Introducing susceptible fish into display with Uronema?

[cdw79]

Welp, I moved my fish out of QT and into the display last night- beautiful Genicanthus angel and a small hippo tang. I woke up today to a small red sore on the angel. Seems I must have messed up somewhere in my QT regimen, or Uronema was somehow already in my display. In some ways I suppose it doesn't matter.

I'm going to try to get it out tonight when it's asleep (no luck in my hour+ of attempts), and I'm pretty confident I'll be able to do so. I've read that most established fish *shouldn't* be bothered by uronema, that most established tanks have it, etc., so I'm less worried about the long-established current residents of the display.

My concern comes down to adding uronema-prone fish to the display in the future. I have a Borbonius anthias in a different QT system, for example, but I don't know if I'm sending it to a death sentence by eventually adding it to the display. Same with a replacement Genicanthus, assuming this one succumbs to its condition when I hopefully get it out of the display.

Does anyone have experience adding uronema-prone fish to a tank with uronema in it? if so, any best practices or things to avoid?

 

[fishywishy]

@Jay Hemdal @MnFish1

 

[MnFish1]

Welp, I moved my fish out of QT and into the display last night- beautiful Genicanthus angel and a small hippo tang. I woke up today to a small red sore on the angel. Seems I must have messed up somewhere in my QT regimen, or Uronema was somehow already in my display. In some ways I suppose it doesn't matter.

I'm going to try to get it out tonight when it's asleep (no luck in my hour+ of attempts), and I'm pretty confident I'll be able to do so. I've read that most established fish *shouldn't* be bothered by uronema, that most established tanks have it, etc., so I'm less worried about the long-established current residents of the display.

My concern comes down to adding uronema-prone fish to the display in the future. I have a Borbonius anthias in a different QT system, for example, but I don't know if I'm sending it to a death sentence by eventually adding it to the display. Same with a replacement Genicanthus, assuming this one succumbs to its condition when I hopefully get it out of the display.

Does anyone have experience adding uronema-prone fish to a tank with uronema in it? if so, any best practices or things to avoid?

Uronema can be present in any tank - and the fish in the tank may not have any illness (Uronema does not require a host, but can rather live on detritus, etc). So, it's surely possible that you had uronema in your tank before.

However, uronema should not develop overnight - and the 'small red sore' - is more likely an injury - than 'acute' uronema'. Usually I would be tempted to treat a fish with a red injury with a broad spectrum antibiotic like kanamycin (in a hospital tank). It is also possible that your angel had uronema in your hospital tank, and you just noticed it when added to your display.

It would be great if you could post a picture to see exactly what you're dealing with - Since it's not clear that it is uronemt. To answer your question - since it's impossible to know which tanks have uronema, I would not necessarily be more worried about adding fish more prone to uronema to a tank. One way to minimize the likelihood of uronema in a tank would be to try to keep conditions and water as clean as possible, eliminate detritus, etc.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I agree - inter cellular Uronema is rarely transmitted fish to fish, and certainly could not produce a lesion one day after exposure. How long has the genicanthus been in captivity? It may have been harboring it since shipping (the transport chain seems to be where these fish pick it up).

 

[cdw79]

I agree - inter cellular Uronema is rarely transmitted fish to fish, and certainly could not produce a lesion one day after exposure. How long has the genicanthus been in captivity? It may have been harboring it since shipping (the transport chain seems to be where these fish pick it up).

I've had it in QT for the past 30-35 days or so (standard for me is 4 weeks, but took him awhile to adjust to therapeutic copper). The LFS had him for at least 2 weeks before that

 

[cdw79]

Uronema can be present in any tank - and the fish in the tank may not have any illness (Uronema does not require a host, but can rather live on detritus, etc). So, it's surely possible that you had uronema in your tank before.

However, uronema should not develop overnight - and the 'small red sore' - is more likely an injury - than 'acute' uronema'. Usually I would be tempted to treat a fish with a red injury with a broad spectrum antibiotic like kanamycin (in a hospital tank). It is also possible that your angel had uronema in your hospital tank, and you just noticed it when added to your display.

It would be great if you could post a picture to see exactly what you're dealing with - Since it's not clear that it is uronemt. To answer your question - since it's impossible to know which tanks have uronema, I would not necessarily be more worried about adding fish more prone to uronema to a tank. One way to minimize the likelihood of uronema in a tank would be to try to keep conditions and water as clean as possible, eliminate detritus, etc.

The more I think about the more I wonder if @MnFish1 is right and that maybe I jumped the gun, subconsciously knowing these guys are prone to uronema.

Here are a few pics I took now. Forgive the quality, tried to blow them up to help with that. To the naked eye (albeit in my AB+ spectrum that is still somewhat blue-heavy) the spot itself seems much less red than it did this morning, It looks much more like a gash. In the pics below (using an orange lens) it comes out to be more red.

Maybe it is just a gash as opposed to the start of uronema? I do have some well established tangs in here and I want to say I did see one give the angel a bit of tail, so that could be an explanation. What do you guys think?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The more I think about the more I wonder if @MnFish1 is right and that maybe I jumped the gun, subconsciously knowing these guys are prone to uronema.

Here are a few pics I took now. Forgive the quality, tried to blow them up to help with that. To the naked eye (albeit in my AB+ spectrum that is still somewhat blue-heavy) the spot itself seems much less red than it did this morning, It looks much more like a gash. In the pics below (using an orange lens) it comes out to be more red.

Maybe it is just a gash as opposed to the start of uronema? I do have some well established tangs in here and I want to say I did see one give the angel a bit of tail, so that could be an explanation. What do you guys think?

That does look more like an injury from a tang than Uronema. Uronema is usually more linear, and more commonly higher up on the fish's side.

Luckily, if it is from a tang, there is no vital organs there, so it should heal up without issue.

 

[cdw79]

That's great news! I've admittedly never dealt with Uronema in my own display so I just assumed that any bright red spot must be it starting. I'll keep an eye on it. Really appreciate the help!