Fish Tuberculosis - If you keep fish, you need to know this!

[Schnauzer]

If you keep fish, you need to know this because if you get this bug in your tank, you won't be successfully keeping fish again until you start all over! Have you ever had all or most of your fish die on you for seemingly no reason? Or contract a bacterial infection that appeared to be something like closed fins, red sores, a bent back or bizarre symptoms like sudden death or holes that you can't find in your standard fish disease book? Welcome to the horrible world of fish tuberculosis!

So what do you do if you think you have an outbreak of fish tuberculosis? Start by eliminating other more common fish diseases and researching them. Test your water with a home testing kit, or bring your water to a pet store that specializes in fish to test it for you for very little cost - sometimes free! If there are any imbalances, do a partial water change and buffer any components like pH as needed. If your water parameters are fine, go to the next step, which is identifying what disease your fish has by researching these.

Parasitic and Protozoan infections:
Velvet
Ich
Lice (Argulus)
Anchorworms
Flukes
Ergasilus
Leeches
Uronema marinum (marine only)
Costia
Hexamita
Neon Tetra Disease (not exclusive to Neons)
Glugea
Henneguya
Chilodonella
African Bloat
... and more

Fungal infections:
Body Fungus
Ichthyosporidium
(Most common products market cures for "fungus" because something looks like fungus to most people, but are actually bacterial infections.)

Other problems:
Hole in the Head
Swim Bladder Disease (many possible causes)
Eye problems like Pop Eye, cloudiness, swelling, etc (many possible causes)
Tumors (cancerous or viral)
Constipation
fish bullying other fish
injuries

Bacterial Infections:
Dropsy
Cotton Mouth (NOT a fungus even though most products market cures as such)
Fin and Tail Rot
Scale Protrusion
Red Pest
Fish Tuberculosis

If you have eliminated everything but Fish Tuberculosis, this may be the problem. Fish TB can manifest itself in many forms and even imitate other diseases depending on if other organs besides the kidney and liver are affected - but usually the symptoms don't quite add up, or there are other unexplainable symptoms. Fish usually succumb to this disease by renal (kidney) failure. Sometimes there are no symptoms at all except sudden death - which is caused by sudden renal failure.

An autopsy can confirm this. You will either see small white dots in the kidneys which are enlarged, and/or dark circular lesions in the liver when viewed under a microscope. I currently have an outbreak amongst my bettas, and finally opened one up to find little white things in the kidney... Which confirmed my suspicions. An autopsy is optional - simply eliminating every other possible cause is probably good enough, but you can also send your fish off to a lab for an autopsy if you don't want to do one yourself.

So what do you do if your fish have it? Euthanize them if the disease is far along (if you are able to... I however, just can't do it... If you need to do this please read http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/81 ), or the fish appears to be failing immediately. There is no known treatment and this disease will terminate your fish in a very unpleasant way.

Sometimes you will have a survivor or two. These fish are carriers of the disease and should not be exposed to any new fish. Treat with Kanamyacin (KanaPlex by Seachem). You can buy this online or at specialty fish stores. You also want to disinfect anything and everything that has come in contact with the water of the infected fish. Use Calcium Hypochlorite, found in pool stores to disinfect. Not even bleach or acid will kill this bacteria, so Calcium Hypochlorite is a MUST. Use it on the entire tank, the filters (let the filter run like normal for a day while using), nets, the surface around the tank, buckets, syphons, decorations, isolation tanks, and anything else that has been in contact with the water of the infected fish. This is an absolute must or the disease will reappear if you get new fish. The jestation period of this bacteria (Mycobacteriosis) can be anything from a day to 6 months depending on the immune system and stress level of the fish. So, if you cleaned the tank without Calcium Hypochlorite and didn't treat your survivors (if any) with KanaPlex, and you add new fish, you may not see a problem until 6 months later! But one thing is for certain if you have this deadly killer - It WILL rear its ugly head again if not dealt with properly! And the proper way to deal with this bug is as mentioned above.

Please use common sense - if you have any survivors, don't put Calcium Hypochlorite in there with them!!!!! Treat with KanaPlex instead! It would be best to do this in a smaller hospital (isolation) tank while disinfecting the tank where it all started with the Calcium Hypochlorite. Then when you remove the Calcium Hypochorite thoroughly from your tank, let the whole thing cycle just like you would a brand new aquarium for at least a week or two. Put your treated survior(s) back in there after that time period, and disinfect the isolation tank you used with Calcium Hypochlorite! Then when you add new fish, be sure you pick carefully. Do not buy from stores that have quite a few dead fish - like Wal Mart. I NEVER buy fish from Wal Mart - and lately, I don't even buy fish from PetSmart. Best to stick with specialty stores that know their stuff rather than overly commercialized big businesses that want a quick sell rather than healthy fish. This is important, because once you have this bug in your tank, it's a lot of $$ and work to get rid of!

As always, be sure to keep your water parameters in check, do partial water changes, keep filters running, don't overfeed, etc...

