Infected Tank

[mbsqw1d]

I'm 90% certain now that my tank has Fish TB

First sign was a leopard danio that developed a curved spine and eventually died.

NOW, 3 of my 5 Colombian Tetra have curved spines.. one has black marks/spots. I'm pretty sure that eventually my tank will slowly be wiped out by 'Fish TB'.

Once this does happen, what would you guys suggest be the best method of cleaning/sterilizing everything?

My problem is that now I cannot buy anymore fish and I will just have to wait till they drop dead one by one.

The worst thing I can think of for my tank to be infected with

 

[mbsqw1d]

anyone experienced Fish TB?

anyone know which fish are more prone to it than others?

 

[CheniseMummy]

Im not any help but one of my gold zebra danios recently did same thing but i removed it just before it died. It curved spine was like this ^ and went down hill quite quickly. I am hoping its not TB my self as im not sure what else could cause the curved spine so rapidly.

 

[spectrum]

You can buy powder (various brands) that mixes with water to make a sterilizing solution, I use this on my stuff if I need to. I think a bleach/water solution also works, but I dunno how well. You might already know, but I think I read somewhere that humans can catch TB off fish , then again I could be speaking nonsense
Sorry for your loss with the fish

Just did some reading, its not the 'lung tb' you can catch, its a different bacterium, however you can catch it, it causes lumps near the affected area, it get in through cuts and things like that. (Sorry again if you knew all that )

 

[mbsqw1d]

You can buy powder (various brands) that mixes with water to make a sterilizing solution, I use this on my stuff if I need to. I think a bleach/water solution also works, but I dunno how well. You might already know, but I think I read somewhere that humans can catch TB off fish , then again I could be speaking nonsense
Sorry for your loss with the fish

Just did some reading, its not the 'lung tb' you can catch, its a different bacterium, however you can catch it, it causes lumps near the affected area, it get in through cuts and things like that. (Sorry again if you knew all that )

thank you spectrum.. i think.. now i have a tank i definitely dont want anything more to do with

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I had a gourami that developed tb many years ago. She was seperated from her tank mates but survived for months in clean oxygenated water. She eventually was paper thin and couldn't swim properly and I had to put her to sleep. She was a trooper for fighting it that long. None of the other fish ever caught it and I never found a med that worked. Keep the water pristine, avoid over feeding and if you do lose all the fish give the tank a good clean out (bleach and water mix is good, followed by a series of rinses with water to remove all traces of the bleach) and start again. Hope it goes ok, I've lost alot of fish in one go in the past and it hurts, a great deal. Best of luck with the rest of your fish.
P.

 

[mbsqw1d]

thanks miss dib dabs and sorry for your losses

I'm starting to consider getting a UV sterilizer. Troubl is I dont know where to start! i.e. what a good UV sterilizer is...

 

[Luzi]

I think that adding b-vitamins can help some fish survive for longer and bacterial meds could help stop it from spreading. Seend as the tank is already condemned it might be worth a try

You can use plain bleach & water to sterilize, no need for an expensive UV one. Leave the tank in a 1:5 solution overnight then rinse a few million times and leave to cycle. I used this method on my secondhand tank and it worked fine - no dead fish. jus make sure you rinse it off properly
Leaving it out to dry once sterilized helps too as most aquatic bacteria can't survive for long out of water.

 

[ellena]

I have some endlers which have been slowly dying from some mysterious condition. Some symptoms fit fish TB, but I have had my hands in there and I always have cuts all over them, and I have developed no symptoms. I also share a siphon and bucket with my betta tank and no symptoms there either. So I'm not sure. Nothing seems to help though. We call it shark disease as they become sunken behind their jaw which makes them look like a shark. One of the definite symptoms of TB is black irises. I Have never seen this in my live fish, but did in one dead one.
But, like you, I have stopped replacing the fish in there and am just waiting for the remaining 4 endlers to die. It's a tank I don't want anymore anyway, but I was planning on using the filter media in a new tank, but won't be doing that now.
I was unsure about offering it for sale. I did read that potassium permanganate can kill the fish TB bacteria. Not sure if this is available readily, but I work in a school science dept so have access to it.
It's not been a great first year of fishkeeping for me!