TB outbreak cycling tank

**mululah** · 05-12-2006, 05:49 PM

I have recently bought a new tank 8.4UKgal (9.4USgal) and decided to use zebra danios to help cycle it before re-homing them (for my hospital tank). My sister also did the same. Between us we bought 12 danios from the same shop and same tank in the shop. Within six days all of my danios had died and all but one of hers had died. We have been searching forums for the possible cause of death. Water quality is good Am, nI & nA all at nil. We several suspects for the cause of death the worst being fish Tb as they have exhibited several signs, but they have also exhibited signs of strep. Main symptoms - listlessness, unwilling to feed, bleeding around fins, disintegration of fins (all of mine lost all their tails!), thinness, scales protruding and coming lose (but no bloating -not dropsy), mouth parts disintegrated, slow heavy breathing, erractic swimming (mine swam tail down and head up backwards) and staying at the bottom of the tank about 2cm above substrate with tails drooped,arched back. As mine have all died and she only has one left that doesn't look good what should we do before reusing tanks?- such as aquatic plants, gravel and ornaments - how should we treat them. Also she has three other danios from the same batch in a different tank on their own - how can we treat as there are no signs as yet that they carry the disease?

**rollie** · 05-12-2006, 06:33 PM

i do not think it was tb. i would say it was ammonia. did you check your ammonia level. also did you check your ph level.

**mululah** · 05-12-2006, 06:38 PM

Checked the ammonia level it was nil. Ph is about 7.6 (just above neutral). Sister had her fish disagnosed at lfs as i had already disposed of mine.

**rollie** · 05-12-2006, 06:51 PM

not nameing names, but some pet shops should not be selling fish. i see things like this every day.

**CoryCat** · 05-12-2006, 09:02 PM

*Jumps on Mululah's head* Hello Sis, found the site, said my hellos and jumped on you... what do I do next?.. oh yeah I join the plea for anyone to help us in how we should go about stripping the tanks down for re-use, my last remaining Danio is looking like he is on the way out and to be honest if he gets any worse I will use clove oil and put the poor little blighter out of his pain :(

The symptons seem to match so many of the various illnesses that it is really hard to say what it is, but the lfs guy said it sounded like TB and that we should take all the precautions, what he didn't say was how the heck to restart.

Any info is greatly reieved and appreciated, thanks mateys XXxx

**rollie** · 05-12-2006, 09:13 PM

emply the tank. wash it out with salt. wash everything that was in tank useing salt and water. if you got gravel or sand boil it. then put all back in. and you good to go. next time only buy 2 or 3 fish, to begin with.

do not think it was tb. why, i got tb and spend over 2 years in hospital.

**CoryCat** · 05-12-2006, 09:31 PM

Originally Posted by rollie

emply the tank. wash it out with salt. wash everything that was in tank useing salt and water. if you got gravel or sand boil it. then put all back in. and you good to go. next time only buy 2 or 3 fish, to begin with.

do not think it was tb. why, i got tb and spend over 2 years in hospital.

Regular salt, or should we use the aqaurium stuff? I have a natural immunity to TB and never had to have the vaccine, and both me and my sister are extreamly careful with the tanks anyways, we always use antibac handwash and scrub after messing in the tanks, as I have 4 I always do this to avoid cross contamination from tank to tank, even when they are healthy. The risks from fish TB are very small, you must have been really unlucky hunni, I am sorry you were ill for so long XXxx

**rollie** · 05-12-2006, 09:40 PM

you say your fish was bleeding around fins and scales protruding. scales protruding point to either a high or low ph. bleeding around fins would point to reded of the skin. Pimafix will help that.

**CoryCat** · 05-12-2006, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by rollie

you say your fish was bleeding around fins and scales protruding. scales protruding point to either a high or low ph. bleeding around fins would point to reded of the skin. Pimafix will help that.

Mine weren't, and the PH in the tanks is arounf 7.6/7.5 so neither high nor low :( The whole thing has us both stumped and more then a little upset at loosing so many and not being able to do anything about it. Thanks for your help Rollie, you have been great in replying so fast :) Raised and loose scales are a sign of sevreal diseases and so are many of the other symptoms which is why it has been so hard to diagnose, they fit so many illnesses, we only thought TB becauase of what the guy said and the fact the symptoms match with more of TB then any other. Tis a mystery and one I hope is not repeated ever again in any of my tanks or Mul's. XXxx

**tieu** · 05-13-2006, 12:21 AM

my fish were also dieing and the fish shop owner guy told me to use rain water since then none of my fish including danios have died. wonder if that would help :)