I'm not sure how posting to this group works, so I'm going to be
brief.
After 15 years of having Rainbowfish with few problems, all 3 of my
tanks are now infected with Fish TB. I assume its from some fish I
added to one tank last year. Believe me, this disease is no fun. It
Rainbowfish appear to be highly susceptible and what I've read on
Internet suggests that many commercial stocks are now infected. Last
time I visited my local aquarium store, half of the fish had a few
symptoms ... gill cover erosion, sluggishness, swollen bodies, etc.
Symptoms don't appear for months, so even careful quarantining may
not help. There is no cure other than to tear down tanks and start
over.
While poor care may accentuate the disease in infected fish, poor
care will not cause it. The organisms that cause the disease
(pathogenic strains of Mycobacterium marinum and M. fortinum) must be
first be brought into the tank.
I will be glad to write a comprehensive article for this group on
what I have learned about Mycobacteriosis. I believe that every
person in this group should know more about this disease that
threatens our Rainbowfish. This disease is also transmitted to
humans (e.g., "fish tank syndrome".
--- In r_m_l at yahoogroups.com, "Julie Zeppieri" <bowluvr at h...> wrote:
> It has never stopped me. :-) As with everything else in life,
you should
> be an informed consumer and do some research before you purchase.
Then, take
> good care of what you buy. Goes a long, long way in keeping things
fun IMHO.
> :-)
>
> Julie <'><
>
>
> >From: ampullariidae at c...
> >Reply-To: r_m_l at yahoogroups.com
> >To: r_m_l at yahoogroups.com
> >Subject: Re: [RML] Fish TB?
> >Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 17:57:12 EDT
> >
> >Do you think the fear of rainbowfish getting TB would warrant not
keeping
> >them? I have a large aquarium collection and I don't need an
epidemic...
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Andrew