Wasting Disease Success?

[cosmy]

Hi,
I have 70l freshwater tank 8 danios and 4 cherry barb. Heavily filtered with Ocellaris 850 UVC, Internal Filter and Sponge filter. Water parameters perfect and cycled well. Water is very clear and all fish were happy. I Four weeks back cherry barb were lethargic not eating lost color, skinny with sunken belly. After two weeks I actioned realising the mycobacteria wasting disease, one cherry and one danio passed away. Other Danios looked happy and actively eating.

I started with API general cure 2 doses for two weeks following instructions also added an dried Almond leave to make water soft and for tannins. It appears the two cherry barb are hanging on, saw one trying eat and spit out. I was wondering should I continue dosage for 2 more weeks?. Has any one had success with this disease?

[
I remember giving seachem garlic guard with boiled zucchini, may be this introduced the bacteria. I had similar experience 9 years back when I was maintaining afr cichlids after giving garlic guard with boiled peas wasting disease started some were impacted later I had sell all fish tank and fish due to interstate movement plus other responsibilities.
]

 

[GaryE]

Myco, if that is the issue, has probably been in the fish since the fish farm. It lies dormant, encysted by the fish for years. In time, either from age or stress, it breaks out.

There is no treatment, and no cure. As a human who caught it from fish (it gives us lesions on our hands and along the lymphatic system of the arm) it took a 6 month cocktail of several antibiotics to beat it. That, with (not recommended by doctors as it can cause scarring) heat on the lesions for a few hours a day. Mycobacter marinum and its close relatives are very tough, and 100% fatal.

If you breed your fish and raise the eggs and fry in UV filtered water, you may stop transmission between generations. It doesn't always work, but.

 

[cosmy]

Myco, if that is the issue, has probably been in the fish since the fish farm. It lies dormant, encysted by the fish for years. In time, either from age or stress, it breaks out.

There is no treatment, and no cure. As a human who caught it from fish (it gives us lesions on our hands and along the lymphatic system of the arm) it took a 6 month cocktail of several antibiotics to beat it. That, with (not recommended by doctors as it can cause scarring) heat on the lesions for a few hours a day. Mycobacter marinum and its close relatives are very tough, and 100% fatal.

If you breed your fish and raise the eggs and fry in UV filtered water, you may stop transmission between generations. It doesn't always work, but.

Thanks, It looks there is little improvement after giving API general cure double dose, cherry barb coming outside hiding, will continue two more weeks.
Probably will turn on UV after antibiotics. Yes, It appears to be in the fish industry from ages almost 99% everywhere in all aquariums. Little research done on this. I have seen my local fish store maintains fish very healthy not sure how, I felt sorry when I went other day to my local my local fish store had a look at the cherry barb tank from where I bought, they were healthy with fatty tummy. They were much better at the store.

Did you get it from cut wound when you put hand inside tank?

 

[Colin_T]

One Indian almond leaf is not going to make any difference to the pH, GH or KH, or release enough tannins to change the water.

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Metronidazole does not treat Mycobacteria. If the fish responded positively to API General Cure, they probably had an internal protozoan infection.

Mycobacteria normally causes the fish to bloat up overnight, stop eating, do a stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing those symptoms. They usually hang around the surface or filter outlet gasping too.

Internal protozoan infections cause fish to lose weight over a couple of weeks. They eat but not as much as normal, and do a stringy white poop. If not treated they die within a couple of weeks.

The following link has info on treating fish with internal protozoan infections or intestinal worms.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

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When treating fish with antibiotics like metronidazole, you should treat them in a bare tank that contains an airstone, heater and some plastic plants. If you treat an established aquarium, you need to give it a good clean before using the medication otherwise it gets wasted on the bacteria and other microscopic organisms in the gravel, filter and water.

Internal protozoan infections need to be treated daily or every couple of days for 1-2 weeks. If you only treat them once a week, you won't get rid of the problem.

You should do a huge water change and gravel clean, as well as wipe the inside of the tank down before adding another dose of medication.