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any experience with fish TB?

676 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Noahma
I don't want to jump to conclusions, in fact TB is the last thing I want this to be. I had 3 CPDs in a ten gallon that I moved from a smaller aquarium I tore down. They were the only inhabitants besides to otos and some snails. About a month ago, I came home from vacation to one dead one. All was fine until this past week, when another one died.

I've had them for quite a while, so I figured it might have been old age. The second one that died did look a little weird. I don't remember how, I just remember thinking he looked weird. Now my third one is clearly not well. Sinks to the bottom, seems to have trouble staying afloat (almost like a swim bladder issue). The thing is, he has a weird curvature to his tail that reminds me of the second one that died.

(sorry for the poor photo, I just grabbed my ipod while I could catch him swimming).

He looks fine from above, it's just the weird curve. Does that look even remotely close to fish TB? Or even severe enough?
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if it is indeed Myco. take a look at this article. There are many other diseases that miimic Myco. so unless your able to get a necropsy, you may never really know for sure.

http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadMyco_APC.pdf
Hm, well maybe I'll put a UV sterilizer in the tank. I think I'll be a little afraid to put anything else in the aquarium or move the otos though. Maybe I shouldn't assume the worst?
If the curvature just showed up, then maybe it is MB. :-(

I would find a vet that knows and get a necropsy done on that fish. Take it in while it is still alive, or ask the vet how to preserve it if it dies before you can get it into the vet's office.

If it IS MB you would probably be best to euthanize the other livestock and sterilize the tank. Do not take risks with your own health. MB can infect humans.

If it is not MB, then you might be able to figure out what it is, perhaps medicate the remaining fish.
There are several options you can go with, collected, long fight or nuclear.

Myco is not something to mess with if you have a compromised immune system, and you stand little chance of being infected if you have a normal or above normal immune system.

Dianna Walstead showed that a confirmed case of Myco. can be beat. Mycobacterium exists in every water system. It competes with other bacteria, and readily looses since it is a very slow growing bacteria. When the tank is out of balance and the normal bacteria is not in the numbers required to keep the competition high Myco can spread. Giving the normal bacteria a good home to grow in can suppress the Myco again. Make sure if you go the long route you get a UV. that is capable of handling bacteria. most of the cheapies out there are good for algae, and that's really about it. I would follow exactly Dianna Walstead's method for fighting this, you could have the same results. Run the UV. Don't spend as much time cleaning out the tank, and as soon as ANY fish shows any signs or distress catch and euthanize them. As Dianna found out her other Rainbows (which are prone to this) never contracted Myco even though they were in the same tank for a very long time. She even had one she thought might have been infected necropsied and it turned out it had something else. There are quite a few strains of Myco. that exist in natural waters (even tap) and determining which one it is can be a problem.

The other option is to Euthanize all your fish, and methodically disinfect EVERY item that has come in contact with that tank with a very high concentration of chlorine, I think it has to soak for a min. of 30 min. to be effective. All of your plants, hardscape etc will need to be discarded.
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