What is Mycobacteriosis?

[betta4ever!]

@GaryE mentioned it in a thread. I've never heard of it and google is not being very helpful... Just to make this clear, I've no actual reason to ask, I'm just curious.

 

[malfunction]

It’s a nasty fish bacterial infection that can also be transmitted to humans too. Reading about it can be quite scary as there’s no cure for fish and it can infect fish for a long time before symptoms show. Getting rid of it can be difficult (or impossible according to some opinions). There used to be a paper in this forum’s scientific section about the different bacterial strains that cause it - not sure if it’s still there.

 

[connorlindeman]

Isnt it fish tuberculosis?

 

[Uberhoust]

The following site has an FAQ on the bacterium, it is mostly on stripped bass but the data is valid anyways. https://www.vims.edu/research/departments/eaah/programs/projects/myco/faq/index.php#Symptoms

 

[GaryE]

It seems almost every creature has a version of tuberculosis, a Mycobacter type. With fish, the common one is M. marinum, although there are others.

They spread like human tb - crowding and not ideal conditions. I suspect most farmed fish have the disease. But what does it do?
The fish can very often encyst the bacteria to keep it under control. If the cyst forms on the spine, for example, you get twisted bodies as it gets in the way of normal growth. But the fish, in good conditions, can maintain its defences and keep the bacteria from busting out. Bad conditions? Out if goes, through the fish and into tankmates in a massive onslaught.
It seems to affect hardwater fish more than softwater ones.

If you are immune suppressed and have an open cut, you can get it. I did. I was exhausted, a fish developed the characteristic rectangular plaque on its flank and I missed it, and six months of antibiotics later, I was cured.

I think anyone who 'adopts' a sick fish is not using their head. That sick Betta? Feel sad and run like the wind.

In relative terms, I am many many times more likely to catch a cross species disease from a cat, or from my beloved dog. I was officially diagnosed and had a biopsy taken by a professor of dermatology at a major university, and I had the first case he'd ever seen. It isn't terrifying, but it is $%$# annoying if you get it. Antibiotic cocktails for 6 months are not pleasant.

There is a lot of info on it as a disease from under-chlorinated swimming pools - old school cement ones where people scratch themselves and get "swimming pool granuloma" (my attempt at spelling it).

Your fish will have their lives shortened by it, but they can still live reasonable amounts of time with a dormant infection. It survives bleach - it can't be cured in fish.

Adrian Tappin has an excellent booklet on the disease. It is a scourge with rainbowfish, and his knowledge of them is astonishing.

 

[betta4ever!]

Thanks so much, everyone! Really helpful. I'll read everything more carefully later, cause I'm doing shcoolwork right now...

I did. I was exhausted, a fish developed the characteristic rectangular plaque on its flank and I missed it, and six months of antibiotics later, I was cured.

WOW- that sounds terrible....