Possum wrasse w/ injury/illness losing scales

[Montagne]

Hi all, I’m new to the forum so sorry about any etiquette violations but I suspect my issue is urgent.

This afternoon I noticed my possum wrasse had a weird spot on it’s one side. Closer inspection showed a couple of scales protruding and what looks like a sore. I immediately fed dr. G’s anti-bacterial rx (Kanamycin and metronidazole) which the wrasse eagerly took as usual. Within a couple of hours the scale over the sore came off and it looks like the next layer of scales back are also starting to protrude. I’m not able to catch the wrasse, unfortunately, for isolated treatment. I’ve done a 20% water change tonight and had changed my activated carbon/pre media combo a few days ago.

The tank is a skimmerless stock 16gal biocube that’s been running for ~6 months. Tankmates include a pearly jawfish, striped blenny, sexy shrimp, snail clean up crew and a variety of corals with no new additions for the past 4 months or other issues.
Salinity: 1.021
Nitrates: 20 (bit high after trying out more frequent coral feeding, usually between 10-20)
Nitrites & ammonia: 0
Salt: instant ocean
Dosing: none, nutrients replaced via weekly water change

Please reach out with thoughts! The little guy is not showing signs of distress for now but I’m quite concerned about how quickly this seems to be progressing. The first photo shows the sore around 6pm and the second the scale falling off around 7:30.

 

[Punchanello]

I'm not sure what the specific issue is. I have kept possum wrasses for a while though and they are pretty hardy so I would be optimistic that it will recover. My first guess would be a scrape of some sort which isn't unusual with these guys especially as it appears to have ocurred suddenly

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi - welcome to Reef2Reef!

This looks very much like Uronema (a protozoan) or Uronema mixed with bacteria. It is a very aggressive infection, common to wrasse and chromis, but unusual to see in fish that have been in an aquarium for more than a month or so. Since you can't remove it to treat, the medicated food is your only option. The question is if the med food will act fast enough to resolve the problem.

Jay

 

[Montagne]

Thanks for the input, glad to hear they have held up in the past. A scrape would be consistent with it being isolated to the one side and my confidence that it’s not a bite, but I’m not familiar with Uronema. Is that systemic that it would show up on both sides or localized to an infection site?

Update - Still alive this morning but no longer taking the medicated food. It was interested right away, sampled a couple of pieces but then spat them out and watched the rest go by. The sore looked about the same as it did later last night but without the lights being on yet it’s hard to be sure. I’ll follow up again this evening.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here is some info I've written on Uronema:

Uronema marinum (Red band disease)

Cause
Uronema is an elongate, oval, ciliated, motile protozoan, up to 40 um in length, that can become an opportunistic pathogen in marine aquariums. Because it is so generic-looking, identification in the field is always provisional. Most professional aquarists actually mean “Uronema-like” when they say “Uronema.”

Uronema infections have been seen in six families of fishes (in roughly descending order of frequency): Pomacentridae (damselfishes, specifically of the genus Chromis); Serranidae (subfamily Anthiinae the Anthias); Syngnathidae (seahorses and seadragons); Labridae (the wrasses); Chaetodontidae (the butterflyfishes); and, occasionally, Pomacanthidae (the angelfishes). There are, no doubt, other species of fish that can be infected.

Symptoms
This moderately common protozoan disease has symptoms that include the rapid development of a red mark in the hypodermis (fat and muscle) region of the fish, often following rows of scales so that the lesion is typically elongate and angled downward as it progresses front to back along the flank of the fish. Within a day or two of the development of the primary lesion, the fish will become lethargic and stop feeding and its respiration rate will increase. Scales above the lesion can be dislodged easily due to the massive trauma to the underlying tissue. Death follows rapidly, with few fish surviving beyond three days after the primary lesion develops.

Almost universally, aquarists who do not have access to a microscope will identify this disease as a “secondary bacterial infection resulting from some injury.” In fact, “capture damage” is often cited as the original cause due to the often-linear nature of the lesion, which looks much like a bruise from being hit with a net frame, for example. The rapid onset of the lesion (often many days after capture) and the fact that it develops internally and then erupts externally both point to another cause.

Almost universally, aquarists who do not have access to a microscope will identify this disease as a “secondary bacterial infection resulting from some injury.” In fact, “capture damage” is often cited as the original cause due to the often-linear nature of the lesion, which looks much like a bruise from being hit with a net frame, for example. The rapid onset of the lesion (often many days after capture) and the fact that it develops internally and then erupts externally both point to another cause.

Treatment
A variety of treatments have been suggested for Uronema infections, but full control is rarely seen following most of these treatments. Part of the issue seems to be that Uronema is ubiquitous (naturally occurring in marine aquariums) and re-infection is commonplace.

