Testing for "fish TB" -pics included

You should consider submitting an article to a fish mag, or at least sharing your findings with Diana Walstad.
Leah is right. Diana Walstad has been researching immensely on mycobacteriosis so she will be more than happy to hear from you your findings, Paperdragon.

I am really impressed with your findings.:thumbsup: One can never learn enough from experience.lol

Ok, I'll see about sending this on to her. Hopefully my old prof will send me some better pics of the slide under the microscope too.

Cool!
Out of curiosity, what was average pH of your tank or pH that fish were exposed to for a long time?

pH has always been a very steady 7.2, and in case it matters nitrite and ammonia were always 0, and nitrate varied between 10-40ppm over the months (I can't remember exact stats for individual tanks). Temps in some tanks were 78F, one around 80F, and the goldfish tank stayed at 72F in the winter and 74F in the summer.

Incredible documentation, thank you so much for your contribution. And my sincere condolences :(...what will you do now that you have that grim diagnosis?

I've got one person that does sort of a fish sanctuary type thing that's willing to take the bettas including the ones that are acting sick, and I'm hoping I can find people willing to adopt some of the others that seem ok so far in similar arrangements (never letting them come in contact with other fish and such). I know it's a long shot on the adoptions, but otherwise it's euthanasia for all of them including ones that could possibly have enough immunity to fend off the disease.
I've got too many kids and people with not-so-great immune systems in and out of my house all the time, and the tanks in high-traffic areas, so just keeping the fish isn't an option.
 
Very informative thread, not to make light or diminish the tragedy of this situation, PD.

Great links Platy and Lupin. I've had the UF site bookmarked for a long time.

Those links to threads you attached are extremely interesting, Lups. I'm bookmarking them. 95% of links bookmarked on my laptop have to do with fish, lol.
 
Wow. thank you for turning your loss into something so very beneficial to the hobby. Kudos for that, and great documentation.
 
Very informative thread, not to make light or diminish the tragedy of this situation, PD.

Great links Platy and Lupin. I've had the UF site bookmarked for a long time.

Those links to threads you attached are extremely interesting, Lups. I'm bookmarking them. 95% of links bookmarked on my laptop have to do with fish, lol.
Same here! Since nobody else knows how to bookmark sites, I abused it prior to this pc reformat and filled it with over 30 fish sites and articles.:duh::D

Glad the links are helpful. Check the section there, Melody. You will be spending hours reading every documentary. That forum is so loaded with abstracts, etc you will be overwhelmed at first.
 
PD, have a look here for the abstract documenting what fish have been found to have myco in them. Betta splendens is one of those listed. 67% of the number of bettas submitted were found positive for myco.
http://thegab.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12679

See this thread where Walstad sent a letter to GAB for some interesting points on myco. Can't miss this one.
http://thegab.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10757&p=141637&hilit=walstad#p141637


Yeah, the bettas were definitely hit hard, 7 out of 11 are dead and at least 2 of the remaining 4 are showing signs now.

The guppies have had a slightly larger number of deaths, but the percentage is lower since I've got several dozen of them. I've also lost 4 goldfish, and have two with extremely severe swim bladder problems, while the other 2 are mostly normal aside from sitting around more often than they should.

Oddly enough, none of the bottom-dwellers seem at all affected. I still have all 7 kuhlis, all 3 dojos, my big pleco, and my little cory (the other 2 died from other causes- one long before the infection started and the other beaten to death suddenly by a previously good-natured betta). All of them act the same as they always have, are eating good, very active, and not the slightest physical sign of illness either.
 
Wow, this was exactly my experience having lost several characins and rainbowfish (not surprising with their high susceptibility). A total nightmare. I am so sorry to hear that, PD.:(
 
fascinating, thats actually pretty cool
 
AquariaCentral.com