Sick Chromis

[Bosco83]

I put two Chromis and a Chalk basslet in my 10 gallon qt tank on 2/10/19. I started treating with cupramine as my standard procedure. About a week or so in the larger Chromis had what looked like a missing scale and it was a little red. I thought maybe he was getting a bacterial infection, so I treated with kanaplex. That didn’t help and he progressively got worse and got more patches of what looks like missing scales. I started researching and found it possible could be Uronema marinum. I had ruby reef rally on hand so I did six rounds of that and it made the wounds look better but they haven’t gone away and he hasn’t grown any scales back. The other two fish show no signs of anything wrong. All the fish act completely normal and eat like crazy. Any suggestions?

 

[ngoodermuth]

Are you dosing ruby reef rally into the QT, or using as a bath?

I would do a 90-minute rally bath in a separate container (like a 5-gallon bucket, with an air-pump and small heater). Meanwhile, drain the QT, clean it with vinegar or bleach (rinse very, very well if using bleach) and re-fill.

You’ll need a bottle or two of bio-spira to re-seed the tank, since any bio-filter will be cleaned away with the uronema.

Then dose the QT with Metroplex at 2 scoops per 10 gallons and return the fish. Will need re-dosed every 48 hours after a 25% water-change, for 14 days.

 

[Bosco83]

So you would agree the fish has Uronema?I’ve been using it in the tank but I can try that method. I was also thinking of calling my vet and seeing if he will write me a prescription for Chloroquine phosphate. Would that be a treatment I could just put in the QT and not have to do a separate bath?

 

[ngoodermuth]

So you would agree the fish has Uronema?I’ve been using it in the tank but I can try that method. I was also thinking of calling my vet and seeing if he will write me a prescription for Chloroquine phosphate. Would that be a treatment I could just put in the QT and not have to do a separate bath?

Yep, CP can be done in the tank... But, if there is already an established bio-filter in your QT you may need to continue to dose daily to account for degradation.

Humblefish has recently added a new protocol option to account for this:
https://humble.fish/chloroquine-phosphate/

 

[Bosco83]

Thank you for your input I read through the link you posted. I’m very grateful for people like you and humblefish and what you bring to the hobby!

 

[Brian Kennedy]

What's the procedure for uronema in the DT?

 

[Mjrenz]

What's the procedure for uronema in the DT?

There's no reef safe treatment and the parasite can survive indefinitely without a host. If a fish gets uronema in the DT it can be removed and treated but can never be returned to that tank.

 

[Brian Kennedy]

So this is a break down the DT and start over situation?

 

[Brian Kennedy]

 

[jsvand5]

So this is a break down the DT and start over situation?

I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I’d just avoid uronema prone fish like chromis for now on and see how other fish do. You mention in your post that these were in QT though so I’m a little confused. Do you have other infected fish in the display? If you have a well established display that is otherwise doing well I’d at least try just avoiding chromis and seeing how it goes. Realistically I believe many tanks probably contain uronema and it just never breaks out.

 

[Mjrenz]

Most fish will be able to suppress the parasite through their natural immune system, but a full reboot would be the only way to eliminate it from your tank. I would agree to just avoid fish that are more susceptible to it like chromis

 

[Mjrenz]

I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I’d just avoid uronema prone fish like chromis for now on and see how other fish do. You mention in your post that these were in QT though so I’m a little confused. Do you have other infected fish in the display? If you have a well established display that is otherwise doing well I’d at least try just avoiding chromis and seeing how it goes. Realistically I believe many tanks probably contain uronema and it just never breaks out.

He's not the op, @Brian Kennedy it may be best to go ahead and start a new thread to avoid confusion on this thread