Picine Tuberculosis AKA: Mycobacteriosis, Fish TB, acid-fast disease

[tanks4thememories]

Picine Tuberculosis AKA: Mycobacteriosis, Mycobacterium marinum, Fish TB, Fish Tuberculosis, acid-fast disease, granuloma disease, swimming pool granuloma, fish tank granuloma






Courtesy of Mr. Chris from The Age of Aquariums


Human infection


As I was doing some research into disease I came across some interesting articles. I will make a blog entry eventually but for now I just wanted to post this info for us all to read and share any info we may have on the subject.

http://www.fisheries.go.th/aahri/Hea...tter/art40.htm

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedic.../Mycobacterium

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/...er_FishTB.html

http://www.seahorse.com/index.php?It...oard&view=flat

http://www.vims.edu/myco/FAQ.html

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/infectdisbactf.htm

Its not just in fish tanks:

http://www.stripersonline.com/surfta...d.php?t=486822

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/001357.htm

Well that's enough for now Ill work on making this into an essay as time permits.

[Lady Hobbs]

My Gawd. That guy needs some help. I knew TB in fish caused human infections but didn't realize it went to this extent.

I've moved your thread and stickied it. Nice job sharing it here. People need to see this.

People will remove a fish from a tank but the entire stock will get the disease and the tank needs to be totally disinfected before new stock added. One of our former members had this happen to him.

[tanks4thememories]

My Gawd. That guy needs some help. I knew TB in fish caused human infections but didn't realize it went to this extent.

I've moved your thread and stickied it. Nice job sharing it here. People need to see this.

Ill let you know when I finish the essay if you want?

[Lady Hobbs]

Definately. Anyone who gets an infected cut or sore on their hands and arms needs to really be careful around their fish tanks and clean their hands well.

Chrona, a past member here, lost all his fish to TB, restocked and lost them all again. He had to break down his tank and scrub it with bleach to kill the TB. He also had to see a doctor about infection on his hands.

[tanks4thememories]

Definately. Anyone who gets an infected cut or sore on their hands and arms needs to really be careful around their fish tanks and clean their hands well.

Chrona, a past member here, lost all his fish to TB, restocked and lost them all again. He had to break down his tank and scrub it with bleach to kill the TB. He also had to see a doctor about infection on his hands.

So people need to know that just bleach wont neccessarily kill the bacteria. Alcahol @ 76 - 80 % and there is another disinfectant I will make sure to include it in the essay. but the point is you know that swimming pools have chlorine - Bleach basically and yet this is most commonly caught in humans from swimming at a public pool.

[Lady Hobbs]

He never did set his tank up with fish, only plants, so guess using bleach would not have worked then. You are full of really good information this morning!

[cocoa_pleco]

Chrona, a past member here, lost all his fish to TB, restocked and lost them all again. He had to break down his tank and scrub it with bleach to kill the TB. He also had to see a doctor about infection on his hands.

did chrona ever re-do the tank? all i remember is him saying he was sick of TB and taking his tank down would be a pain, then he left

[Lady Hobbs]

I think all his fish dead and then he got more and lost those too. Could be wrong there. I do know he had an infection on his hand, tho.

[Fishalicious]

Before a general panic breaks out that their fish may have TB it is a very uncommon fish disease although every fishkeeper should be aware of it due to is infectious nature. Even in the cases of fish with TB if personal hygene is used (washing hands after working in the tank) as well as making sure if you do have open cuts on your arms to be more cautious.

I had a friend who was hospitalized with TB from fish and on a drip for a while as well as a 4 month treatment tablets... but from 1000's of fishkeepers he is the only one I know who has ever been affected.

[Dacotah7]

Ill let you know when I finish the essay if you want?

I came to this thread looking for a reason of why one of two Gouramis' I purchased yesterday suddenly developed a curved spine while in my QT tank. It was fine in the LFS. I still am not sure what it has; if it is fish TB or not.

This thread is interesting but it seems to have come to a stand still. I have not followed all of the numerous links yet, but was the essay ever posted; if so where?

Does vinegar kill the TB bacteria?
Would a sterilizer be effective? I am thinking if so, I would shell out the bucks for my 20g QT tank.
If I eliminated the ailing fish, (return him to the LFS) how long would I have o QT the other to determine if it were TB free? Or could it be a carier forever? Would it be better to simply retun both fish?