Uronema Marinum

[Kyuss414]

So I think my blue chromis has come down with this. He's been acting a bit strange the last couple days - swimming in the corner where theres a lot of flow from the return - and now this morning when the lights came on a bit ago I'm noticing a very slight red discoloration on his sides around the front of the dorsal fin.

Now here's the kicker. He's the only chromis in the tank, and in a 6ft 150g there's only him, a kole tang, a red-line wrasse, and a yellow assessor goby along with some zoas, softies, leathers, and a couple lps. Thing is, I haven't added anything to the tank close to a year and a half for fish, and over 2 years for corals. The rest of the fish still look healthy and are so far going about their daily routines as usual, corals are doing great and levels have been stable for years now. Fish were all QT'd prior to entering the display as well, although I didn't QT corals.

My question is, is this something that can stay dormant that long? From my limited reading on this (ie this morning) it seems like this is essentially a tank killer as a fallow period doesn't work on it.

I'm also not sure catching a chromis in a 150g with 100+ lbs of live rock is going to be too feasible. He had no problem darting off when I put some nori in the tank for the tang this morning. I'll give it a shot hear in a minute and try to get him in QT. I'd snap a pic but right now the actinic & blue+ are on so my camera isn't happy, especially with a bright blue fish on top of it (he still has his vibrant color otherwise.)

 

[Humblefish]

Uronema typically only afflicts damsels, and sometimes anthias & clownfish. Because it is a “free living” parasite (does not require a fish host), it can theoretically remain in your aquarium indefinitely. More info: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/uronema-marinum.247940/

But are you sure this is Uronema? Typically the red sores break out on the body, not on the fins.

 

[Kyuss414]

The slight redness is on the side of his body, but up near the front of the base of the dorsal fin, not on the fin itself.

It's definitely nowhere near as visible as the pics in that thread, but like I said they just appeared this morning, and very slight discoloration and small area... so far. So no I'm not certain quite yet. I've had no luck catching him and being that I have softies and leathers all a few years old, I can't really pull apart the live rock because they're spread across them making it essentially one big mass.

I read earlier that yeah it's a free living parasite, but just seems odd that since I haven't added anything in nearly a year and a half that it's first showing up now.

Also I forgot to mention is last weekend I had to cull my symphilia so had to mess around with it a bit in the tank to trim it, was over 40 heads on it. It slimed up quite a bit, but otherwise no other apparent issues - I doubled checked levels and I run carbon in a reactor and there was no visible change of the water. I'm not aware of that causing any issues, but just trying to give full disclosure.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

 

[Maritimer]

Wondering if the symphilia cull stressed the chromis _just_ enough to give uronema that's been hanging around since ever a toe-hold.

It's in a lot of tanks, I'm certain of that - but most fish have immune systems strong enough to give it the cold shoulder.

~Bruce

 

[Kyuss414]

Yeah I'm curious if it has any effect on water chemistry or not. My thinking is it shouldn't as it's probably slimey for the very purpose of not dissolving or dispersing into the water column. I also have a decent sized yellow Fiji leather that's a princess and it never batted a polyp.

Still no luck catching this guy. Soon as I get a hand over the tank he's gone into the rocks for a bit. I guess it's a better sign than him just staying in the corner where he goes in the day lately, and that was pretty standard behavior prior to this issue. The discoloration is still slight, really no different than yesterday. If I was smart I would have taken a pic after the rest of the lights came on today but before I scared him into the rocks. ;Sour

Everything else is still looking great. I'll just have to ride it out I guess if I can't catch him to get him into QT. Pulling apart the rockwork to try snagging him from there is essentially a tank tear down to actually get rocks apart.

 

[bryan3536]

Yeah I'm curious if it has any effect on water chemistry or not. My thinking is it shouldn't as it's probably slimey for the very purpose of not dissolving or dispersing into the water column. I also have a decent sized yellow Fiji leather that's a princess and it never batted a polyp.

Still no luck catching this guy. Soon as I get a hand over the tank he's gone into the rocks for a bit. I guess it's a better sign than him just staying in the corner where he goes in the day lately, and that was pretty standard behavior prior to this issue. The discoloration is still slight, really no different than yesterday. If I was smart I would have taken a pic after the rest of the lights came on today but before I scared him into the rocks. ;Sour

Everything else is still looking great. I'll just have to ride it out I guess if I can't catch him to get him into QT. Pulling apart the rockwork to try snagging him from there is essentially a tank tear down to actually get rocks apart.

Curious to see how this resolved for you? Dealing with it now.