Help identifying what killed my Chromis

[Killingtime]

Well, I didn't imagine my first post to be about this...
I'm looking for help identifying what killed this Chromis today. He had stopped eating the past two days and had clamped his tailfin. I QT'd three Green Chromis on 4/15. 1 passed that night. No obvious signs of disease. After 30 days I thought I was good and added the remaining 2 to my DT. These were my first fish into the tank. I already have a few coral in there.

 

[Killingtime]

My main concern is obviously Uronema. I'm 90% ready to say that is what it is, except he had no scale loss. So I'm coming to the experts to hopefully tell me I'm wrong.

Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium type: Reef
Aquarium water volume : 36g
Filtration type : canister (9x tank turnover per hour)
Lighting : Kessil 360x
How long has the aquarium been established? : JUST completed cycle
Digital image of the aquarium under white light

Water quality (be sure to indicate what measurement units you are using)
Temperature : 78f
pH: : 7.95
Salinity / specific gravity : 34.8ppt
Ammonia : 0
Nitrite : 0
Nitrate : 10ppm
Phosphorus: 0
Copper-
Other-

In-depth information:
Have you lost any fish to this problem yet? (see below): Yes
Are any invertebrates affected? : Nothing seems affected yet
Respiration rate of affected fish (in gill beats per minutes, count for 15 seconds and multiply by 4) -
Are the affected fish still feeding? : Slowed/stopped eating
What remedies have you tried so far? : Haven't had a chance to do anything yet. I've ordered Metroplex, which should be here tomorrow
Digital image of the fish with the health issue, taken under white light

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My main concern is obviously Uronema. I'm 90% ready to say that is what it is, except he had no scale loss. So I'm coming to the experts to hopefully tell me I'm wrong.

Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium type: Reef
Aquarium water volume : 36g
Filtration type : canister (9x tank turnover per hour)
Lighting : Kessil 360x
How long has the aquarium been established? : JUST completed cycle
Digital image of the aquarium under white light

Water quality (be sure to indicate what measurement units you are using)
Temperature : 78f
pH: : 7.95
Salinity / specific gravity : 34.8ppt
Ammonia : 0
Nitrite : 0
Nitrate : 10ppm
Phosphorus: 0
Copper-
Other-

In-depth information:
Have you lost any fish to this problem yet? (see below): Yes
Are any invertebrates affected? : Nothing seems affected yet
Respiration rate of affected fish (in gill beats per minutes, count for 15 seconds and multiply by 4) -
Are the affected fish still feeding? : Slowed/stopped eating
What remedies have you tried so far? : Haven't had a chance to do anything yet. I've ordered Metroplex, which should be here tomorrow
Digital image of the fish with the health issue, taken under white light

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Thanks for the additional information. I don't think it was Uronema - as you pointed out, it doesn't have the typical deep muscle lesions. In addition, most fish that die from Uronema die with their mouth's fixed wide open.

I do see some slight indication of damage to its tail - could it have been harassed by the other chromis?

The bottom line is that green chromis have a very high initial mortality rate, and changes in the supply chain due to Covid have made that even worse. I won't buy green chromis unless I get larger ones that I know came from Tahiti. The mortality rate is at least 60% in the first 40 days, and I bet it is actually much higher than that.

Jay

 

[Killingtime]

Jay

Thank you and thanks for the reply. That's a relief! I really didn't want to nuke the tank. I'm going to have to agree with your mortality assessment. I guess it doesn't make it any better that they were purchased from Petco. Another mistake I won't be making again.

I think the picture may have not been as good as they needed to be. I did not see any fin damage when I pull him out. They were just clamped. The other Chromis is significantly smaller and was getting lightly picked on by the deceased so I don't think he would have caused any injury.

I'll be re-homing the last Chromis and staying FAR away from them for a long, long time.

Also, thank you for the QT write up. Great piece. I'll be following your recommendations exactly for anything else I pick up.