* * * *

I wrote this article because my bettas have found themselves with TB. My boyfriend had 3 bettas in a row, each dying of the same thing. I thought it was the water parameters because I checked them and his pH, ammonia and Nitrites were not where they should have been. His 3rd betta, William, wasn't getting any better when I corrected his water, so I took him in because my boyfriend didn't want him to die like the others and thought I could help him recover. It looked like some kind of bacterial infection, but I couldn't identify it even though I can identify tons of fish infections by sight from years of fish keeping. I treated with a couple of different antibiotics and anti parasitics (NOT at the same time), to no avail. William lost his color by turning dark, his fins shrank but didn't close, he was lethargic, could not swallow food, had raised scales on his head like a rooster comb, and became emaciated before finally dying. This process took a long time and I tried everything. This puzzled me for quite some time. I use triplex tanks for my bettas, and William was in one of the compartments of one. After he died, I sterilized it with isopropanol, and proceeded to put my bettas back in... I normally rotate which bettas are next to each other (their water does not mix) to keep them active and flaring at each other, rather than becoming bums like they do when isolated.

So, since I have confirmed Fish TB with an autopsy of my latest fish death this morning, I conclude this is what happened: Which ever Betta I put in the compartment William was in after disinfected, contracted the disease. It gestated for months. Next water change, I switch them around again... Any Bettas in contact with that water - including my net, now have it. All of a sudden different Bettas in different triplex tanks who have not been in contact with each other have the EXACT SAME THING! I treat them... Onyx and my dark blue one with a white stripe with various things. They're still alive, but following the path of William. I got a new Betta days before I saw this in Onyx, and he died last night of the same symptoms only much faster - He was new though, so his immune system was weaker from transport. This made him succumb faster. My oldest Betta that I've had for a few years died when he randomly bloated... so he had different symptoms. I got frustrated because I couldn't figure out what was going on, so I took everybody out and put them in separate cups, but I used the same net (even though I ALWAYS wash in between fish). Now that they've definitely all been exposed, my blue-green one with peach stripes died very suddenly last night even though he seemed fine the day before (sudden kidney failure), and my beautiful orange one died this morning after having breathing problems last night. I autopsied my orange one and found the white dots in the kidney, which was indeed, swollen. Now I know they ALL have it!! And I can only hope that my other tanks have not been exposed!! Who knows! Even though I took all of the necessary precautions that would eradicate or prevent the spread of any other disease, Fish TB apparently can't even be killed with isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) or this never would have happened. Now I've lost a lot of bettas, and the time is running out on two that are starving to death. I have 2 very sick ones, several dead ones, and 2 (including a brand new one) that have no symptoms yet. I am on the rush to get Kanamyacin for them online, and Calcium Hyochlorite at my local pool store, since that's the only thing that will disinfect it. This is just unbelievable! So it all started with my boyfriend's very first Betta... What a terrible and costly disease.

I must also add that the marine aquarium is infected also, but this is by a different species (Mycobacteriosis marinus) and cannot pass between salt and fresh water. I finally found an explanation for why all of our fish keep dying but 2 after a certain period of time for seemingly NO REASON and under PERFECT water conditions. This story is too long for me to put here though... I think I've written too much already and need a break! I only recently stumbled upon an article about this disease, and when I did further research, found that it explains everything. Now I have a BIG job ahead of me to get rid of this!

[Luka King]

Hello, I am so glad I found someone who has experience with fish tuberculosis since I highly suspect that my poor betta has it, but I can't find enough information anywhere. Earlier today I posted a question on another Q&A board so I will paste it for you to read and perhaps you can recognize some of the symptoms. Here goes..

 

One day a fat house fly fell into my fish tank and my betta took a bite out of it. I threw the remaining fly away as soon as I could, but I think the damage was already done to my betta with whatever funk the fly was carrying.
Several days or maybe a few weeks later I noticed that my blue betta was turning red in patches. I immediately put him on a round of tetracycline antibiotic, thinking it may be septicemia. By the end of the treatment the redness started to subside, but his fins started to show rotting, which is strange since tetracycline used to instantly kill fin rot in the past. My betta could have developed resistance to tetracycline. That was also the last time I saw my betta poop. About a week after the treatment the redness and inflamed scales started to reappear, my betta also started to throw up white powdery stuff. Even though he still was very active and displayed a huge appetite, occasionally he would freeze up in the middle of whatever he was doing, then suddenly reawaken, startled.
I ordered him Kanaplex, which should treat septicemia. I started administering Kanaplex and during treatment I did not see any signs of fin healing and his behavior seemed the same. Only towards the end of the treatment I noticed some color return, which I took as a good sign. Few days after the treatment the red patches started to return again, but this time more white. The fins were still rotting, unaffected by the meds. I figured the disease was not killed off, but I wanted to give him at least a week free of any medicines. Because he was getting worse again, I put him on a second round of Kanaplex. There are 2 days of treatment left, but I don't imagine it will cure whatever he has because the improvement rate is too slow and the relapse is too fast after the meds.
What baffles me is the fact that he hasn't pooped for at least 3 weeks now, but he has an incredible appetite (although I don't overfeed him). He also has a lot of energy. His belly is not swollen and despite of a healthy appetite he is becoming thinner. Could he also have internal parasites? Could he have marine Tuberculosis? What on earth is happening to the food that he eats and does not poop out?

 

Please let me know if this sounds like TB. It has been over a month since I've noticed this disease.