_Mycobacterium_ is widely spread here too among many tropical fishes and
others. There was an incident last summer in which a red drum re-stocking
program had a small percentage of fish infected with mycobacteriosis. The
media had a field day intimating that there was a significant chance for
human infection from such a disease. Not that it can't happen, for it can,
though the zoonotic potential is quite low. Those of us in the business now
use the term nontuberculous mycobacteriosis instead of "fish TB."
I work with systems in which water is exchanged much more than in a home
aquarium and that may be why mycobacteriosis doesn't seem to be as
prevalent as _Aeromonas_ or _Flavobacterium_ infections. _Mycobacterium_
can build up in an aquarium over time, and since infection is passed
primarily through fish eating their tank mates, prompt removal of dead fish
is important.
Most literature refers to members of Belontiidae and neon tetras as being
frequently infected, but I've seen it in a variety of fishes.
Denise
Denise Petty, DVM