Hiya, newbie with poss TB emergency

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Shireen

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Hi all, brand new and first time posting. I'm Shireen and I set up a tank in my daughter's room about 18 months ago... 30 litres with plastic and real plants, no heater but sits around 20 degrees as wanted to keep temperate fish. Test the water regularly and have never had any problems. I put in 4 danio, 2 zebra, 2 albino, with a view to adding more at a later date . haven't got round to it, but did put in two snails to combat an algae problem, which worked.
In the last couple of months one of the albinos has not looked great... really red gills, puffy eyes and now a bent spine. Before the spine thing I thought may be ammonia poisoning but readings were all fine. Now I think it looks like tb, and the other albino died yesterday 12 hours after I noticed him starting to not look right.
I'm kind of resigned to having to euthanize the remaining albino, but my zebras still look healthy. Do I euthanize them too, or could I wait to see if they develop symptoms?
Any advice appreciated. Tia. :)
 
If one fish has Tuberculosis (TB), everything in the tank has it. There is no cure and the best you can do is monitor the fish and euthanize them as they show symptoms.

The Mycobacterium (TB bacteria) infect internal organs and slowly destroy the organ. When the organ fails, the fish swells up, stops eating, breathes heavily and will usually sit just under the surface or by a filter outlet and gasp away. They do a stringy white poop and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms.
Fish can carry TB for months or even years and they die randomly after showing the symptoms.

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Zebra danios are not renown for carrying TB and there are other types of bacteria and protozoans that can infect fish and cause internal infections. The only way to confirm TB in fish is to have them necropsied (autopsy) by a vet. The vet will open the fish up and see if there are granulomas in the organs. Granulomas are basically lumps caused by the bacteria. This can be expensive and is not really worth doing unless you have lots of fish or expensive fish.

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There are some precautions you should take when working with fish. Always wash your hands and arms with warm soapy water after working in the aquarium.

Do not put your hands or arms in the aquarium if you have open wounds, nicks, cuts, scratches on the skin. If you have any open wounds, wear a pair of rubber gloves to keep the aquarium water off your skin.

If you have sores/ open wounds and the aquarium has Mycobacterium in the water, the bacteria can get into the cuts and cause localised infections. You get a sore that does not heal and becomes lumpy and swollen. Over a period of months, the sore will spread. It is sometimes itchy but not always. Do not scratch it because it can spread to any damaged skin.

If you ever develop a sore on your skin (hands, fingers and arms are the most commonly infected) and it does not heal up after a couple of weeks, see your doctor and tell them you keep aquarium fish and the fish might have TB. The doctor should take a swab of the sore and send it off for culturing. It will take about 2 weeks for the results to come back. Once the doctor knows what you are treating, they will prescribe anti-biotics to cure the problem.

If a doctor gives you a prescription for anti-biotics before the results have come back, tell the doctor you want to know what bacteria it is before you take any anti-biotics. Lots of people have been put onto anti-biotics before they get the results, and it doesn't treat the problem. It simply makes the bacteria more resistant to anti-biotics. Mycobacterium is only treated with certain anti-biotics and different strains of mycobacterium need different anti-biotics. So you need to know what species of Mycobacterium is in the wound, and what strain of that species.

If you want to try a natural treatment for the wound, you can put raw honey on the wound and cover it with a bandade. Remove the bandade, wash the sore, dry it and reapply more honey every 12 hours. Do this while you are waiting for the test results or even before you go to the doctor and see if it helps. Raw honey has anti-bacterial properties and can often cure minor infections meaning you don't need anti-biotics.

The good news is that most people never develop Mycobacterial infections in their skin. Most people that develop them have a weakened immune system, eg: people with heart disease, diabetes, hepatitis and other immune disorders. The average healthy person is unlikely to get any localised infections even if they do have cuts on their hands and get contaminated water on the wound.

I wouldn't worry too much about TB, just follow the aforementioned cautions about washing after working in the tank, and avoid getting tank water on damaged skin.

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Puffy eyes, red gills and bent spine can be caused by numerous bacteria and protozoan infections. If the danios are more than 2 years old they are old and are probably on their last legs. And this could be an infection caused by something else.

Depending on what else is in the tank, you could try treating them with a broad spectrum fish medication, or just let it run its course.
 
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