Eradicating Uronema - What To Do With Inverts?

[reddogf5]

I have uronema in my tank, or at least their DNA. The last fish died, so tearing down the tank and sterilizing is not a problem. But there are a few corals, a shrimp, snails and hermits. They can be housed while the DT is being cleaned, but what can I do to ensure there are no parasites on them?

I assume uronema doesn't actually infect any of these creatures, so it just needs to be removed from them - any ideas?

Hydrogen peroxide bath? Careful scrubbing?

Also, I'd like to give a shout out to Aquabiomics. I ordered the parasite DNA test from them, and while it came back clean, it also had over 90% of the sample from one worm, which apparently spawned right when I took the sample. They sent me another test, and the second one came back indicating Uronema. Not a result I wanted, but far better than having fish suddenly die and having no idea why. Thanks.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have uronema in my tank, or at least their DNA. The last fish died, so tearing down the tank and sterilizing is not a problem. But there are a few corals, a shrimp, snails and hermits. They can be housed while the DT is being cleaned, but what can I do to ensure there are no parasites on them?

I assume uronema doesn't actually infect any of these creatures, so it just needs to be removed from them - any ideas?

Hydrogen peroxide bath? Careful scrubbing?

Also, I'd like to give a shout out to Aquabiomics. I ordered the parasite DNA test from them, and while it came back clean, it also had over 90% of the sample from one worm, which apparently spawned right when I took the sample. They sent me another test, and the second one came back indicating Uronema. Not a result I wanted, but far better than having fish suddenly die and having no idea why. Thanks.

Uronema is a facultative, not obligate, parasite. It is found in 20 to 100% of aquariums, depending on who you ask and how hard you look. It’s day job is eating bacteria.
I’ve never tried eradicate it, since it will just return when you add something new.
Are you sure all of your fish died from Uronema? Typically, it only affects new fish of a limited number of species; chromis, anthias, yellow wrasse and sometimes butterflyfish.
Jay

 

[reddogf5]

None of them had red spots, but they all died in a similar manner - seemed fine and healthy one day, dead the next morning. 3 Vanderbilt chromis and a flasher wrasse. So I don't know exactly what killed them, but it acted fast, and uronema is in the tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

None of them had red spots, but they all died in a similar manner - seemed fine and healthy one day, dead the next morning. 3 Vanderbilt chromis and a flasher wrasse. So I don't know exactly what killed them, but it acted fast, and uronema is in the tank.

That sounds more like velvet, the only real symptom is rapid breathing followed by death. Acute poisoning can also kill fish fast, but you can rule that out if the tank had invertebrates in it that were not affected.

Uronema infections always shows red lesions, and tends to hit a few, not all fish.

As I said, I’ve isolated Uronema from most aquariums that I’ve looked for it in, do that showing up in DNA sampling makes sense, and shows that their process works.

Jay

 

[reddogf5]

Now I'm confused about uronema. If it is in every tank, why treat for it in QT? And why would you not try to eliminate it? The fish died one at a time over nearly a year after being introduced. None of them showed any symptoms, but the pictures and video of symptoms available is poor in my experience, at least I can't use them to tell the difference between healthy and not, or breathing fast.
I am doubtful it was velvet, if only because it did not show up in either DNA test.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Now I'm confused about uronema. If it is in every tank, why treat for it in QT? And why would you not try to eliminate it? The fish died one at a time over nearly a year after being introduced. None of them showed any symptoms, but the pictures and video of symptoms available is poor in my experience, at least I can't use them to tell the difference between healthy and not, or breathing fast.
I am doubtful it was velvet, if only because it did not show up in either DNA test.

I can't speak to their ability to screen for Velvet, Amyloodinium. However, your post offers another clue - I did NOT understand that the fish losses took place over a year. That is NOT velvet and it doesn't line up with Uronema either. It may be that not all of those losses were related in cause.

Uronema and other Scuticociliates are ubiquitous in marine aquariums. Uronema causes disease in two forms; external on seahorses and seadragons (probably a related genus, Miamiensis) or intercellular Uronema. The former can sometimes be treated with formalin dips and hypersalinity. The latter has been treated in petri dishes with chloroquine, but that just isn't effective in curing it internally. I discuss the latter in this article (click on the PDF link on the right side)

Uronema / Red Band Disease - Hemdal

Red Band Syndrome in Marine Fishes: Caused by the Protozoan; Uronema sp. Jay Hemdal Introduction: This moderately common disease of certain species of marine fish is so often misdiagnosed that most aquarists apply incorrect treatment methods...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[reddogf5]

But to clarify my initial question, is there anything that can be done to reduce the ability for coral and other inverts to carry fish disease into a tank?

 

[reddogf5]

Thanks for the info. I wasn't really trying to figure out why the last fish died, but how to proceed and try to ensure a disease free tank.Based on the first tank test, I was planning on just running all the fish through QT, but then the second one showed uronema and I figured it needed to be eliminated.

The odd thing about the wrasse was all that was left was a bit of flesh stuck to a power head. Not sure if whatever killed him did that, or if it was the shrimp and hermits.

I can't speak to their ability to screen for Velvet, Amyloodinium. However, your post offers another clue - I did NOT understand that the fish losses took place over a year. That is NOT velvet and it doesn't line up with Uronema either. It may be that not all of those losses were related in cause.

Uronema and other Scuticociliates are ubiquitous in marine aquariums. Uronema causes disease in two forms; external on seahorses and seadragons (probably a related genus, Miamiensis) or intercellular Uronema. The former can sometimes be treated with formalin dips and hypersalinity. The latter has been treated in petri dishes with chloroquine, but that just isn't effective in curing it internally. I discuss the latter in this article (click on the PDF link on the right side)

Uronema / Red Band Disease - Hemdal

Red Band Syndrome in Marine Fishes: Caused by the Protozoan; Uronema sp. Jay Hemdal Introduction: This moderately common disease of certain species of marine fish is so often misdiagnosed that most aquarists apply incorrect treatment methods...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[RedoubtReef]

But to clarify my initial question, is there anything that can be done to reduce the ability for coral and other inverts to carry fish disease into a tank?

If that is your goal, QT everything you put in the tank if you want to take the most conservative approach. That would include corals and rock.