Neon tetra disease or TB?

[hungryhound]

So what is this, the thris time in a week we've posted here?? I know it's Friday the 13th today, but I think our tank believes that it's the 13th everyday!

Here's the story:

Noticed a couple days ago that one of the rainbow fish was no longer schooling, but other than that appeared fine. Today he was really hanging out at the top of the tank and swimming somewhat erratically. he has a noticeable curvature to his spine/body. From our previous experience and researching online, it appears to be TB or maybe neon tetra disease.

Can anyone back-up this diagnosis as their are no cures and we do not want to euthanize unnecessarily.

Below are three pictures we took, the second is blurry, but is a good shot looking down at the fish showing the profile.

[Lady Hobbs]

He definitely has a problem and it looks like the pics of TB I have seen. Not all TB fish get the curvature but most do. It can also be a sign of pop eye. Very contagious to all your fish and also a slight chance to you as well.

Dump him before you lose your whole batch.


This I had to correct as I didn't state that very well. It isn't a sign of pop eye but sometimes pop eye can be a sign of later getting TB.

[hungryhound]

He definitely has a problem and it looks like the pics of TB I have seen. Not all TB fish get the curvature but most do. It can also be a sign of pop eye. Very contagious to all your fish and also a slight chance to you as well.

Dump him before you lose your whole batch.

Thanks...that's what we were afraid of...off to go net a fish (again....)

Note, we forgot to put our parameters in the original post, so here they are for those that are curious:
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: 10ppm

[Lady Hobbs]

You have to do what's good for the whole fish community. Keeping any that are in question just isn't worth it.

[hungryhound]

You have to do what's good for the whole fish community. Keeping any that are in question just isn't worth it.

Nope you're very right...and if this keeps us from losing more fish, then it's done it's job!

[Nautilus291]

honestly with tb I would be more worried about yourself then your fish lol.

[Drumachine09]

Sorry, not to sound like a doofus, but what is TB?

[Nautilus291]

teberculoses

[Drumachine09]

Oh, i knew TB was teberculosis for humans, i had no idea fish could get it.

[cocoa_pleco]

Its TB. throw him in the garbage wearing rubber gloves. If you catch it, its not good. Doctors found a direct link that said that a fish with TB can easily transfer it to other fish and humans

[hungryhound]

It is done. Actually it has been done for over 20 hours now, but this thread seems to be getting a lot of replies about how to dispose of the fish.

I thank your for your support and sympathy. Heres to hoping I do not sport any weird lumps in the coming days.

[hungryhound]

I figures I would put this here as I don't really see a need to make a new post.

The day after I euthanized this fish for TB my other bosemani rainbow fish dissapeared. This was two days ago. My wife and I searched the tank, but could not find him. We even lifted up the drift wood and to make sure that he was not in there. We assumed that he had died and that our loaches had eaten him.

We have had our new rena filstar xp3 running for a week in conjunction with the our HOB for the past week. We removed the HOB to decrease surface agitation and allow more Co2 to stay in solution.

Our parameters were
pH=7.6
ammonia=0 ppm
nitrites = 0 ppm
nitrates = 10 ppm

we then did a 50 percent water change.

This morning, and 48 hours after the one fish went missing everything went wrong. Apparently we did not search well enough. When we woke up this morning we had three dead rainbow fish and the rest were hanging out at the top of the tank.

We quickly checked all parameters, and they had skyrocketed.

pH=6.8
ammonia= 0
nitrites = 1 ppm
nitrates = 40 ppm

We immediately did another 50 percent water change, and removed everything from the tank. It appears that the missing fish had died in the hallow drift wood and started to decompose. and that was the reason we could not find him.

With the 50 percent water change on saturday. My nitrites should have been o and my nitrates should have been around 5. Am i correct in assuming that it would be the rotting fish that caused the nitrates to increase to 1 and the nitrates to quadruple?

I haven't checked the paramaters after the water change yet, but most fish (at least what is left after our run in with TB, fungal meds and this disaster) are swimming normally.

We plan on checking parameters after sometime after dinner. Would it be wise to do another water change later this evening, or would it be to much to do three 50 percent water changes in 2 days?

Thanks for you help, and let this serve as a warning that you should never assume that if a fish disappears that it has been consumed by its tank mates.