Vanderbuilt chromis with uronemia?

[adittam]

At this point, if the lesion is growing, I would treat with copper and an antibiotic. If it isn't growing, I'd stick with just the copper.

Uronema grows intercellularly, so there really is no effective treatment once it gets going. While it is pretty common in new chromis, it also is ubiquitous, it can be isolated from many aquariums. It normally just feeds on bacteria. For some reason, it becomes an internal parasite to new chromis, wrasses and anthias. It isn't anything you need to tear a tank down about, just avoid the problem species for some time.

In terms of antibiotics - you want to use a broad spectrum, gram negative one, like Neoplex or Furan-2.

Jay

Sounds like a plan, thank you for your help, @Jay Hemdal!

 

[adittam]

Photo from another thread discussing uronema. Looks like it to me.

If urenoma, the fish would probably be dead by now is my understanding as it kills quickly... make sure water quailty is good. I think that antibiotics may be a better bet and clear that up before stressing fish with copper, unless u see ich or velvet, etc.

Verify the above, as its just my initial thought and i am not an expert...

Follow recommendation from Jay and use this as option B

Thank you all for your help!

 

[adittam]

For those who are following, I decided to euthanize the OTHER, smaller chromis this morning, for clear signs of disease and horrible health (it was barely able to swim this morning) after getting harassed and nipped by the larger chromis incessantly.

When I got them, the smaller one looked to be in perfect health, now the bigger one looks to be in perfect health. I’ve treating with copper for the last 23 days now, and Neoplex for the last 16 days, and this still progressed in the smaller chromis. While not definitive, it certainly seems to indicate that uronema is ubiquitous and opportunistic.

@Jay Hemdal , when QT is done in a few weeks, knowing that there is definitely a disease process present in the QT tank that infected the more stressed of the 2 chromis, would you be comfortable transferring the remaining well-appearing one to the DT? Would you recommend any additional treatment in the QT in addition to the 7 more days of copper and two rounds of prazi that remain per protocol? Thanks for the help.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

For those who are following, I decided to euthanize the OTHER, smaller chromis this morning, for clear signs of disease and horrible health (it was barely able to swim this morning) after getting harassed and nipped by the larger chromis incessantly.

When I got them, the smaller one looked to be in perfect health, now the bigger one looks to be in perfect health. I’ve treating with copper for the last 23 days now, and Neoplex for the last 16 days, and this still progressed in the smaller chromis. While not definitive, it certainly seems to indicate that uronema is ubiquitous and opportunistic.

@Jay Hemdal , when QT is done in a few weeks, knowing that there is definitely a disease process present in the QT tank that infected the more stressed of the 2 chromis, would you be comfortable transferring the remaining well-appearing one to the DT? Would you recommend any additional treatment in the QT in addition to the 7 more days of copper and two rounds of prazi that remain per protocol? Thanks for the help.

That really looks like tankmate aggression, with a secondary bacterial infection. Uronema could also be involved as it feeds on bacteria.

My general policy is to hold fish in the QT for at least 30 days beyond the date that the last fish died, or the last symptoms were observed.

Jay

 

[adittam]

That really looks like tankmate aggression, with a secondary bacterial infection. Uronema could also be involved as it feeds on bacteria.

My general policy is to hold fish in the QT for at least 30 days beyond the date that the last fish died, or the last symptoms were observed.

Jay

How often do you see a bacterial infection start in the presence of a broad spectrum antibiotic such as Neoplex?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

How often do you see a bacterial infection start in the presence of a broad spectrum antibiotic such as Neoplex?

Without running a sensitivity study, any antibiotic use is just a guess. Neomycin doesn't work well against gram positive bacteria, or anaerobes. It is pretty effective against gram negative infections, which most damaged-induced external infections are. Some people opt for multi-antibiotic treatments. I'm not a huge fan of that because of possible unknown interactions.

Jay