pls help id this fish infection

[LakeGirl]

Poor little guy. Picked him up at LFS on Friday. On Sat., a red patch developed- looked like missing scales. On Sunday, he showed distress- heavy breathing- and little appetite.

Lost him this a.m.

Eight friends remain in the QT. Salinity 1.017, 80 degrees, 0 ammonia...

What is it and how to treat?


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=273108

[SeanT]

Would you have any better, close up pics?

[LakeGirl]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/216006Chromis-Closeup.jpg

thnx for taking a closer look. Here's a zoom on the same photo. Fish is gone unfortuntately...

[sdc19982002]

Do you have anything in your tank that could have stung him?

[jubjub]

that would be my guess something stung him....frogspawn? anemone? mine have few lil bruises like that not sure if that could be from chromis fighting to? mine have lil bruises on them where they fight

[the_rider]

I read in a post somewhere about being the "chromis disease". Chromis apparently develop this patch and pass after a day or two. I don't remember where I read it though :S.

[stingythingy45]

He was the weakest link.
Blue Green Chromis like to set up a pecking order from what I've experienced.Eventually you'll end up with a lot less than what you started with.
I started with 5 and now have one fat one left.
Happens quite often.

[abulgin]

Any reason your specific gravity is only 1.017 rather than NSW of 1.026?

[LakeGirl]

Thnx, they are in QT, so not likely anything stung it. I do have a small piece of LR in the tank (to seed cycling for the sponge filter), so maybe a small hitchhiker, but I doubt it.

One of them did have a traumatic catch at LFS (got stuck in net).. but I don't recall anyone showing any "battle wounds" at the time.

yikes, I hope I don't have a bully. Bought large numbers in hopes of "peace".

[LakeGirl]

Anyone else heard of Chromis disease?

[Michael]

imo its probably a bacterial infection, sometimes its an open wound other times reddened scales are the symptoms, im not 100% of course but its my guess

[abulgin]

It's called "chromis break-down syndrome", merely anechdotal but seems to be "real". See first post here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/chromdisfaqs.htm

"This morning one of the remaining chromis has a lesion on its back and another (the smallest) appears to be off food, breathing more rapidly and appear to be passing white, stringy faeces. Could this be chromis break-down syndrome together with a possible intestinal parasite?
[Is the syndrome... of unknown, variously speculated causes... Perhaps resultant collection damage, simply handling stress... Maybe Mycobacterially mediated (DO wash your hands if they've been in the tank, and DON'T put them in if you have a cut), or....? No known specific treatment that works]"

"Is there anymore I can do for these poor fish?
[Highly doubtful... once this process occurs, even in wholesale settings, this genus perishes like Dipterans (flies)]"

[SidCat]

This happened to a chromis I had in QT. He looked fine at the store, but within a day a similar patch developed on his side and he didn't make it.

[LakeGirl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14991656#post14991656 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by abulgin
Any reason your specific gravity is only 1.017 rather than NSW of 1.026?

This is a quarantine tank (QT). Some people suggest running a QT with specific gravity as low as 1.010-1.012 and others 1.017-1.019. If properly acclimated, most fish species will survive, but inverts and parasites won't. Its a preventive approach to take before introducing fish to your display system.

Some others do a fresh water or formelyn dip with some sort of buffering agent to raise pH to appropriate levels.

IMO, moderation is best, so no dip and relatively low specific gravity. That is, unless there would be reason to take more drastic measures. (i.e. if I knew parasites were present and had already tried lowering s.g. to 1.017 with no results, then I might take it lower gradually to rid the parasites.) Parasite spores can survive up to four weeks, so one should take that into account as well.

What is NSW?

[Logtec]

NSW= New SaltWater

[the_rider]

I read that Ich can only get rid at a salinity of SG 1.09, a SG of 1.017 won't get rid of ich, im not sure about others parasites. A true quarantine would be 6 weeks at 1.09 without any sing of Ich, if ich appears you have to wait for ich to be gone then start the counter again.

I don't know if you want to quarantine/observe or really get rid of any sign of disease. How are your others chromis doing ??

[Michael]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14996702#post14996702 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LakeGirl


What is NSW?

natural sea water

[abulgin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14996702#post14996702 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LakeGirl
This is a quarantine tank (QT). Some people suggest running a QT with specific gravity as low as 1.010-1.012 and others 1.017-1.019. If properly acclimated, most fish species will survive, but inverts and parasites won't. Its a preventive approach to take before introducing fish to your display system.

Some others do a fresh water or formelyn dip with some sort of buffering agent to raise pH to appropriate levels.

IMO, moderation is best, so no dip and relatively low specific gravity. That is, unless there would be reason to take more drastic measures. (i.e. if I knew parasites were present and had already tried lowering s.g. to 1.017 with no results, then I might take it lower gradually to rid the parasites.) Parasite spores can survive up to four weeks, so one should take that into account as well.

What is NSW?

Any specific gravity above 1.009 really has no prophylactic/therapeutic effect, so there really is no benefit to keeping your specific gravity at some level that is below 1.025-1.026. In fact, it's stressful on fish.

I MUCH prefer a 6 minute freshwater dip on a fish rather than subjecting it to low specific gravity for 4-6 weeks. And, I sure wouldn't subject a fish to a SG of 1.009 unless I had to.

[LakeGirl]

Update for everyone. Thanks to all for your ideas and thoughts.

I've lost one more fish to the red-patch thing. Began treating with erythromycin (? sp- antibiotic) as soon as the patch on the 2nd fish appeared.

Lost two to infighting (you could see the rest of the group literally picking the small ones to death). Then lost a couple seemingly to an ammonia spike (no other apparent problems).

Ammonia has been running 0.25 - 0.50 ppm. Don't know if the tank was overloaded, dead fish sitting too long, antibiotics, or a combination of all three. QT is 20 gallons, cycled for 3 weeks, seeded with cured live rock, and small food dosing. I'm measuring and compensating daily for ammonia (products call Prime and Stability). All the while, dosing and changing water according to erythromycin protocol. Ugh.

So, four chromis remaining. Concerned now that this group will be too small- had hoped for a larger school in my 125. I don't really have the setup to try a simutaneous QT for another group. And, know that any added to display after the first group will suffer punishment through the pecking order...

These fish really do seem like damselfish, despite their community fish/ schooling fish/ dither fish reputation. Not sure I would recommend them knowing what I know now.

[tspors]

Lakegirl, am I reading your post correctly. You have 8 (EIGHT) fish in a QT tank? Bio load introduction must be wacked out. Also I agree with others if you are going to QT raise th PH. Sounds like lots of stressed fish. Check out the thread called :GLAD I DID NOT QT MY FISH><