Miamiensis avidus

[Eric552]

@Jay Hemdal

Hi all,

I currently have a QT set up with a copperband and blonde naso, up to this point I have been observing them and haven’t started any type of empiric treatment just yet, wanting to ensure that they were eating well. The copperband is eating very well, the blonde Nasso just appears kind of puny and always somewhat stressed, however, he is eating.

I recently sent off multiple aquarium water samples to DxAquaria for qPCR testing and on this particular QT, I got results back that detected the presence of “Miamiensis avidus”, which apparently is a uronema causing pathogen, however, less common then the classic uronema marinum.
I’m just curious, has anyone ever run across this particular pathogen? And if so, are there any general recommendations on how to address/eradicate it?

Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

@Jay Hemdal

Hi all,

I currently have a QT set up with a copperband and blonde naso, up to this point I have been observing them and haven’t started any type of empiric treatment just yet, wanting to ensure that they were eating well. The copperband is eating very well, the blonde Nasso just appears kind of puny and always somewhat stressed, however, he is eating.

I recently sent off multiple aquarium water samples to DxAquaria for qPCR testing and on this particular QT, I got results back that detected the presence of “Miamiensis avidus”, which apparently is a uronema causing pathogen, however, less common then the classic uronema marinum.
I’m just curious, has anyone ever run across this particular pathogen? And if so, are there any general recommendations on how to address/eradicate it?

Thanks!

Uronema often common with butterflies, damsels and chromis but not limited to these fish. Prevention is always key and I recommend reef safe ruby Rally Pro as a preventative measure . Also assure minimal to no debris within tank/tank bottom and prevent overfeeding

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

That is an organism that aquarists casually lump into the group of Scuctocociliates. Visually, under gross observation, they really cannot be differentiated from others in the group, so it wasn’t until the advent of qPCR that we could identify these to species.

Because this is intercellular (if it becomes parasitic) it is NOT treatable. People will offer treatments, but those all will fail. The only thing I’ve found is that chloroquine at 15 to 20 ppm can kill free living ones, potentially keeping it from spreading.

Here is an excerpt from a paper about this organism:

Scuticociliates, recognized as facultative parasites of mariculture animals, require suitable conditions to become pathogenic. In the present study, the rapid multiplication and spread of scuticociliates may have been primarily attributed to the high stocking density, obstructed water exchange during the neap tide, and the vulnerability of the juveniles reared in seawater net cages.

Notice the word “facultative”. These are not obligate parasites, and do not cause disease in all instances.

That all said - copperbands are prone to scutocociliate infections, but I’ve never seen that in a naso tang. Blonde nasos have their own issues - after around 2020 or so, the mortality rate on these really jumped, with a higher percentage of them dying for no discernible reason.

 

[Eric552]

Appreciate the info guys!

Jay- So by not treatable, are we saying that I will never be able to safely add these fish to my DT?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Appreciate the info guys!

Jay- So by not treatable, are we saying that I will never be able to safely add these fish to my DT?

No - if the fish are asymptomatic for a period of time, they would be safe to add to your DT. What I would consider doing is to treat them with chloroquine in the QT. That will reduce any free living ones. Then, if the fish don’t show signs of infection in 40 days, I’d consider them free of that infection. I would give the fish a standard quarantine treatment during that time to eliminate more common diseases.

Nobody knows the mechanism by which these scutocociliates develop into internal infections, but spreading of the infection is very rare. For example - you might have a group of new green chromis in which 10 to 25% show infections and die from it. The others are fine, and any fish they are then exposed to don’t develop infection. I only have one case in my files where a fish was suspected of picking up an infection from other fish during quarantine.

Infected fish seem to acquire the infection during transport and handling after collection, but before arriving to the final dealer’s tanks.