don't want a fish to die just because.

Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-20
Ph-8.0
 

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