teddscau
New member
Okay, so I'm confused as to how to deal with fish TB. I've been told by other aquarists, a veterinarian, and various websites that if your tank has TB, all fish need to be culled; porous, organic, and plastic items that have been in contact with, or have been in indirect contact with anything related to that tank or it's inhabitants, need to be thrown out. Coral, invertebrates, macroalgae, liverock, etc., can't be disinfected, so they have to all be discarded as well.
After you've thrown out all your nets, pumps, powerheads, skimmers, buckets, etc., whatever's salvageable (i.e., the glass aquarium) must be thoroughly scrubbed with straight bleach. Not a single speck of biofilm can remain, since the Mycobacterium not only lives in your fish, but also the biofilm. In the biofilm, it's safe from being disinfected. However, bleach kills, at most 95% of the Mycobacterium, meaning you have to use ethyl alcohol at a 50"“70% concentration, or Lysol. Now, anything that has touched the biofilm or a single droplet of water from the infected tank needs to be disinfected the same way as well.
Up to 80% of captive fish carry at least one strain of Mycobacteria. Mycobacteria is spread through anything even a single droplet of infected water has touched, and the bacteria can remain viable for several years at 0% humidity. Anything that comes in contact with infected biofilm is now also contaminated, and actively spreads the contagion. This includes live food, such as rotifers, mysis shrimp, and brine shrimp, as well as frozen foods. Many outbreaks in weedy sea dragons have occurred in zoos and aquariums due to the animals eating infected mysis shrimp.
To prevent TB, you have to quarantine all new fish for several months. However, several individuals must be euthanized and examined by a qualified lab to check for TB. If any of the fish have TB, all the fish must be culled, and everything disinfected using the method above, and anything that can't be disinfected (nets, PVC, filters, etc.) must be discarded. If none of the fish test positive for TB, the fish undergo further quarantine for several weeks, before euthanizing several more fish in order to have them examined for TB.
Any aquarium that has/has been exposed to TB can't have any new vertebrates introduced to the system, nor can any organisms (coral, shrimp, fish, etc.) be moved to other systems, and it is strongly recommended that all animals currently or previously housed in that system be culled.
Tl;dr
Isn't the protocol for dealing with piscine tuberculosis just one endless cycle of euthanasia and disinfection, given its prevalence and ease of spread?
After you've thrown out all your nets, pumps, powerheads, skimmers, buckets, etc., whatever's salvageable (i.e., the glass aquarium) must be thoroughly scrubbed with straight bleach. Not a single speck of biofilm can remain, since the Mycobacterium not only lives in your fish, but also the biofilm. In the biofilm, it's safe from being disinfected. However, bleach kills, at most 95% of the Mycobacterium, meaning you have to use ethyl alcohol at a 50"“70% concentration, or Lysol. Now, anything that has touched the biofilm or a single droplet of water from the infected tank needs to be disinfected the same way as well.
Up to 80% of captive fish carry at least one strain of Mycobacteria. Mycobacteria is spread through anything even a single droplet of infected water has touched, and the bacteria can remain viable for several years at 0% humidity. Anything that comes in contact with infected biofilm is now also contaminated, and actively spreads the contagion. This includes live food, such as rotifers, mysis shrimp, and brine shrimp, as well as frozen foods. Many outbreaks in weedy sea dragons have occurred in zoos and aquariums due to the animals eating infected mysis shrimp.
To prevent TB, you have to quarantine all new fish for several months. However, several individuals must be euthanized and examined by a qualified lab to check for TB. If any of the fish have TB, all the fish must be culled, and everything disinfected using the method above, and anything that can't be disinfected (nets, PVC, filters, etc.) must be discarded. If none of the fish test positive for TB, the fish undergo further quarantine for several weeks, before euthanizing several more fish in order to have them examined for TB.
Any aquarium that has/has been exposed to TB can't have any new vertebrates introduced to the system, nor can any organisms (coral, shrimp, fish, etc.) be moved to other systems, and it is strongly recommended that all animals currently or previously housed in that system be culled.
Tl;dr
Isn't the protocol for dealing with piscine tuberculosis just one endless cycle of euthanasia and disinfection, given its prevalence and ease of spread?
