Uronema? Next Steps

[JoeinLA]

Got a very, very small blue tank and a small Eibli Angel on Monday. The Tang was doing a bit of flashing, and the Eibli Angel was doing some "shuddering", so I thought to use Copper Power. Slowly ramped up dosage starting Tuesday to 2.5 on Thursday. Both looked great, were eating, swimming, etc.

Tonight, came back from dinner at friends, and the Eibli Angel was dead in the corner. It "looks" like Uronema, but I have no clue beyond google and youtoobs. Not sure what my next steps should be, but I have no interest in introducing Uronema into my main tank, as it sounds like a total nightmare.

Any help/thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm a little frustrated / saddened right now, as everything looked great this morning and I was keen to intro these beauties to their new home in a few weeks...

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It does look like Uronema, but without a microscope you can't be 100% certain. I've never seen a blue tang with Uronema, so perhaps it won't have an issue. Chloroquine can be used to remove it from a tank, but there really is no treatment for it inside a fish like with this angel. Here is an article I wrote on this topic:

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

Jay

 

[JoeinLA]

Thanks so much for the response. I've been doing more reading on this, and my current plan is to finish the 14 day copper for the tang, and then transfer it to a clean tank and do Metriplex. I will do a freshwater dip when switchng tanks.

Not sure if, after the Metroplex, I should do Prazipro? I think that's only for flukes and if the freshwater bath doesn't indicate flukes, then I think I won't bother.

Formalin sounds too intense and, frankly, a bit dangerous, so I'm thinking of just skipping that. Otherwise, I think that I should do the 45 minute Formalin bath in lieu of the freshwater dip when switching to the MetroPlex tank? And if I do Formalin, then I suppose I can skip any Prozipro? I suppose I should consider doing this, but I would just need to be very careful with the stuff.

Any further thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[reefiniteasy]

I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. It sucks. My possum wrasse was gone within a day of Uronema “surfacing.” Made it through copper and other meds and bam! All the other fish in qt finished it out and showed no signs of it.