RE: NANFA-- just to create paranoia ;)

Nick Zarlinga (njz_at_clevelandmetroparks.com)
Tue, 25 Nov 2003 09:03:37 -0500

Lance, what you are describing is a very different thing. The symptoms that
was just described are what humans show when they have contracted fish TB or
Mycobacterium sp. It is a very slow growing bacteria that is a kind of
tuberculosis. Only, it is not the same species that shows the classic
effects of human tuberculosis. Fish TB in humans shows a reddish, inflamed
sore, usually on the hand and eventually develops with a white pussy center
that tends to form a crater. It is very hard and sensitive to the touch.
It is easily curable, although you have to be on meds for a very long time
to completely cure it. The next time you get a TB test from the doctor, you
get a positive reading (for the rest of your life). X rays are the route to
go after that. I have also heard it as "aquarist finger" and "flesh eating
bacteria", but this is a bit harsh. It is a serious issue if you do
contract it, but again, it is curable. Symptoms in fish are usually a
hollow belly, no matter how much you feed, sores that just don't seem to go
away, or spinal deformities. If one fish has it, it has to be assumed that
the whole system has it and the whole system should be sterilized, including
euthanizing the fish. If the fish are not euthanized, then they really
should be *truly quarantined*, no mixing of equipment or supplies between
tanks.

Your symptoms seem to be, as mentioned, gas bubble disease. Somehow,
nitrogen (from the air) is supersaturated in your water and it enters the
fishs' blood stream through the gills and then comes out of solutionin the
capillaries of the skin and fins. This is the same thing that scuba divers
get when they get the "bends". It is extremely painful and the diver/fish
needs to be recompressed to push the bubbles into solution in the blood
stream for a very extended period of time until the excess nitrogen can be
gasses off though the lungs/gills. In the aquarium industry, we usually
take the fish in a cage and put it in a very deep tank (10 feet or deeper)
to recompress. The question for you is how is the gas getting
supersaturated in your water. A quick solution would be to have lots of
airstones in the tank to gass off the excess nitrogen.

How's that for an early morning brain teasing?

Nick Zarlinga
Aquarium Biologist
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
216.661.6500 ext 4485

><)> -----Original Message-----
><)> From: owner-nanfa_at_aquaria.net
><)> On Behalf
><)> Of Lance Merry
><)> Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 8:25 PM
><)> To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
><)> Subject: Re: NANFA-- just to create paranoia ;)
><)>
><)>
><)> I've had a problem like this with rock bass. (This
><)> is probably something different because no crater
><)> is formed.) If my tank has an algea bloom (not
><)> uncontrollable but to where everything is covered)
><)> my rock bass get these small bubbles on their skin
><)> and they start acting funny then they will quit
><)> eating. It will end up killing them if not removed
><)> to another tank. This might sound silly but I
><)> only get algea blooms in the tanks with rock
><)> bass...so much so that I don't keep a light on my
><)> rock bass tank.
><)>
><)> Lance Merry
><)> Decatur, IL
><)>
><)> Steffen Hellner <steffen_at_hellner.biz> wrote:
><)> If one encounters small bubbles on the skin, with
><)> evolving margins like a
><)> tiny vulcan crater and the flesh inside gets
><)> necrotic then he has joined the
><)> team. Think first who reported this was the late
><)> Prof. Schubert from the
><)> University of Hohenheim, Germany, the famous
><)> expert in fish diseases.
><)>
><)> I showed him my fingers and he said: bingo!
><)>
><)> But it4s not very serious and will come ang go and
><)> come and ...
><)>
><)> Steffen
><)> ---------------------------
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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org