ACK, Fish TB? Or what the heck is it?

[Chrona]

I noticed one of my cardinal tetras was missing last night, but I thought nothing of it because there's usually always one hiding in the plants or something. However, when I went to feed this morning, the one hiding did not come out, and so after a bit of poking around, I found him (or her) and to my surprise, it's spine was curved (looking from the top - there is little to no curvature from the side) Well, technically, when it's not moving, the spine is pretty straight, but when it tries to swim, it curved over at an awkward angle.

Can fish TB set in so quickly? This is literally within 24 hours. And the fish has great coloration, not missing scales, and looks otherwise healthy - though very weak - which does not match the other symptoms of fish TB. I have no added fish for two weeks, and the last two otos I got came from an extremely healthy planted tank. My fish are never really overly stressed, so I'm not sure how this came to be.

Any help would be appreciated. Not sure if I'm diagnosing this correctly. What scares me is that I've been putting my hand in the tank constantly to replant stuff, etc.

Will add a picture in a sec

[cocoa_pleco]

sounds like TB. Better get him out of there before all your fish get sick

[Chrona]

He's already quarantined, but the symptoms don't seem to line up. Over on his side now, not eating. :(

[cocoa_pleco]

sounds like the end of the line for him.

Probably some sort of TB. I had a danio that exhibited the same symptoms of your cardinal and he died like that, he wouldnt eat and slowly got lethargic

[Chrona]

How contagious is TB to other fish? He's been in hiding from the other fish for probably about like 18 hours now.

[cocoa_pleco]

I think it spreads gradually. If you got a 10g, put 10 cardinals in, 1 purposely affected with TB, you would probably lose about 1-2 a day to the disease. For the time your fish had it, i dont think that any others will catch the TB since you got it in the early stages

[Chrona]

Well, the infected fish is still struggling. Another cardinal is in hiding now, can't tell if it's infected yet. Christ, I give up. Gonna toss everything out, screw it.

[cocoa_pleco]

dont give up.

Ive had TONS of your problems. Due to some freak accident, i lost 100$ of my malawi fish to an accident that had me puzzled. all my fish died within 10 minutes of my last viewing of them, and all looked really weird with huge eyes (not popeye) and all their mouths were wide open.

Take care of the cardinal issue, then you get more fun restocking