I've not seen this statement before... do you suppose they really are safe???

[Magnum Man]

VIRUS FREE!!! Gouramis in the hobby are plagued by iridovirus infections. Our Pearl Gouramis have been screened by a specialized state animal diagnostic lab where the foremost expert on fish viruses works, and no evidence of iridovirus, megalocytivirus, or mycobacteriosis were found.

 

[Magnum Man]

coincidentally this is the only gourami to carry this statement, from this seller, and it was noted on a pearl gourami ( maybe that species has been particularly hit hard )???

 

[Innesfan]

Did I miss something, because I was under the impression only Dwarf Gouramis, T. lalius, were so plagued?

 

[MuddyWaters]

That's what I've heard- the virus that is unique to them but supposed to be in about 50% or some crazy amount.

 

[fishorama]

I haven't heard of iridovirus in pearls either. I wouldn't be surprised if it can hit them too. But what's the cost of being "assured" of a disease they might not get? I would research more

 

[GaryE]

It does seem odd. Iridovirus is a plague of lalius, so much so that for some time, they were listed by the government here as needing special paperwork for importation. I have never heard of it appearing in pearl gouramis, which were never listed.

The optics aren't good on that seller.

 

[MaloK]

I wish I have not found this:

Megalocytivirus and Other Members of the Family Iridoviridae in Finfish: A Review of the Etiology, Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Prevention and Control - PMC

Aquaculture has expanded to become the fastest growing food-producing sector in the world. However, its expansion has come under threat due to an increase in diseases caused by pathogens such as iridoviruses commonly found in aquatic environments ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[GaryE]

So there is a pearl gourami Irodovirus. Interesting.

That article assumes one piece of knowledge many new aquarists may not have had to think about. That is, Irodovirus is a Genus, with a host of species within it. The one that affects lalius (dwarf gouramis) may not be the same one with the same symptoms as the one hitting leeri (pearls). We've all hopefully learned about viruses skipping to new species, as with COVID, but the same is true of fish. So recognizing the probability of movement is a key element in understanding the world of viruses.

Fish medicine is just as complex as human medicine, it's just that it's rarely practiced, and our fish die like people did in the pre scientific era.

My solution is brutal, and I say this as a person who wrote a book on gouramis years ago. I will not have Asian gouramis in my tanks anymore. They were a favourite group, and I enjoyed keeping them for many years, before the diseases spread via the fishfarms. I won't touch them with a disinfected bargepole now. When I see them in stores, I sometimes wish I could watch them again, but I don't act.

 

[MaloK]

So there is a pearl gourami Irodovirus. Interesting.

That article assumes one piece of knowledge many new aquarists may not have had to think about. That is, Irodovirus is a Genus, with a host of species within it. The one that affects lalius (dwarf gouramis) may not be the same one with the same symptoms as the one hitting leeri (pearls). We've all hopefully learned about viruses skipping to new species, as with COVID, but the same is true of fish. So recognizing the probability of movement is a key element in understanding the world of viruses.

Fish medicine is just as complex as human medicine, it's just that it's rarely practiced, and our fish die like people did in the pre scientific era.

My solution is brutal, and I say this as a person who wrote a book on gouramis years ago. I will not have Asian gouramis in my tanks anymore. They were a favourite group, and I enjoyed keeping them for many years, before the diseases spread via the fishfarms. I won't touch them with a disinfected bargepole now. When I see them in stores, I sometimes wish I could watch them again, but I don't act.

Dwarf Gouramies, are my all time favorites. These guys are awesome, beautiful and have some of the most intricate personalities.

I wish I had the courage to have them again. But I'm too scared.

 

[Magnum Man]

This is a little off topic of aquarium fish... but this information begs the safety of eating these fish... one would assume that proper cooking would be effective at preventing a transfer to humans eating the fish ( Tilapia were also mentioned, & I do raise Tilapia to eat ), but proteins were mentioned, & cooking of proteins doesn't always stop their bad properties... and then there is the problem of raw consumption of Oysters, and many fish, in the form of sushi, and since this sounds like an issue with both fresh & salt water fishes... ( I don't eat any raw fish, being in the food industry... but I do like a pretty rare steak once in a while )... it's been discussed how difficult it can be to remove some of these virus's from an aquarium... should one be concerned with eating farm raised fish???

 

[GaryE]

I think the concern is with eating farmed fish from places without testing and governmental standards. But even there, I don't think a gourami irodovirus is dangerous to anyone who isn't a farmer. If your fish get one, they die off and you're out of business.

Mycobacters are the most common dangers. I'm not a fish farmer to know regulations if food fish test positive. I don't have any idea. But I have never heard of food transmission of that bacteria. I suspect the warmth inside our bodies would kill it, if our gastric juices didn't. When I caught it through a cut in a finger carelessly exposed to infected fish, it couldn't get into my system other than the lymphatic system on the very surface of my arm. It couldn't take my body heat.

I'll always test positive for tuberculosis antibodies now, even if what I had wasn't human tb.

What food is safe? We have members who eat wild elk, deer and antelope. Cows live in herds, pigs can be filthy, chickens are crowded... and we have food inspection.

Viruses are weird things, but we are surrounded by them in numbers we can barely imagine. Only a tiny percentage harm us, and another tiny percentage harms other species. When dwarf gourami irodovirus checks were required to import the fish to Canada, it was to protect commercially valuable native fish from possible disease.

If I farmed Tilapia I would make sure to keep them away from my tropicals, and to avoid all contact with equipment in either direction.

 

[MaloK]

It's all good until a cross-over version spontaneously pops in the wild. (your tank)

The immuno-capability of organism builds up by exposition. So as long as peoples eat raw fish there will be people with better dispositions to fight the next wave.

Since virus are not "alive" and can only live with an host, cross species contamination is really far fetched without any divine intervention.