Lost clownfiah

[KrisReef]

Are there any chances it could of just been a bacterial infection? Or am I just in denial?

What Frtdrmrose7 said I second.

I have a few years of experience & your excellent photos instantly triggered my feeble mind with one word, “Uronema.” I looked it up to double check and added a question mark so you and others on here would check my work. I’m confident that folks who chimed in would have challenged my conclusion if they thought there was a chance I was wrong and they would also have provided a different, probably correct diagnosis. The experts have spoken. Still;

There are always chances, in fact there are chances that the fish was sleeping. I think we can agree that the slumber in the photo was pretty symptomatic of eternal rest, and likely U.M. Sorry for the fish.

The only second thought I’ve had after others confirmed the pest was in regard to your question about what to do next? You could add a uv sterilizer to treat the water column in addition to normal tank maintenance measures.

Do what you can to improve chances for the survivors as best as you can. HTH.

 

[nlutfi]

Thank you KrisReef and Frtdrmrose I was just hoping it may of been something else. I just got home from work and all the other fish seem to be just fine, even my watchman goby was out and about. Seems my only option now is monitor what I have and see what happens. What is the purpose of the UV sterilizer? Will it help suppress the parasite? The clown was only in my tank for 3 days but I'm sure that's all it takes to infect everything. Also would my lfs tanks all be infected as well? Should I worry about buying from them again? They are pretty reputable and always have amazing looking tanks and get rave reviews as the best in the state. Any other advice is greatly appreciated on what to do next. I think a tear down would probably cause me to take a break from the hobby as I don't know if I can afford a restart right now. Thanks again!

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

The LFS will find out from someone and probably dose their tanks with Metro to kill it. It’s easier for them because they don’t use sand, rock, etc.
a UV will help kill any free swimming parasites that pass through it. A lot of people use them to manage disease. If your budget doesn’t allow for a tear down I would just keep an eye on your fish, be cautious about adding new fish, especially with Uronema sensitive species.
If you do need to do a tear down and decide to do it look on Craigslist for someone’s old freshwater tank setup (HOB filter, heater, light,etc) as they be found really cheap to use as a QT tank. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[ccombs]

If you are able to do a QT I highly recommend it. I had a fish go down with Uronema and it didn't really show itself for awhile. I did not put my fish in QT and am paying for it now (4 months later) as I am just starting a complete breakdown and restart.

I introduced 2 chromis to my tank that had it, one died the first night, the other a few nights later.

 

[nlutfi]

If i do plan to live with this is it worth investing in a UV sterilizer? Or will it not really be worth it? Is there anyone that has successfully had a tank with it? Maybe @Paul B?

 

[nlutfi]

Quick update my leopard wrasse was out swimming around and picking at rocks today when I got home from work but buried himself shortly after so I didn't get a chance to get a good look. Miday blenny is out and about with no signs of anything I can notice. Yellow watchman is in hiding today with is normal for him. I got an email from my lfs and was told the clown was in qt for 6 weeks with no issues before going up for sale, still waiting on a response for their actual qt set up/process. I'll keep you guys posted

 

[nlutfi]

Also curious is there anyone or anyway that my water can be tested for certain parasites?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Also curious is there anyone or anyway that my water can be tested for certain parasites?

Theres is not really a test kit but there is a black molly.

Acclimate a freshwater black molly to saltwater. There are a few ways to do this i prefer slowly increasing the salinity over a few days. If this fish with no immunity to any marine parasites develops a parasite you have them.
Mind you while treating your own fish you have no gained another fish to treat and care for that cant be used for this purpose again.

 

[nlutfi]

Is there any way to test the water under a microscope or anything like that? Or is that not viable as the parasite may not be in the sample?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Few problems with this, Amyloodinium dinospores are small and look like many other dinoflagellates.
So 1 your sample size would need to be large, to rule out.
And 2 its hard with a hobby scope to differentiate velvet from any number of dinoflagellates that are undoubtably in every system.

cryptocaryon is well equally cryptic. Its a ciliate and though most ciliates i personally find when looking at my reef water are oval not round like crypto, there are benign round ciliates. The dinospores of ich are only slightly larger than velvet.

I have no idea what the other marine parasites look like under a scope to say if they would be easier.

 

[nlutfi]

I was more curious if there is a lab somewhere I could send some too for them to test with more powerful scopes and actually know what to look for as I would have no idea!

 

[Gareth elliott]

Sadly no, main issue would be if you are not currently experiencing an outbreak the parasite load is going to be low. Would be no way to verify that you had no parasites vs. the sample they tested simply did not have any present.

 

[nlutfi]

yea that's what I figured but just thought I'd check.

 

[nlutfi]

Also any verdict if a UV sterilizer is worth investing in?

 

[Gareth elliott]

I use only for algae if needed.

Anecdotal but i had an outbreak of black ich over the past summer in my pond where i run a huge uv 24/7. I would not rely on uv to keep parasite free.

 

[nlutfi]

I use only for algae if needed.

Anecdotal but i had an outbreak of black ich over the past summer in my pond where i run a huge uv 24/7. I would not rely on uv to keep parasite free.

Yeah I figured if it is uronema it wouldn't completely kill it but maybe suppress it some?

 

[ccombs]

I am dealing with Uronema right now and was not proactive like I needed to be (well, I mis-diagnosed the issue). I introduced a Chromis and it died of Urnonema and my tank went on alright for weeks, then some fish died, then a few more months, fish fought and recovered, then several weeks later the deaths started again.

Ideally, you get the fish in QT, medicate with metro for a week or two, then go through a copper treatment (won't do anything for Uronema but will help if there is anything else going on).

From what I understand based on research here and a really in depth lesson from my LFS, Uronema exists in such a way that it is bound to be in your tank. That being said, it seems like you could have a successful tank and never deal with it even though it is in your system. However, if I understand correctly, Uronema is opportunistic and if you have a stressed or weak fish, it will host with that fish.

A few things to note about the parasite-

1) It is mainly found in chromis, and to a lesser extent, clowns. In clowns it doesn't always show up as the dark spot at first, many times it shows up as equilibrium issues.

2) With something like ich, the protocol is to get it to drop off the host so you can kill it (i.e. raising temp to speed up hosting, etc). With Uronema, it does not need a host to survive. That being said, it can continue to exist in your system.

Since I was late on diagnosing the real problem, I had substantial losses and due to that and other issues, I am doing a restart of my tank.

All that to say......QT is important.

 

[nlutfi]

Just wanted to update again. I talked to my lfs today where the clown was purchased a talked about thier QT process. They treat with metroplex, Prazipro, copper and medicated food for 4 weeks before anything goes for sale. Not sure if that means anything for uronema, but was glad to hear that. I also looked at the system where the clown came from and saw no signs of anything on any of the other fish in the system including other clowns, angles, chromis, ect. Let me know what you guys think!

 

[Gareth elliott]

Lfs qt and your home qt, can be slightly different.

If a new fish is added to that system at anytime it could potentially reset the qt clock.
If an employee there uses a net or other object from non qt’d fish on qt’d fish could potentially infect those fish. Its very difficult to ensure a fish you buy would be 100% parasite free.

Not to knock your lfs btw as the steps they are taking are not the norm

 

[nlutfi]

Yeah I'm sure it's not 100% but I was glad to here they do what they do.