Lyretail anthia fin issue

[haleyf1024]

My lyretail is in QT with hyposalinity with a chromis and a PBT. He seems to be lethargic, still eating and swimming but slower than usual. His topfin also looks like part has turned white or has been bit off, but I doubt the PBT would touch him, they are friends. Any ideas what it is?

 

[Humblefish]

I can't tell for sure from the pics. When you say, "His topfin also looks like part has turned white"... does it look like a growth of some kind or a discoloration? The part about it looking like it, "has been bit off" makes me think fin rot. That is a symptom of a bacterial disease/infection, sometimes requiring antibiotic treatment.

 

[haleyf1024]

Just a slight discoloration.

 

[Humblefish]

Just a slight discoloration.

I would just keep a close eye on it for now. A healthy fish's natural immune system can sometimes fight off a mild infection. IME; soaking fish food in vitamin supplements (exs. Selcon, Zoecon, Vita-chem) helps with this. However, if it starts looking worse then you will need to treat with antibiotics (exs. Kanaplex, Furan-2).

 

[haleyf1024]

Well it got worse. He now has a pretty big scratch/injury to his side and the tip of his tail is gone. I need to get him meds tonight if it will help him :-( I think whatever it is claimed the life of my chromis, I saw it swimming and the next minute it was dead. The anthia didn't have this issue yesterday but he is still swimming and eating. ANY IDEAS??

 

[Humblefish]

You need to treat with an antibiotic like Kanaplex or Furan-2 for the fin rot. However, that red sore on the body may be Uronema. Did the chromis look like this before he died?

 

[haleyf1024]

I can't see the photo

 

[Humblefish]

How about this one?

 

[haleyf1024]

I don't believe so, but I may have missed something since he was so tiny (less than an inch)

 

[Humblefish]

Chromis are notorious for carrying Uronema marinum, a ciliate parasite that causes "red sores" to break out on their skin. Sometimes it starts out as a raised white bump before "breaking out" into a sore. This disease seems mostly confined to damsels and clownfish, but I have seen some exceptions to that. And I am wondering if this is what we're now seeing on the skin of your anthias. :sad:

 

[haleyf1024]

It does look like that. I am setting up a FW dip right now, as I have absolutely no way to get meds this weekend (I 17 and don't drive and parents out of town [emoji20]). Any tips for this? Is it like ick where it will stay in the water even if the FW dip treats him?

 

[haleyf1024]

Should I dip the PBT?

 

[haleyf1024]

Currently dipping both.

 

[Humblefish]

I've successfully used both copper & CP to treat this in the past (see more info below); but metro & acriflavine are considered alternative treatment options. A LFS I advise uses a product which contains acriflavine ("Rally") to successfully treat chromis with this condition. Unfortunately, this a very difficult disease to treat. And you will still need to also treat with antibiotics to address the fin rot issue. You need to look at this as a two front battle you've got going on in QT: antibiotics to fight off the bacterial disease causing the fin rot and one of the aforementioned to address the Uronema. All meds I've recommended thus far can safely be mixed, expect for the acriflavine.

Uronema marinum:

Symptoms - These are the red sores often seen on chromis damsels. The disease seems mostly confined to damsels and clownfish, but I have seen some exceptions to that.

Treatment options - This is a very difficult disease to treat. Possible treatment options include: Metronidazole (ex. Seachem MetroPlex), acriflavine (ex.Acriflavine-MS), Chloroquine phosphate and copper. The problem is the fish can never be returned to the infected tank from which it came. Uronema is a “free living” parasite which does not require a fish host. So, going fallow will not eradicate it. Most fish seem protected from it via their natural immune system; but for some reason, chromis and some other fish are not always afforded this protection. Once a tank has Uronema, it must be assumed that the disease can survive in there almost indefinitely.

Formalin bath or freshwater dip may provide temporary relief for Uronema.

 

[haleyf1024]

Are any reef safe?

 

[Humblefish]

Are any reef safe?

Only metro, but you have to soak it in fish food and also used a binder (such as Seachem Focus) to make it more palatable and also prevent the medication from leaching out into the water column. After you make some "medicated food" up, you can freeze & reuse so you don't have to go thru all that everytime.

 

[haleyf1024]

Hopefully he can make it to monday night when we can get some. He did well in the dip but is upset, plus he hates when I do water changes and I did a large one. The PBT is best friends with him and won't leave his side, it breaks my heart that he may not make it. I honestly think the tang would get depressed if the anthia doesn't pull through. Hopefully the water change, the dip, and it being in hypo will help a little. Funny how only he got it (plus the chromis possibly) even though he is in the bigger 30g QT tank with only the one other fish and yet I have no issues in my 20 long that has a marine betta, purple tang, valentini puffer, AND 2 clowns (yay for daily water changes lol). And nobody had it in the DT, just in the new QT with hypo.

 

[Humblefish]

It's possible the red mark on his side is just part of the bacterial infection and not, in fact, uronema. If so, the antibiotics alone might take care of it. But a red flag goes off in my mind whenever I hear that a chromis died and now you see something like this. I really like chromis, but avoid them nowadays because they seem so plagued by uronema.

 

[haleyf1024]

If it is uronema, how long do you think he will make it without the antibiotics?

 

[Humblefish]

If it is uronema, how long do you think he will make it without the antibiotics?

Assuming worst case scenario, both uronema and a gram negative bacterial infection can kill within 48 hrs.

The antibiotics are for the infection BTW. Copper, CP, metro, acriflavine are all possible treatment options for uronema.