Okay.. think this is my last post on this topic for now...
Mycobacterium has been around for years on end. When I joined this hobby, one of the first things on disease I read was "mycobacterium is found in almost every aquarium fish in some number." We've known this for a long time (okay, shush, I haven't been fish keeping that long :p).
I would honestly, think that if we were having some sort of bacterial epidemic here, that some magazine like Amazonas or Practical Fish Keeping would have commented on it. They haven't, no one seems too worried about this to me.
This has been around for so many years (gosh, some of those paper's sources are from the 90's- we do realize that's over a decade right?) and the world hasn't ended, fish still live in tanks, they will keep living in tanks. Die outs here and there is part of the hobby and happens when you aren't careful with your fish.
It is this pathogenic strain that is starting to show up in large numbers. You have to do a lot of searching as it is not the common strains. And it is deadly. I saw it locally in 6 pet shops.. in their bettas. And all get from one supplier. I think there is a serious exposure issue there. So recommend using real care, at this point in time, when buying from the major chains. I'm sure my fish had other mycos present. But the one causing the deaths and all the other crazy and varied sypmtoms was this triplex.
How can you tell they have pathogenic M. without lab testing?
That is true. Every expert who has written books/magazine articles on fish diseases agree that the only way to positively know a fish has myco is to do testing, whether it's a tissue sample or an autopsy. And saying you recognize the signs isn't cutting it because every expert also agrees that there are many diseases that mimic each other, hence the need for lab testing.
You are correct, I shouldn't have used the term "only" maybe "mostly" or "the majority of people who see this type of disease are those who handle large numbers of fish" would have been more appropriate xD
Also, I have seen it happen to a person with only one fish before, so it is possible, what I'm saying is maybe the percentages of this particular deadly pathogenic strain are actually lower than what people think
I hope so. And it does make sense... But I think we also often don't hear about the cases of people who only owned one Betta, because anyone can go out and buy one, stick it in a tiny unheated tank and not think anything about it when the fish dies... Maybe it could be a reason people seen to have "bad luck" with bettas (besides that they are uneducated on proper care). Many people think that disinfecting with hot water actually works, and can't understand why every new fish they get dies...
I just find it hard to believe than anyone has that kind of info about the Betta population as a whole because anyone can go out and buy one. I could have got one on my own when I was 5 if I had $10.
Basement Bettas... Out of curiousity, did you QT the fish that introduced this to your tanks? Did you buy him/her from a store or a breeder? If you did QT, how long? What were the first symptoms? Most alarming?
I'm just curious because I want to know how long to QT any new fish and what exactly to look for and such...
Got him from a US breeder. QT for like 60 days. Decided was tired of cleaning the beanie and put him in my barracks. Then he got a bit off.. eventually bloated and died. It happens. so removed him and put another fish in that cell. About 2 more fish deaths IN THAT CELL made me think something not right. And now the entire row showing symptoms. Was not long after the entire system showed signs. Because I just went from one barrack to the next or next tank without disinfection.. I quickly exposed my entire fish room. In 2 months time I had every fish showing symptoms. I searched out a phd, asked some questions and he told me to send fish. He had wanted to look at the columnaris that was so resistant. It took 5 months from getting the fish to diagnosis. And I was lucky enough I was allowed to send fish to be tested. And they were very patient with answering all my questions and referring me to other scientific papers to read. Many people have had this in their fish room over a year and just never could shake it. Now that we know what it is it is being dealt with. And we are getting rid of it.
Got him from a US breeder. QT for like 60 days. Decided was tired of cleaning the beanie and put him in my barracks. Then he got a bit off.. eventually bloated and died. It happens. so removed him and put another fish in that cell. About 2 more fish deaths IN THAT CELL made me think something not right. And now the entire row showing symptoms. Was not long after the entire system showed signs. Because I just went from one barrack to the next or next tank without disinfection.. I quickly exposed my entire fish room. In 2 months time I had every fish showing symptoms. I searched out a phd, asked some questions and he told me to send fish. He had wanted to look at the columnaris that was so resistant. It took 5 months from getting the fish to diagnosis. And I was lucky enough I was allowed to send fish to be tested. And they were very patient with answering all my questions and referring me to other scientific papers to read. Many people have had this in their fish room over a year and just never could shake it. Now that we know what it is it is being dealt with. And we are getting rid of it.
60 days QT? :/ oh, my. Maybe I just shouldn't ever get new fish, haha.
How do you go about getting rid of this, you think? It seems like an awful lot to take on. 60 days sounds like a long time... Even that didn't protect your stock.
I hope so. And it does make sense... But I think we also often don't hear about the cases of people who only owned one Betta, because anyone can go out and buy one, stick it in a tiny unheated tank and not think anything about it when the fish dies... Maybe it could be a reason people seen to have "bad luck" with bettas (besides that they are uneducated on proper care). Many people think that disinfecting with hot water actually works, and can't understand why every new fish they get dies...
I just find it hard to believe than anyone has that kind of info about the Betta population as a whole because anyone can go out and buy one. I could have got one on my own when I was 5 if I had $10.
You make a good point, and the only thing I would say about all the other bettas that people buy say, for decoration, is that we can't really tell what killed their fish, so there's no way to know for sure. It seems to me that most of the people I know that have kept fish, and kept them well have never seen this type of disease hit their tanks. Olympia made an excellent point about some major magazines, and someone else had a good point about if this was as bad as it's being made out to be, then home aquariums would be banned.
Personally, I don't see the point for panic on this level, now that the conversation has mellowed a bit (after 8 pages or so) there is less of that panic, however, for casual browsers who are looking for information on their pet here on the forums, seeing something like this and reading the first few pages is terrifying.
I digress, I guess my thing is, is that this really probably isn't the epidemic that some think it is
You make a good point, and the only thing I would say about all the other bettas that people buy say, for decoration, is that we can't really tell what killed their fish, so there's no way to know for sure. It seems to me that most of the people I know that have kept fish, and kept them well have never seen this type of disease hit their tanks. Olympia made an excellent point about some major magazines, and someone else had a good point about if this was as bad as it's being made out to be, then home aquariums would be banned.
Personally, I don't see the point for panic on this level, now that the conversation has mellowed a bit (after 8 pages or so) there is less of that panic, however, for casual browsers who are looking for information on their pet here on the forums, seeing something like this and reading the first few pages is terrifying.
I digress, I guess my thing is, is that this really probably isn't the epidemic that some think it is
Yeah, I'm not too worried about my current fish... But I need at least 2 more females for my sorority and this makes me scared to introduce any new fish, especially if 60 days of QTing didn't prevent it. I'd hate to lose my new girls, or either of my boys... I've had my VT for over a year, now.
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