Disease Identification Help

[Reefer1978]

Good morning everyone, can you please help me ID why this BiMac passed away in QT Tank?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Good morning everyone, can you please help me ID why this BiMac passed away in QT Tank?

Looks like this guy had uronema which is an oval ciliated motile protozoan which causes tissue necrosis as seen on fish. What other fish are in the tank?
This can also be triggered by low salinity levels as well as excess food waste on tank bottom which this protozoan can feed on as often prevention can be more valuable than cure for this.
Fish will have to be quarantined and treated with formalin based treatment which is harder to find, so next option is Ruby rally Pro. Chloroquine Phosphate will also work but must be used precisely. Uronema is not an obligate parasite, and can thrive on bacteria, uneaten food, and waste so besides treatment also maintain a clean tank removing waste daily.
To touch up more on this disease which is an oval ciliated motile protozoan that causes tissue necrosis as seen on fish.
What other fish are in the tank?
This can also be triggered by low salinity levels as well as excess food waste on tank bottom which this protozoan can feed on as often prevention can be more valuable than cure for this.

 

[MnFish1]

Good morning everyone, can you please help me ID why this BiMac passed away in QT Tank?

Agree with @vetteguy53081 - If not Uronema, there is certainly a huge wound that looks infected. It might help others if you posted the other fish how long it took to develop, i.e. some more history. Sorry about the fish. I'm very interested in the progression of symptoms, etc.

 

[Reefer1978]

This was in a QT tank with just BiMac antheas and a single japanese cherry antheas. Came in a shipment from a store, one fish had a white line that developed into a sore, and from there one by one they started getting it. Seller is adamant this is not Uronema, but I also believe this is it. QT tank was clean, brand new, I restarted it (I guess time for another restart now).

 

[Reefer1978]

More importantly I transferred 3 looking clean fish to the DT. Should I worry? Any precaution I can take? Feed medicated food, etc?

 

[vetteguy53081]

This was in a QT tank with just BiMac antheas and a single japanese cherry antheas. Came in a shipment from a store, one fish had a white line that developed into a sore, and from there one by one they started getting it. Seller is adamant this is not Uronema, but I also believe this is it. QT tank was clean, brand new, I restarted it (I guess time for another restart now).

Symptoms you describe suggest uronema also as its opportunistic

 

[MnFish1]

This was in a QT tank with just BiMac antheas and a single japanese cherry antheas. Came in a shipment from a store, one fish had a white line that developed into a sore, and from there one by one they started getting it. Seller is adamant this is not Uronema, but I also believe this is it. QT tank was clean, brand new, I restarted it (I guess time for another restart now).

If the store is adamant that it's not Uronema, I would ask them 'what it is'. It would be interesting to hear their answer. Uronema to my experience starts out as a small sore-like injury - and then can spread as the parasite causes damage (a pink wound). It is a little difficult to too tell when dead out of the water.

 

[MnFish1]

More importantly I transferred 3 looking clean fish to the DT. Should I worry? Any precaution I can take? Feed medicated food, etc?

Uronema is probably present in many tanks. I would make sure you're feeding well, minimizing stress, etc. Watch them carefully!

 

[Reefer1978]

If the store is adamant that it's not Uronema, I would ask them 'what it is'. It would be interesting to hear their answer. Uronema to my experience starts out as a small sore-like injury - and then can spread as the parasite causes damage (a pink wound). It is a little difficult to too tell when dead out of the water.

It's exactly how you are describing it.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Good morning everyone, can you please help me ID why this BiMac passed away in QT Tank?

How long did it have that lesion? If less than two days or so, that is almost assuredly Uronema. Sometimes, you can see mixed infections of Uronema and bacteria.

Here is an article I wrote on this issue:

Uronema / Red Band Disease - Hemdal

Red Band Syndrome in Marine Fishes: Caused by the Protozoan; Uronema sp. Jay Hemdal Introduction: This moderately common disease of certain species of marine fish is so often misdiagnosed that most aquarists apply incorrect treatment methods...

www.reef2reef.com

It is unlikely to be contagious to other fish, nobody knows why certain fish develop internal Uronema when newly acquired - they obviously contracted it during the supply chain. It is not treatable.

Jay

 

[Reefer1978]

How long did it have that lesion? If less than two days or so, that is almost assuredly Uronema. Sometimes, you can see mixed infections of Uronema and bacteria.

Here is an article I wrote on this issue:

Uronema / Red Band Disease - Hemdal

Red Band Syndrome in Marine Fishes: Caused by the Protozoan; Uronema sp. Jay Hemdal Introduction: This moderately common disease of certain species of marine fish is so often misdiagnosed that most aquarists apply incorrect treatment methods...

www.reef2reef.com

It is unlikely to be contagious to other fish, nobody knows why certain fish develop internal Uronema when newly acquired - they obviously contracted it during the supply chain. It is not treatable.

Jay

They showed up about 5 days ago. Slightly white line that kept getting worse. I slowed it down with anti biotics, but ultimately it didn’t help.

Out of 11, I so far lost 7, with 8th now having a slight white line.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

They showed up about 5 days ago. Slightly white line that kept getting worse. I slowed it down with anti biotics, but ultimately it didn’t help.

Out of 11, I so far lost 7, with 8th now having a slight white line.

That is a really high incidence in one batch of fish, when I see it in a group, it is usually limited to less than 30% of the fish.

This line you are describing, does it run with the angle of the scales? I mean at an angle, with the forward edge closer to the fish's head than the lower edge?

Jay

 

[Reefer1978]

That is a really high incidence in one batch of fish, when I see it in a group, it is usually limited to less than 30% of the fish.

This line you are describing, does it run with the angle of the scales? I mean at an angle, with the forward edge closer to the fish's head than the lower edge?

Jay

Jay let me write up the full history so it makes more sense:

I received a shipment (I should have picked up, they are only an hour away, but wanted to save some driving time) about a month ago of 6 bimacs:
* 1 dead in the bag - no signs of anything wrong, just passed in shipping
* 1 didn't look too hot, weak, hiding under a rock
* 4 looked good
The second specimen that didn't look too good after shipping passed over night. That's when I noticed a small white line, vertical, closet to the tail. 2 days later 3rd passed.

Store provided DOA guarantee, so on the 5th day I stopped by to pick up 3 replacements, and bought 2 more. While picking up the replacements, I asked for bigger, stronger ones as I didn't want to deal with death anymore. Out of the 5 in the catch up, one didn't look good, similar vertical injury in the middle of the body, owner threw it in a medicated hospital tank and caught one more for me.

When I brought them home, I noticed one more had a faint vertical white line. Since then over the last 3 weeks, white line shows up, gets worse over 2-3 days and the fish passes. A week ago I picked up some antibiotics to try to stop the spread, and at the end of the week transferred everyone without any signs to DT, left 1 in QT.

I am not sure how the lines start, other then faint white line towards the back. Maybe from antheas aggression, injury that gets infected later. And Jay if you also recall from our previous conversations, this was a brand newly cycled QT tank, as it was sterilized from uncontrollable bio-blooms. So brand new QT, cycled, and all fish from 1 vendor.

Hope this story paints a clearer picture.