wow... these look incredible... trying to look beyond TB

I would assume the dwarf Rainbows have the same issues as the regulars, as they are from the same location???
Neon dwarf rainbowfish (Melanotaenia praecox) tend to have lots of health issues in the UK. I'm not sure what they are like in the USA. But they do get TB like the bigger rainbowfish and it's common in them because they are mass produced due to their colour.
 
You know the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with the plague and "bring out your dead"?

A lot of praecox in stores are the sick guy who says "But I'm not dead yet."

Marosatherina ladigesi, the Celebes rainbow is a beautiful species that is also often affected. They're what I caught it from, and I've seen a lot of very rough looking ones in stores. I love the fish, but it's off limits in my books.
 
Do you think Dan’s Fish has a better track record with selling TB-free rainbows?
 
I would personally think so, by their business model... but in reality. how would anyone know, when it can be in "remission" for a while... my Yellow Axelrodi's ( I did not get those from Dan's... they came from an average California fish seller, that sells a lot of Asian bred fish ) did not die at the same time... in my specific case, each fish last 6-8 months longer than the last, even though they were the same size, when purchased... one last 6 months, one lasted about a year, the 3rd lasted about a year and a half... you get these modern fish keeping systems like Dan's has, that automatically / continually do water changes... the fish probably last longer in that situation than most home aquaria
 
Marosatherina ladigesi, the Celebes rainbow is a beautiful species that is also often affected. They're what I caught it from, and I've seen a lot of very rough looking ones in stores. I love the fish, but it's off limits in my books.
Celebes rainbows either come in good or bad. Bad batches generally die within a few weeks of coming in. Good batches are less common but they do well if kept in hard water with some salt.
 
You know the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with the plague and "bring out your dead"?

A lot of praecox in stores are the sick guy who says "But I'm not dead yet."

Marosatherina ladigesi, the Celebes rainbow is a beautiful species that is also often affected. They're what I caught it from, and I've seen a lot of very rough looking ones in stores. I love the fish, but it's off limits in my books.

Oh no! That's the second one that was on my wishlist to go with my planned p.luminatus!

Store had them under really good lighting, so while not a dramatic looking as some of the dwarf rainbows, is really pretty under good light with lots of blues. They had a gorgeously scaped planted display tank with both the Celebes and red neon blue eyes together in it, and that's what I've been wanting to replicate in my own tank! Those species anyway,


It was my second fav they had in store after the P.luminatus I knew I'd want more of. However, that's really good to know so I can avoid those! They only had a few Pseudomugil in stock anyway, and there are plenty more pretty ones!

I like the dwarf blue rainbows too (because they're blue, of course) but sawbwa actually appeal more, and would likely be heathier and more midwater I think.. @MattW3344 ?
 
I like the dwarf blue rainbows too (because they're blue, of course) but sawbwa actually appeal more, and would likely be heathier and more midwater I think.. @MattW3344 ?
My Sawbwa go all over the tank tbh (breeding at the top scavenging at the bottom). I saw some dwarf rainbows at my local maidenhead aquatics today while picking up my ricefish. They are a beautiful fish :)
 
Y
@AdoraBelle Dearheart ... I'm sorry, if I'm screwing up your hobby plans... bad Magnum:dunno:

You absolutely are not! You haven't done anything wrong! And it's an interesting thread, sorry, not trying to hijack it!

Besides, technically, @GaryE was the one who ruined my plans! :lol: ;)


Only teasing! Neither of you did. Only helped me be on the lookout for and dodge a potential disaster, refined my plans with useful info, and learned me summat I didn't know before! :)
 
I got the impression from a post from I think @Colin_T ... talking about it, in another thread, that TB cells have a waxy coating and are resistant to most sanitizers...

which is why I listed a strong detergent, prior to sanitizing...
Hey, I know the thread is sort of past this topic now, but in case you were still worried about disinfection, there's some literature that has tested the efficacy of common disinfectants on M. marinum.


Basically, povidone-iodine (betadine) is probably the best common disinfectant. It was more effective than bleach (and it's also safer). Lysol and 50-70% ethyl alcohol seem to be just about as effective as the betadine too.
 
In the food industry I have available to me an acid quat sanitizing solution... that, at 4% or below solution, it doesn't require a rinse, on food contact surfaces, but at 10% we use it to sanitize our drains... & my drains always test at micro levels allowed for food contact surfaces, when I have to do environmentals in the plant...

wondering if that might be better than chlorine, & is likely less hard on the silicone???
 
In the food industry I have available to me an acid quat sanitizing solution... that, at 4% or below solution, it doesn't require a rinse, on food contact surfaces, but at 10% we use it to sanitize our drains... & my drains always test at micro levels allowed for food contact surfaces, when I have to do environmentals in the plant...

wondering if that might be better than chlorine, & is likely less hard on the silicone???
Personally, I would stick to disinfectants which have been tested directly with M. marinum. Mycobacteria have their own sets of disinfectants that are approved by the EPA. These are specifically for tuberculosis, but mycobacteria in general are such hard-hitting diseases, and so persistent in the environment, that I'd only feel comfortable using disinfectants that have direct evidence of being effective. Bacteria are finicky, and just like with antibiotic medications, different chemicals have different efficacy against different types of bacteria.

Betadine wouldn't be hard on the silicone, although it might stain. If you want to avoid risk of staining, I'd go with Lysol (and it has to be specifically Lysol or a generic brand of benzyl-4-chlorophenol/phenylphenol) and a very, very good rinse afterwards. The study conducted by Smith (the second link I posted) noted that mycobacteria were reduced to non-detectable levels after only one minute of contact with Lysol, betadine, or the ethyl alcohol. Such a short contact time wouldn't be able to do anything to the silicone, although I'm paranoid enough that I'd want to leave the disinfectant on for at least a couple minutes.
 
Betadine might give you stained silicone, unless you have black silicone, at which point go for it. It's going to be hard to heft around a big tank to clean it out after. It's not work I would with a tank I couldn't tip on its side for a hardcore rinse with a strong hose. That stands for lysol too.

I don't blame the seller for Myco, unless they hide it as a few stores do. My beloved and late lamented duboulayi rainbows came from a great source, who lost his own to it. It is something that happens, since it's such a cryptic disease until it isn't.
I'm honestly surprised we're discussing it. When I raised the issue on older forums, I was shut down right away. Some people became very angry at me for attempting to discuss it. I was even told the disease was so rare, no one would ever see it, and that I was scaremongering. The week after that one, I went to chain store and saw three tanks showing sores. I think we're finally able to take a good look at it.
 
I've got thick skin. & an inquiring mind... & not a bottomless wallet... so I'm wanting to find out what's the real deal... it's really no ones fault, but something us fish keepers are having to put up with... & knowledge is power...

if there are some of these otherwise compromised fish, living a long life in a tank somewhere, those owners should know not to add any new fish to those tanks...

and all the more reason I've been trying to get my tanks to a "done adding new fish state" as quickly as possible... I suppose there is always the hope for a medication, but it seems the way this attacks, prevention seems better???
 
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I caught fish tb, as I've said. If you can convince a fish to take an antibiotic cocktail of 7 pills twice a day for 6 months, there is a cure...

Prevention becomes a problem in our current way of doing things. If you look at a tank and see an individual who doesn't look right, you don't buy. That's all the prevention we can do.

But we buy online, sight unseen, we get what we get. There's no prevention possible - no drugs, no QT (it can blossom a year later).
 

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