Help! - Possible Fish Tuberculosis outbreak

[Chris McMahon]

I think I might have an outbreak of Fish TB in my main 5x2x2 tank.

Yesterday I noticed one of the adult bristlenoses with several body lesions approximately 10mm in size. At first I though something had attacked it as it looked like several bites had been taken out of it. The lesions are white and look necrotic, ie missing fresh.

Later that day I noticed a Royal Whiptail with a blood red stain on he side of it's body, and blood around the vent. I euthanized the whiptail and put it down to it possibly eating a sliver of glass from a decent broken light over the tank (broken MH light cover due to a splash a few weeks ago).

I tried to remove the Bristlenose at the same time but the tank is well planted and I lost it amongst the plants.

Late last night I did a bit of searching and came across this image:

It's a perfect match for the stains my Whiptail had. Unfortunately that image is described as "tuberculosis infection, with classic appearance"

I waited until the early hours 2-3am, in the dark, for most of the fish to go to sleep and managed to get the affected bn into a bucket. It's alive and I'd like to take it to someone who could confirm or deny my suspensions of fish TB.

Can anyone recommend a vet or person who could give me a firm diagnosis of TB or not on the Gold Coast?
Please email me asap if you do. chrismc@bigpond.net.au

Given the lack of treatment for fish TB, it looks like I'll lose everything in the tank if it is present, including 6 discus. Not to mention possible cross contaimination with my other 7 tanks, fully of adult discus pairs.

[wyldchyld01]

chris,

don't know a vet sorry, but thought i should point out that tb can be contracted from fish so be very very careful, the mycobacteria that causes it is the same in fish as in humans

as last i heard if you fear tb you should sacrifice all fish in the tank and thoroughly disinfect all equipment, substrate, tank, ornaments etc...seriously disinfect and then start from afresh

if you have access to a microscope you can view the tb cysts by taking samples from the gut, gill bladder etc to confirm whether or not it is tb (looking for a small solid yellowy circular fellow)

good luck and here's fingers crossed it's not tb

brenton

[leanne31]

hi Chris just browsing simplydiscus.com and came up on a section on fish tuberculosis and thought of your post,theres also a lot of links there to you may like to check it out it says you should isolate all sick fish and wear gloves as it can be passed on to humans I hope it helps and good luck Leanne

[Chris McMahon]

Update: I called several LFS asking for recommendations for vets. No luck. I called a couple of vets looking for referrals but kept getting referred to a vet who moved to Tasmania years previously.

I even tried the RSPCA, who I thought would surely know of someone - nope.

Finally I contacted the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI). I managed to get a Dr Roger Chong, who specialised in Fish Health. I packed up the bn in a bucket with a portable air pump, and headed up to Brisbane, roughly a 160km round trip.

Now I have to wait for the results of the autopsy. If the fish was alive (I didn't check before handing it over) I would get a result in a few days to a week. If it was dead, then a culture would need to be made which can take up to 8 weeks, and might not work at all.

There is also ~ $100 fee for the test, which I didn't think too bad as a pathology lab would have been ~$300. Registered primary producers get the service for free - and no, fish breeders aren't covered, I asked.

So that's it. There's a good chance that if it is TB, every fish in the tank is either infected, or a carrier. The tank is my main 5x2x2 display tank with everything from neon tetras to 5" adult discus in it. Maybe $600-800 to restock.

From what the DPI guy said, there's no treatment for TB so there's not much I can do. Tomorrow I'll need to buy new nets, hoses, etc hope that it doesn't spread to my other tanks with the adult discus pairs.

[Merrilyn]

Chris, this is awful. I hope you find that this is just some bacterial infection, and not TB. We're all keeping our fingers crossed for you.

[weird]

Ammonia poisoning can cause red streaks to appear on fins of fishes.

[Dave76]

Sorry to hear about the trouble you are having Chris

I recall reading ages ago about some success treating TB with certain antibiotics fed or injected directly into fish - I'm sorry I can't remember where it was tho - I just tried a quick google but couldn't find it - I'll see if I have it saved down in a favourites list somewhere when I get home tonight.

Regards

Dave

[Aurora]

Gee Chris, you really dont have much luck do you?

First one of your tanks breaks destroying carpet, power boards and a computer. Now a potential TB outbreak might wipe out all your fish.

The gods are certainly putting obstacles in your path

[Chris McMahon]

Chris, this is awful. I hope you find that this is just some bacterial infection, and not TB. We're all keeping our fingers crossed for you.

Thanks.

Ammonia poisoning can cause red streaks to appear on fins of fishes.

Unfortunately the large sections of missing fresh is a little harder to explain. It looks like something took several large bits out of it. While this could indeed be true, I find it hard to believe a otherwise healthy bn would just site there while a clown loach or rainbow had a meal of its back.

I recall reading ages ago about some success treating TB with certain antibiotics fed or injected directly into fish - I'm sorry I can't remember where it was tho - I just tried a quick google but couldn't find it - I'll see if I have it saved down in a favourites list somewhere when I get home tonight.

I found something like that myself. Seems to be a one off. The general consensus is the fish TB is untreatable.

Gee Chris, you really dont have much luck do you?

First one of your tanks breaks destroying carpet, power boards and a computer. Now a potential TB outbreak might wipe out all your fish.

The gods are certainly putting obstacles in your path

You forgot the fly spray mass die off. Sometimes I come close to giving this hobby up. I've had more bad luck in 10 months than most people have in a decade. Then a few weeks pass and I see some new discus in a shop and can't help myself.

While the financial loss of replacing equipment and stock isn't insignificant, I hate the suffering I'm putting these fish though more. I hate it when a fish dies, even a single platy. To lose the discus, rainbows, platies, neons, bns, whiptails, corys and clowns in the main tank would be heart breaking.

I wish it was just a simple matter of someone saying buy product X and everything will be ok.

[kalebjarrod]

i wish i could have helped you but alas i have as many vet fish contact as you