Stroke?

[Kiara1125]

ITT, I found the picture on Google when I typed (Zebra Danio) Fish TB. I've never seen anything like that, Ryan. I don't know what to say really.

 

[Thyra]

I completely agree with the "waiting it out" idea. You might learn something and it will filter down to the rest of us.

 

[ryanoh]

I haven't really read much into this yet, but it's looking like a UV sterilizer might kill TB. I'm looking on amazon and there's a cheap one with great reviews that's attached to a powerhead rather than inline. What do you guys think of that?

 

[Lotus]

A lack of vitamin C can cause spinal deformities. It could also be some kind of genetic disease, if it's just the loach affected.

 

[ryanoh]

If it was genetic, shouldn't he have had it from birth? It literally developed overnight. So far its just the loaches with the spinal deformity, but looking back I've had a few other fish die without explanation over the past few months.

The platy on the right recently died, and over the time I had him he developed that red coloration on his tail and dorsal fins. I treated with several medicines and it never got better, and when I posted on the forum general consensus was that it was just his colors. Looking back it it, is that red splotchyness anything that could be related to TB?

 

[Kiara1125]

Ryan, with your Neon being bloated, mine get like that and then in a few days they are back to normal. I just believe that it's the females carying the eggs. I have watched my Neons, but, of course, the eggs never last long. Good protien, though.

 

[ryanoh]

Yeah, I realized that one of the main symptoms of TB is wasting away, so if anything the bloating should be a good sign in this case. :/
I did consider eggs though. I've never noticed any of my tetras being gravid before, but that's cool if that's all it is.

 

[Kiara1125]

Yep. My light bulb blew out one day and my Neons were just like SPAWN!!!!!!

 

[ryanoh]

So, what I've found about a uv sterilizer is that at a slow enough flow rate it is able to kill free floating TB in the water, and even ich if it's going slow enough, but it's unable to effect germs / parasites already on the fish. I assume infected plants are also unable to be cleaned with a sterilizer, but I haven't found anywhere to cite that from. Thoughts?

 

[IThinkTherefore]

Hmm... I know plants can be soaked in a diluted bleach solution to kill snails. I don't know whether this would effect TB though :/

 

[ryanoh]

From what I read its so hard to kill in fish because it actually effects their genetics rather than just infecting them like other diseases. I'm not sure if it does the same with plants, so sadly if I do have to break my tank down it looks like I'll be throwing out all my plants, as well as all my snails with all my sand. Lets hope there aren't any dead fish when I get back to my apartment tomorrow.

 

[Kiara1125]

Well, whatever you do.....protect the fish!!

 

[Lotus]

Loaches are always iffy because they're mostly wild caught. They often come with all kinds of unidentifiable diseases. I now quarantine them for a minimum of 8 weeks.

UV sterilizers aren't really that effective, IMO. I've tried them before, but no real results from them. It's probably better to treat the tank with a broad-spectrum antibiotic and see if it helps. It will get any bacterial on plants/in gravel, etc.

 

[IThinkTherefore]

I'm so sorry, Ryanoh Your tank is lovely.

I guess this is an opportunity to experiment with new plants/substrate colors!

 

[ryanoh]

Yeah, if I end up starting from scratch I'm going to try out a different color substrate and maybe go the African Cichlid route, with more rockwork than plants. Should be a nice change up.

 

[Kiara1125]

Well, even though it's only been a day, how are your fish doing??

 

[ryanoh]

I came home early this morning and everbosy is fine, which is great news. I'm probably being paranoid now, but how do I know of all the fish are infected with TB? I read they can appear healthy for a long time and still have it.

The short answer is that energetic is looking good though.

 

[ryanoh]

Today I caught one of my platies scraping against the bottom of the tank. I know this is a bad sign, but can it be linked to TB? I'm going to treat for parasites now, just wondering if I need to still be watching out for something bigger...

 

[IThinkTherefore]

Parasites could equal bloat/wasting! And I'd say what happened to your loach could be classed along the lines of a wasting disease - and parasites could have prevented him from obtaining needed vitamins. This would be way better than finding out your fish have TB

 

[ryanoh]

Yes, especially since I can't catch those things and I can fix them for the fish without nuking the tank. I've gone back to feeding anti parasite and anti bacterial food, but I'm goin to order some antibiotics for the tank. Are thee any that you guys know of that are plant safe?