Fish TB or Injury

[Faith_at_Large]

A while ago I posted about a risky addition to my work tank. Two Zebra Danios from a tank that appeared to be full of sick fish, probably Fish TB.

I treated the tank with Melafix and Pima fix for a week and the Danios appeared to be doing fine. Even the one that I was initially worrie about has since filled out and all are active and growing. For a few weeks, everyone seemed to be doing fine.

The problem I face now is that one of my Mollies bought on the same day appears to have a bend/kink in her spine (to the right horizontally, not downward at all). All of my Mollies have been and continue to be active, well fed, even the bent one. The white Mollies look like they may be developing Pop-Eye, but it is hard to tell (I might be seeing more than what is actually there, due to my concerns). No scales are lost, no lesions, no bumps, no hollow belly, and none look like the deformed fish in the Danio tank at the store (none of the store Danios had bent spines, just long and skinny).

The Mollies have often "folded" themselves when feeding off the side wall (working to get a better angle for eating the algae), but then straightened out whenever they swam elsewhere. And the bent Molly has always been a bit of a scrapper and was in a fight around the time that I noticed she was not straightening out again. FYI, none of the scraps ever resulted in lost scales, lesions, redness or bruising, or torn fins - normally I could never tell after a fight who had been in one - just a little squaring off in the tank with a few snaps.

I am hoping that she will straighten out again after a few days - my spine gets kinked now and then. But I am interested in knowing more about the normal progression for Fish TB, is a bent spine one of the first symptions and can it be the sole symptom?

[Tooch]

Here's an informative site I found when researching this for you..

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According to the site under the "Symptoms" link, it appears that both eye protrusion and skeletal deformity are both symptoms of TB.

Going on though, it also lists:

Thinness/loss of appetite as a symptom; you said that your fish are eating fine.

Scales loosening/falling out: You said no loss of scales

Fin rot: You said fins are looking good.

Unfortunatly I don't know anything about this, but this is the information I found out from a quick google search. Reading up on it some more, as well as possible future posts from the other members here, you're bound to find out what you need to know.

Hope my little bit helped!

[Faith_at_Large]

The site was more helpful than others I had seen, and it is not looking good for my Molly - she was pristine white, but now has some signs of blue on her sides. I am hoping that this is bruising, but may well be further evidence that she does have TB. A fiesty fish, she is chasing the other fish around the tank and is physically larger than the other white Molly - rounder belly and a voracious eater (she fights for her food).

[Tooch]

I'm sorry, but I hope your fish gets better!

[Faith_at_Large]

Do fish bruise and does it look blue? And can a spine deformed by TB correct itself?

The reason I am asking is that I brought a baggie to work for the purpose of euthanizing my Molly and she does not look nearly as bad as she did yesterday. She is swimming almost normally again and the kink while still present is very slight (yesterday she was nearly folded in half and looked miserable).

Since I first noticed her being kinked up was after a pretty intense fight, I can't help wonder if there is a connection, especially as none of the Danios which are more susceptable to TB show any signs of it.

If fish do not bruise, then the fading bluish marks probably are TB, but I do not think that TB deformities heal, but injuries do.

Any insights from anyone else out there?

[Faith_at_Large]

I realised that my Molly did not start showing any symptoms until after the thirty day window since initially purchasing the risky fish.

I do not know how fast symptoms appear with TB, so I do not know if TB can manifest a kink within a single day, or if that is the first symptom. I do know that TB is slow to develop and can take anywhere from two to three weeks before showing symptoms.

I can see that my white Molly is still kinked, but is swimming significantly better than Monday and even Tuesday. And the bluish appearance seems to be fading. It was never visible from a distance.

No other fish are showing any signs of TB, including my original Zebra Danios. I think that it would be odd to end up with four Zebra Danios immune to TB ending up in one tank from separate sources.

[Faith_at_Large]

I may have witnessed an early Easter miracle. My fish in my work tank are all looking hale and hearty. The white Molly with the kink is swimming so well you would have to look for the kink to even notice it, and sometimes I do not see it at all. The rest of the fish do not look like they have any signs at all of Fish TB, and are all active with healthy apetites.

I am still dosing with Melafix and I turned the temperature down rather than up as heat actually makes TB worse. The temperature is still in the safe zone for tropical fish. But the recovery of my Molly seems to suggest that she never had TB in the first place.

Of course, nothing is ever simple. My home tank has a Zebra Danio with a missing tail - disappeared overnight so I am thinking that one or more tankmates ate it. Otherwise that fish is doing fine and so is everyone else in that tank.

[Tooch]

Hey! I'm glad to hear the positive update! Good job to you for researching and taking prompt measures to help the fish! Try not to be the good samaritan anymore :ezpi_wink1:

[Faith_at_Large]

I won't be doing that again. It was much too hard on the nerves. I am glad that the Zebras made it alright and I enjoy watching the Mollies. It is nice seeing a full active tank.

It was very hard knowing that that Fish TB is very slow in developing and waiting those thirty days to find out if I had a problem. Even so, I am still not certain that it would be safe to move my Zebra Danios from my work tank to my home tank. I still could have carriers. But I am learning new things every day. Who knew that fish could throw their backs out? I came so very close to euthanizing my Molly, if I had had the means ready on the day she looked really bad I would have put her down that day. The overnight delay allowed her time to heal, and it was only when it was apparent that she was really straightening back out that I figured it was not likely to be TB.

I will still be keeping an eye on all my fish, but I really think that I caught a lucky break. I have read a lot more about Fish TB and it is a very serious thing. I will not risk it ever again.

[Tooch]

Then we'll take it as lesson learned! :thumb: