Curved spine

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sapphiresea

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Aug 11, 2009
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Almost two months ago, I bought a group of four threadfin rainbowfish (two males and two females). I kept them in quarantine for a month before moving them into my 29 gallon planted tank. Recently I noticed that one of the females seems to have a curved spine.

From what I have read, this is likely a case of fish tuberculosis. Additionally, I learned that this disease is quite common in rainbowfish. Is there anything else her curved spine could be?

I have since removed the female and placed her in a quarantine tank, but I need to know what to do next. If it is tuberculosis, I have read that the best course of action is to euthanize the fish. If there is any chance of saving her, I'm willing to try anything. Any suggestions?
 
Amost everyone recommends that you euthanise the fish and sanitize the tank, however, I remembered reading about possibly treating them with an antibiotic, I was thinking Kanamycin and a vitamin.

I searched for and found the information. Here it is:

Fish TB
Treatment and Control:
Kanamycin + Vitamin B-6 for 30 days is the most effective treatment that we know of for tuberculosis. The fish should be quarantined during treatment time. Liquid baby vitamins found at your local pharmacy are a good source of vitamin B-6. One drop per every 5 gallons of aquarium water is sufficient. Replace the vitamins according to how much water is changed in the tank during treatment time.
Overcrowding and poor water quality are usually the cause of this disease.
Be careful, this disease may spread to humans.


Best Regards,
Dr. Gary Aukes; Pharm D, Dr. Brian Aukes; PhD., and the staff of National Fish Pharmaceuticals.


A bent spine may not be definitive in regards to Fish TB, though this may be the problem. Do you see any other signs such as losing weight, red lesions, or ulcers?

It's good she's in quarantine. Hopefully, if this is TB, it may be in the early stages, though a bent spine would seem like a symptom that would occur after the disease is in a more advanced stage.

At this point, I, personally, would go ahead and start the treatment discribed above. Yes... it's not good to just throw meds in an aquarium when you don't know for sure what's going on, and yes, her condition may not be helped at all, and in fact, she may not survive anyway if this is TB.

However, since you want desperately to try to save the fish, and the fact that rainbows are prone to TB and a bent spine is one of the classic symptoms, I would go ahead and try to treat her. Just be careful of cross contamination with other tanks and fish, and be careful to keep your hands out of the tank, avoid eye splashes, and any contact with the water.
 
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Kanamycin is usually dosed every two days, but I believe I would dose once a day, along with the vitamin, right after a big water change.

The antibiotic loses it's efficacy after a few hours, so water changes every 24 hours do not interfere with the treatment regimen.

I read an artlcle written by a vet that suggested the use of Kanamycin every day, in certain situations, so I wouldn't worry about it being too much, just be careful when you measure each daily dose. My bottle of Kanaplex had a little scoop measurer, just make sure each dose is level and not rounded to avoid an overdose.

I think that by providing pristine water, through daily big water changes, your fish will have the best chance. Monitor your params, I would use Prime to help detoxify any traces of ammonia or nitrite, although daily water changes will probably keep that well under control.
 
Melody, thank you so much for your help. I haven't noticed any other symptoms at all. Fish tuberculosis seems to be the most likely cause, so I will go ahead and try the treatment. I realize it may be in vain, but it's worth a shot.

I've been extremely careful in avoiding contamination and avoiding the water in general. I'm keeping a careful eye on her old tankmates. Since I have good water quality, is there any way this can be an isolated incident? Everything I have read seems very pessimistic.
 
Well... I would think it's pretty contagious, though from some of what I've read it most often takes a nick or break in the skin of the fish to contract it. The Mycobacterium marinum is in the water, so I would step up the water changes in the other tank, too, just be careful with the water siphoned off.

You've removed the fish that is obviously sick, so that may help. Hopefully the others won't come down with it. Clean water, clean water, clean water.... vital to help their immune systems stay strong so they can resist illness and disease causing pathogens.

This is a major pain in the arse, but I would do ample water changes every other day in the big tank, and daily ones in th hospital.

If the others begin to show symptoms and signs of infection, I would just go ahead and treat the big tank. Kanamycin (Kanaplex) is not supposed to harm the biological filterbed, though I would monitor params closely. The Kanamycin and Vitamin B6 regimen seems to not be too difficult to carry out. The water changes.... now that's another story, lol.

EDIT: If you could do your water changes, siphoning the water into buckets so you could pour some chlorox in it to sanitize and kill the bacteria, that would be ideal. I don't know how virulent the Mycobacterium is, but I hate to think of it getting into the water ways.
 
One of my fish has had a curved spine for a while. It's a long-finned gold danio that's been this way for a long time. I thought it was from stress from cycling the tank months ago. The fish is anorexic looking, has a curved spine and clamped fins. It's gills are kind of red but I assumed that was from ammonia spikes that occurred when I was cycling. It's in a planted 10 gallon tank with a a guppy, barb, molly, another danio, and a chinese algae eater. None of the other fish have shown signs of this disease. I don't know what to do because I don't want to catch it and I don't want to have to euthanize (spelling?) all my fish. I don't know where to get Kenamycin and I have b6 pills. But is it worth it? Are they all doomed?
 
I have Platy that get anorexic, listless and clamped fins, faint white patches. But no curved spine. No one could tell me what it is. Had a Platy die of it 2 days ago, might have another with the mysterious disease now. If I find it later in the day, it's going to fish heaven. This only affects my Livebearers. It's annoying, water is clean, constant and non-stressful.
 
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krpott said:
One of my fish has had a curved spine for a while. It's a long-finned gold danio that's been this way for a long time. I thought it was from stress from cycling the tank months ago. The fish is anorexic looking, has a curved spine and clamped fins. It's gills are kind of red but I assumed that was from ammonia spikes that occurred when I was cycling. It's in a planted 10 gallon tank with a a guppy, barb, molly, another danio, and a chinese algae eater. None of the other fish have shown signs of this disease. I don't know what to do because I don't want to catch it and I don't want to have to euthanize (spelling?) all my fish. I don't know where to get Kenamycin and I have b6 pills. But is it worth it? Are they all doomed?
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The curved spine can present itself if the fish is getting too skinny...have you seen it eat?

I've had danios with bent backs and figured it was genetic since I never saw any other signs of TB in them or other fish and they lived healthy lives for the time that I had them.
 
It eats and behaves just like all the other fish, just looks terrible. I talked to someone at the petstore today and she said that it's likely a skeletal deformity or something caused by stress and not to worry.
 
Oh, and the woman also said that humans cant contract any diseases from fish, that we're too different.
 
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