You should take extra care when maintaining your aquarium.

Vet William Wildgoose explains why you should take extra care when maintaining your aquarium.




A zoonosis is the term that describes an infectious disease that spreads from animals through to humans and vice versa — such as coming into contact with infected fish water.
Mycobacterium, the bacteria that cause TB in fish, is one of the few common zoonotic infections in the hobby, and is a very good reason to take extra care when carrying out maintenance on your fish tank.

What signs will a fish show of having TB?
The bacteria will cause a chronic disease over weeks and months, resulting in abscesses throughout the body.
The symptoms will depend on which organs are affected and can physically appear as weight loss, colour change, skin sores and abdominal swelling.
Many small fish may show no specific outward signs but die after displaying lethargy and showing anorexia.
Diagnosis requires an autopsy and laboratory tests to identify the lesions and bacterial organism.
There is as yet no effective treatment for the disease, which can persist in fish and in its water for many months.

How do fishkeepers become infected and what are the symptoms?
Fishkeepers will get infected through direct contact with that infected water, particularly if they have open skin wounds.
In humans, the organism generally produces chronic skin lesions on the hands and arms. These fail to heal and may require months of treatment.
These will often resemble other types of skin disease, may initially be misdiagnosed and require a dermatologist’s opinion in order the pinpoint the cause.
Humans who are immuno-compromised following chemotherapy or have HIV infections are at more risk of contracting zoonosis and may develop a life-threatening illness.

How can I reduce the risk of catching a zoonosis?
Hobbyists can practise good hygiene, such as wearing arm-length gloves or thoroughly washing any exposed skin with antibacterial soap.

You should never prime syphons by using your mouth.

So Is fishy TB the same as reptile TB?
I have been exposed to the reptile one when I was younger......

A while back I was looking into getting arm length gloves and eventually just let the idea go. I know many times I've stuck my hands in the water while having cuts after reading this I think I better get some.
Thanks for the info Kory.

yep. crazy stuff.

Had read about this, a few years ago a girl from another forum had gotten this, she was having a horrible time getting the area to heal up. This is something that is always there in the back of your head after reading.

Myself, even when I think about using gloves doesn't happen but after I clean & such in the tanks the first thing I do is use the antibacterial soap, do this in between tanks for the most part though bad about it when I'm doing the top row on the rack.

I just wash my hands with hot water and a little soap after I do my water changes and what not.

Me too. I always wash up to my elbows afterward. And I use a Python No-Spill! lol Greatest invention ever.

thanks for the info im real bad about starting a syphon with my mouth
but i do wash my hands after messing with my tanks

This may be a different topic, There has been a few times that while starting a siphon I have gotten a monthful of aquarium water. I know this is not good, but I wonder what could result from this unfortunate mistake? I'm sure this has happened to many of us at one time or another.

Happens to me all the time ornate12. I guess if it doesn't kill you it only makes you stronger.

Yea I don't say anything about this to wife LOL

That's one of those literally don't kiss and tell things!! LOL

I am one with the fish.....I figure...WHAT THE HELLL!!!

Okay guys I'm worried look what showed up in the past 4 hours between my thumb and first finger and hurts like he!!. Excuse the arthritic hands!

There's a wonderful article on MB in the Feb Aquarium Fish International magazine (pg 40). I was rather fascinated since environmental micobacterium were what I focused on for my bio degree.

BTW - My original interest in the subject is because there is an older theory that Rheumatoid Arthritis has a micobacterium as the causative agent. The treatment protocol for this theory has put both my mother and I into remission - without destroying our immune systems (like all those advertised RA drugs do) ... Ok, back to the topic of aquatic MB...

Now, a wide variety of MB species are found in the environment. They are known to cause quite a few diseases in livestock and humans. The key with micobacterium is that the host's immune system must be compromised in some way before the majority of the infections become pronounced enough for symptoms to develop. (In the cases of fish TB passing to human) Now, it's one of those microbes that you cannot keep out of the aquarium environment - so you're stuck with dealing with it.

Besides using UV sterilizers to bring active fish TB cases under control by lowering the MB population and your exposure - here's a few other things you can do: Wash hands/arms after tank maintainance; do not put hands with open sores into tank; if you are immuno-compromised (like I was for the year I was on prednisone) treat any open sores on hands/arms with alcohol several times a day - especially after dealing with aquarium.

In my own personal experience (when I was immuno-compromised for a year), any sores on my hands became inflamed after I worked in the aquariums. They were much slower to heal - but with almost hourly doses of either straight alcohol or alcohol hand sanitizer (my excuse was that I was a teacher. I was constantly using the stuff) the sores healed in about 2-3 weeks. Normally, they would've healed in 10 days.

Your fish may look fine and healthy - just remember that just like the tetanus bacterium - the micobacterium are still there and always will be...

i taste my water every so often LOL and usually have dried cracked hands in the winter but im not worried one ounce about it