Lyretail anthias (photos)

[Max93]

Hello,

first of all thank you for taking the time to help me.
I only buy fish from TSM aquatics, pre-quarantined. Not any other source, ever. My snails and hermits go through a 30 day quarantine with fish that are permanent residents of the quarantine tank to catch any ich. This is definitely not ich.

it seems to be spreading to my other lyretails but I cannot confirm.
What is going on with my lyretail? The “wound” has definitely progressed. Did my foxface sting her?

 

[Grumblez]

Unfortunatly to me it looks like uronema

Uronema

Uronema marinum (updated Jan 24 2025) What You Need To Know: * Causes red sores most often seen on chromis damsels & anthias (see photos below). Angelfish, butterflies and other fish species are sometimes also affected. * Formalin can be used as a prophylaxis and to limit transmission of...

humble.fish

But I would wait for someone else to chime in. If you can get white light pictures would help

 

[Max93]

Unfortunatly to me it looks like uronema

Uronema

Uronema marinum (updated Jan 24 2025) What You Need To Know: * Causes red sores most often seen on chromis damsels & anthias (see photos below). Angelfish, butterflies and other fish species are sometimes also affected. * Formalin can be used as a prophylaxis and to limit transmission of...

humble.fish

But I would wait for someone else to chime in. If you can get white light pictures would help

Of course it would be. Sure looks like that, I’m trying to get more pics now with white lights.

I don’t understand how this is in my tank.

 

[Max93]

Here is a good pic.
I feel like quitting this hobby, I’ve literally done everything to the book. I’ve been here 16+ years and this is almost the cherry on top.
How do I eradicate this from my display? I have big tangs in here will they get it too? I don’t understand how this got into my tank.

 

[Grumblez]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Of course it would be. Sure looks like that, I’m trying to get more pics now with white lights.

I don’t understand how this is in my tank.

@Grumblez is correct, this does look like Uronema. Did the lesion show a red spot under the skin , then raised scales and then did it start to get larger and open up? If so, that pretty much confirms it.

Here is a link to an article I wrote about that 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 could also be a bacterial infection (unlikely) or more commonly, Uronema mixed with bacteria. The Uronema protozoan is fairly common - it can be isolated from a good percentage of home aquariums - I've heard numbers from 25 to almost 100% if you look hard enough.

Uronema isn't an obligate parasite, it usually just eats bacteria. For some (unknown to me) reason, it also sometimes infects internal tissues of some fish - notably green chromis, anthias and yellow coris wrasse (and others, but these three are the most common).

It isn't super-contagious, but it may spread to your other anthias.

I've never found an effective treatment for the internal version of this disease. It externally infects seahorses and seadragons, and I've been able to treat that with external formalin dips.

Jay

 

[Grumblez]

I would QT anthias and get a UV for DT only solutions i can think off. Maybe just euthanize the most affected one I would def QT it seperate from other anthias.

 

[Max93]

Thanks for your help guys..

So this is a lyretail killer. Do we know where the parasite comes from? Like how it could have gotten into my system.

 

[Grumblez]

Thanks for your help guys..

So this is a lyretail killer. Do we know where the parasite comes from? Like how it could have gotten into my system.

It doesn't encyst like Ich so I would guess came on the Anthias. Its a very hard disease to eradicate, so the copper level used to treat ICH by TSM maybe just suppressed it enough to not appear until now. I'm sorry friend sometimes can do everything right but nature.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Don’t quit bro just take a deep breathe relax and go from here.

 

[Max93]

Thanks all for your knowledge, resources, feedback, and support.

Not going to quit but at the time of discovering this I was pretty sad. So many hours into the hobby to watch them disappear. I’ll take it easy and slow down some.

 

[Max93]

I wanted to follow up and let everyone and others lurking that this was not uronema. The lyretail is 90% healed and the white patch is almost gone. Nothing died. I didn’t do any treatments.

I supplemented all food with selcon and that was it.

 

[Soren]

I wanted to follow up and let everyone and others lurking that this was not uronema. The lyretail is 90% healed and the white patch is almost gone. Nothing died. I didn’t do any treatments.

I supplemented all food with selcon and that was it.

That must be quite a relief!

 

[Max93]

That must be quite a relief!

1000%! Quite the scare too. Whole tank breakdown of a 220 gallon system? No way! Looks even better this afternoon too.