Bath treatments may fail because the medication used does not target the intercellular protozoans, only those living externally on the skin of the fish. Copper treatments may reduce the numbers of these ciliates, but good control is not seen until ionic copper levels reach 0.23 ppm, and this is too close to the lethal limit for many species of fish. Formalin baths of various concentrations and durations have been proposed, but this treatment is also mostly effective against external protozoans.

The most commonly used treatment is chloroquine at 15 ppm for 30 days.

Hyposalinity and Uronema
A suspiciously high occurrence of Uronema outbreaks is seen in marine fish being kept under hyposalinity (low salinity) to control another protozoan parasite, Cryptocaryon irritans (saltwater ich). It seems that either Uronema prefers low-salinity water or such treatments lower the fish’s resistance to the protozoan.


Jay

 

[Bleakborn]

I have one and he is a tough little bugger, he has been attacked and lost scales and looked kinda like that, he has survived marine velvet and he has been stung by nems multiple times.

So there is some hope he will recover on his own but still I would try to feed him the best possible frozen/thawed food you can find to help him naturally fight off whatever is wrong with him along with giving him some kind of treatment once you figure out what is wrong with him.

If you need to catch him out I have had luck by turning on the lights earlier then normal and scooping him out while he is adjusting.

I hope he/she recovers for you! One of my favorite fish!

 

[Montagne]

Here is some info I've written on Uronema:

Uronema marinum (Red band disease)

Cause
Uronema is an elongate, oval, ciliated, motile protozoan, up to 40 um in length, that can become an opportunistic pathogen in marine aquariums. Because it is so generic-looking, identification in the field is always provisional. Most professional aquarists actually mean “Uronema-like” when they say “Uronema.”

Uronema infections have been seen in six families of fishes (in roughly descending order of frequency): Pomacentridae (damselfishes, specifically of the genus Chromis); Serranidae (subfamily Anthiinae the Anthias); Syngnathidae (seahorses and seadragons); Labridae (the wrasses); Chaetodontidae (the butterflyfishes); and, occasionally, Pomacanthidae (the angelfishes). There are, no doubt, other species of fish that can be infected.

Symptoms
This moderately common protozoan disease has symptoms that include the rapid development of a red mark in the hypodermis (fat and muscle) region of the fish, often following rows of scales so that the lesion is typically elongate and angled downward as it progresses front to back along the flank of the fish. Within a day or two of the development of the primary lesion, the fish will become lethargic and stop feeding and its respiration rate will increase. Scales above the lesion can be dislodged easily due to the massive trauma to the underlying tissue. Death follows rapidly, with few fish surviving beyond three days after the primary lesion develops.

Almost universally, aquarists who do not have access to a microscope will identify this disease as a “secondary bacterial infection resulting from some injury.” In fact, “capture damage” is often cited as the original cause due to the often-linear nature of the lesion, which looks much like a bruise from being hit with a net frame, for example. The rapid onset of the lesion (often many days after capture) and the fact that it develops internally and then erupts externally both point to another cause.

Almost universally, aquarists who do not have access to a microscope will identify this disease as a “secondary bacterial infection resulting from some injury.” In fact, “capture damage” is often cited as the original cause due to the often-linear nature of the lesion, which looks much like a bruise from being hit with a net frame, for example. The rapid onset of the lesion (often many days after capture) and the fact that it develops internally and then erupts externally both point to another cause.

Treatment
A variety of treatments have been suggested for Uronema infections, but full control is rarely seen following most of these treatments. Part of the issue seems to be that Uronema is ubiquitous (naturally occurring in marine aquariums) and re-infection is commonplace.

Bath treatments may fail because the medication used does not target the intercellular protozoans, only those living externally on the skin of the fish. Copper treatments may reduce the numbers of these ciliates, but good control is not seen until ionic copper levels reach 0.23 ppm, and this is too close to the lethal limit for many species of fish. Formalin baths of various concentrations and durations have been proposed, but this treatment is also mostly effective against external protozoans.

The most commonly used treatment is chloroquine at 15 ppm for 30 days.

Hyposalinity and Uronema
A suspiciously high occurrence of Uronema outbreaks is seen in marine fish being kept under hyposalinity (low salinity) to control another protozoan parasite, Cryptocaryon irritans (saltwater ich). It seems that either Uronema prefers low-salinity water or such treatments lower the fish’s resistance to the protozoan.


Jay

Is chloroquine sold under a branded name like prazipro or anything?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So - chloroquine is a bit issue right now. Since April, it has been impossible to find because some fools in Arizona took some aquarium chloroquine to try and cure covid and one died. It was immediately pulled from the market everywhere in the US. You wouldn't be able to dose chloroquine in your DT anyway. Sorry!

