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Agree - I probably should have said "the state of fish medicine available to the hobbyist is not great". The goal for most of us should be to avoid the illness in the first place. But in the case of mycobacterium, even multi-million dollar facilities (e.g. Zebrafish R&D) have not been able to...
Other than Ich, for which the meds pretty clearly work, I have never been able to cure anything with any other approach than big water changes. The state of fish medicine is not very advanced.
Looking at journal articles - seems like 30-80% of ornamental fish tested carry mycobacterium (microbiology test). I’m sure there’s quite a bit of variation between the strains and outcomes in your tank but my takeaway is that you can’t avoid it entirely.
Hi Mac, thanks for the thoughts. I think I will send a fish for autopsy next time if I can find someone who does this. It’s a pretty involved procedure - they have to culture the bacterium on agar and test for staining. For now I’m hoping that Diane Walstad is correct and running a UV 24/7...
I’ve had a disappointing run as well, Don. My first apistos were LFS store bought as adults and line bred orange flash, ie they very well could have died of “old age” but my second pair were juvenile borellii pantanal (ie should be closer to WT) from a good source. The male made it 6 months, the...
Well that is a bummer to hear. On the other hand, all of my fish have eventually died! I do know that darkened head pigmentation can be associated with mycobacterial infection, which I have had concerns about in the past. What was the correlation in timing between appearance of the coloration...
Hi, not sure I have seen this before but my female Borellii has recently been showing dark pigmentation around her head. Picture doesn't even fully do it justice, but you can get the idea. She had been in yellow breeding coloration for quite a while (had some fry, kept them together for a few...
Hi all, these nannostomous marginatus are available on Dan’s fish without photo and I was curious if anyone has any experience? I’m looking for a small group of pencilfish to go with some female borellii in a 20 gallon long. Water is 72F, pH 6.8, hardness <75 TDS. Let me know if I’m on the wrong...