Uronema Questions

Hols35 · 12/30/2016, 11:33 AM

Hello Everyone - we purchased 7 chromis that we put in our QT tank and very quickly it became apparent that at least 2 were infected with uronema and it quickly spread. We treated the tank with formalin but ultimately were only able to save 1. It is still in quarantine and has been for about 3 weeks since the last death. My question is although this fish seems healthy, is eating very well, and acting normally can it still be carrying the uronema and just not getting infected itself? My understanding is uronema is a free-living parasite that can live on anything in the tank including food, detritus, etc and may not present a problem with the fish if it is not injured or stressed. We learned the hard way with our display tank previously and now I am very paranoid about adding anything that may be a problem.

I was considering the following process at this point:
1. give this one fish a formalin bath to kill any uronema on it assuming that there is no parasite in it as it would have died by now
2. cleaning out the QT completely and sterilizing it as well as all equipment
3. Use new media/sponge from DT
4. Put fish back in and observe for another 2 weeks?

Being relatively new to this hobby can someone please tell me if my understanding of the parasite is correct; if you think my proposed process moving forward is a good one; and if so the correct way to give a formalin bath and also the best way to sterilize everything and make sure it is safe for the fish to go back in. Thank you!

12/30/2016, 11:33 AM	#1
Hols35 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Oregon Posts: 1	Uronema Questions Hello Everyone - we purchased 7 chromis that we put in our QT tank and very quickly it became apparent that at least 2 were infected with uronema and it quickly spread. We treated the tank with formalin but ultimately were only able to save 1. It is still in quarantine and has been for about 3 weeks since the last death. My question is although this fish seems healthy, is eating very well, and acting normally can it still be carrying the uronema and just not getting infected itself? My understanding is uronema is a free-living parasite that can live on anything in the tank including food, detritus, etc and may not present a problem with the fish if it is not injured or stressed. We learned the hard way with our display tank previously and now I am very paranoid about adding anything that may be a problem. I was considering the following process at this point: 1. give this one fish a formalin bath to kill any uronema on it assuming that there is no parasite in it as it would have died by now 2. cleaning out the QT completely and sterilizing it as well as all equipment 3. Use new media/sponge from DT 4. Put fish back in and observe for another 2 weeks? Being relatively new to this hobby can someone please tell me if my understanding of the parasite is correct; if you think my proposed process moving forward is a good one; and if so the correct way to give a formalin bath and also the best way to sterilize everything and make sure it is safe for the fish to go back in. Thank you!