 

[Montagne]

Ugh I’d heard about that and had been hoping there was a dedicated aquarium product I could look for to avoid the noise related to Covid. Thanks for the heads up about using it in my DT as well. Definitely fingers crossed it’s a scrape now.

Do you know how uronema spreads? Thinking about it affecting my other fish now too.

 

[HotRocks]

Ugh I’d heard about that and had been hoping there was a dedicated aquarium product I could look for to avoid the noise related to Covid. Thanks for the heads up about using it in my DT as well. Definitely fingers crossed it’s a scrape now.

Do you know how uronema spreads? Thinking about it affecting my other fish now too.

Uronema Can spread rapidly. It is a very different parasite from other common parasites like ich and velvet. It has a direct life cycle meaning the reproduction takes place directly on the fish. The weird thing about uronema is it usually only will have detrimental impact to fish from the genus of chromis, clowns, damsel, some wrasse and dwarf angels. Those are the only fish I have ever dealt with it impacting personally. The other issue is once it is in your tank it cannot be removed by way of a fallow period. It either has to be killed with medications (that are not reef safe) or a complete teardown and sanitization of the system.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Uronema Can spread rapidly. It is a very different parasite from other common parasites like ich and velvet. It has a direct life cycle meaning the reproduction takes place directly on the fish. The weird thing about uronema is it usually only will have detrimental impact to fish from the genus of chromis, clowns, damsel, some wrasse and dwarf angels. Those are the only fish I have ever dealt with it impacting personally. The other issue is once it is in your tank it cannot be removed by way of a fallow period. It either has to be killed with medications (that are not reef safe) or a complete teardown and sanitization of the system.

Just to clarify; Uronema is a fairly ubiquitous scuticociliate protozoan (but there seem to be multiple species). It can be isolated from virtually all aquariums if you look hard enough. It is normally a bacteria feeder, but under certain conditions it becomes infective on the types of fish you noted. The reason it then becomes virulent and may spread to other fish is due to propagule pressure; so many of the protozoans are present in an active infection that other fish cannot ward them off and also become infected. The fallow period just needs to be long enough for that pressure to abate - about a month or so.

I do need to add that there is no way to differentiate between a Uronema and bacterial infection without using a microscope. Indeed, as I mentioned since Uronema feeds on bacteria, a skin scrape very often shows both issues at the same time. Additionally, I side with Noga in saying that once deep muscle infection is noted, treatments rarely (never) work.

Jay

 

[Montagne]

Possum wrasse is still around after work and it doesn’t look like any more scales have come off. There are about two additional rows of scales that are protruding a good amount but the sore overall looks less raw than it did yesterday. I’m taking this as a good sign that it’s not any worse after 24 hours and will do another 20% water change tonight.

The wrasse sampled but spat out the medicated food again - should I resume feeding my regular frozen food so that theyre getting the nutrition needed to heal or keep trying the medicated food in hopes they get hungry enough to take to it?

Thanks all


Poor quality but shows difference in scale profile between left and right sides:

Sore with protruding scales visible nea

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Oh, that second pic is so much like classic Uronema...

Metronidazole is very bitter and fish soon learn to avoid it. I’ve tried fish oil to try and mask it, I wonder if garlic might serve the same purpose ?
Jay

 

[Montagne]

Yeah I’ve never had a fish with a scrape before so I’m certainly no expert but I’m having a really hard time trying to explain the protruding scales with a purely mechanical injury. Legit, if anyone knows more about how scales respond to injury though I’d be super interested in hearing the details. In the mean time, this looks real gnarly and I feel super bad for the little guy.

Also noted - medicated food is now soaking in garlic for later.

I’ll be upgrading tanks in a couple of months and was planning on moving my fish and live rock with encrusted corals. I’m not sure I completely understood the other posts well enough to understand if the tank, inhabitants and materials should be safe to expose to susceptible fish down the road or not. Could you please clarify? Thank you!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Uronema is a common protozoan in all aquariums. It normally feeds on bacteria. For some reason, it can flare up and become a falcultative fish parasite. One reason I know can cause this is low salinity....there are other, unknown reasons. Wrasses and chromis are hit hard by it. If your wrasse dies, I’d wait a month or so for things to simmer down, and avoid susceptible species for awhile. Waiting longer is pointless because some of these protozoans are still there. Uronema is most common on newly acquired fish, so a good QT system is vital.
Jay

 

[Montagne]

Just wanted to follow up for anyone that finds this in the future that my possum wrasse came through totally fine. After a couple days of spitting out the garlic soaked medicated food I resumed normal feeding and eventually his scales laid back down without falling off. He never ended up losing his appetite or becoming lethargic so I consider myself very lucky.
Thanks again for the quick responses!