# Fish Tuberculosis?????



## Lacey131 (Sep 26, 2010)

So working at Petco you think you have seen and heard it all from customers..... But considering that it is our fish in our systems that are having the issues, im just outta options. Anyone know any treatment options for Fish Tuberculosis ,we have 240G sump/tanks x 8 sumps? However, My marine sumps are not affected by the TB, because of the sterilizer.Petco has offered to put in UV sterilizers in our fresh sumps but it takes six months for the tech to come out and tear up my department..... So in the meantime there is supposedly a medication called Streptomycin anyone know how the dosage and length of treatment is, and how to administer it? Thanks any replies will help at this point. BTW Petco has an automatic refill system on their sumps from RO water....


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## Nina_b (Jan 3, 2011)

Get all the staff working with fish a vaccination? TB can carry over from fish to humans.

I don't have any experience with fish TB myself. I did come across this site the other day, which states:


> Fish can be treated with the same drugs as humans get when they become infected by Mycobacterium marinum, e.g. Kanamycin. Since this is a very resilient microbe, normal treatment involves administering at least two different medications over the course of at least three months.


The site is:
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/disease/tbc.php


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## Lacey131 (Sep 26, 2010)

thanks for the info  lol another vaccination i have to receive lol ( Rabies was my first set of shots for Petco) 
Any other treatment options anyone?


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

I don't know if there is a vacination for fish TB, but it is virulent and difficult to treat. It takes a long course of treatment to cure in human patients. Kanamyacin is available in bulk as is any medication used for fish. It should be available from an aquaculture supply. It would mean a large dose for the size of the system and no fish sold while the treatment is ongoing. might be cheaper to kill all the stock and sterilize the system before starting over. Of course you would need to establish a TB infection exists for sure before taking those types of drastic measures.


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## marshpollock (Jan 19, 2011)

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by a germ called Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. bacteria usually attacks the lungs to other parts of the body damage. TB is spread through the air when the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes or talks of TB.


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## Lacey131 (Sep 26, 2010)

yah thanks again for the info, our fish are pretty much waisting away , and not eating and curvature of the spine. Well we got fish in again yest and from everything *** read, it says it is typically tetras that really start showing signs first and we received lemon , blood fin , neon, black neon, and gold tetras that we put in a quarantine system treated/ cleaned bleached and cycled for a week. And within 8 hours their backs were starting to curve and their lung cages were starting to show.... I really think it is in our water that is regenerating, Because even our Betta are dying....
That have nothing to do with our sumps, is that possible. Or is the City of Jacksonville trying to poison us ? lol


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

from what I'm aware there are no treatments for fish TB.

UV sterilizers will limit transmission however I doubt the majority of the fish got TB when they were there, (especially given the speed you claim to be seeing it at) it would more than likely originate with suppliers/breeders.

IMO the best course of action would be to take several fish to a vet to get them diagnosed (I would suspect by postmortem (to rule out other causes) (going by this link I'd say postmortem is the likely method)

whilst this might seem unkind, take live fish, and have them euthenised for the procedure, as several parasites quickly leave the body afterwards, meaning potential diagnosis may be missed because the evidence is lacking.

if you get a positive diagnosis, then I would suspect a full sterilization (of tanks, equipment, materials used area surround it) as well as the fitting of UV filters when it restarts, as well as requiring some kind of quality assurances from the supplier/breeders.


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## Lacey131 (Sep 26, 2010)

Finquel is what we use for euthanasia is that okay?


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

Lacey131 said:


> Finquel is what we use for euthanasia is that okay?


sorry for the delay (exams), that should be fine, though I would advocate taking live fish to the vets, on the basis they can euthanize it there and then before the autopsy. the reason being that some parasites WILL leave the body within minutes/hours of the death of the host (I'm thinking some of the gill ones here)


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