BACTERIAL DISEASES

Tuberculosis

This disease kills more fishes than is realized because the effects are generally slow and fishes do not waste as do birds and mammals; they stay plump until they die. The germ, called mycobacterium piscium, has been found in many parts of guppies, even in the eyes. You are not likely to know if your guppies have the disease even when you find them dead. A bacteriologist can make the determination for you. Despite the fact that we keep so many guppies in such small places, tuberculosis does not seem to spread among all the inhabitants. If it does, it is quite rare.

Bloat

When a guppy shows a roughened appearance from the scales standing on end, and it appears to be bloated, it may have an intestinal infection which distends its intestines so greatly that it cannot swim below the surface without great exertion. Some stay in an upright position.
Treatment: Treatment: Try placing the bloated fish in a solution made of two tablespoonfuls of Epsom salts and two tablespoonfuls of Turk Island salt in per gallon of water. Leave it there for 4-6 hours. Then add another gallon of water and let the fish remain in this weaker solution for twelve hours before returning it to tank.

Air Bladder Disease

Some fishes with air bladder ailments will appear to settle on the bottom of the tank and make violent efforts to rise, only to settle down again. Others, called floaters, rise to the top of the tank and are unable to swim down. Students of fish diseases tell us that inflamed organs can reduce the size of the air bladder. Inflammation of the bladder wall also exerts a disastrous influence.
Treatment: Dissolve a teaspoonful of Epsom salts in a pint of water. Immerse the fish in it until it almost ceases its efforts to escape and lies exhausted. Then change the fish to a shallow container in which the water is not more than three times as deep as the fish is thick. Leave him in this water in which you have dissolved an antibiotic until he appears recovered.

Gas Bubble Disease

Bacteria which invade portions of the fish’s body sometimes cause gas which produces lumps. The gas may collect behind the eyes and pop them forward. The exact cause is not known for certain, but successful treatments are.
Treatment: (1) Aurcomycin. (2) An old successful method involving the simple matter of placing the fish in a tank of long-used water. The high nitrogen content is believed to relieve the condition.



DEFICIENCY DISEASES


Except for vitamin D deficiency, very little is known about fish deficiency diseases. The very nature of their natural food almost warrants they receive all the known vitamins, but under artificial conditions they could conceivably have a deficiency. Mineral deficiencies are doubtless common, a fact we can determine knowing the inadequate diets often fed to guppies.

Rickets

A disease caused by a deficiency of calcium or phosphorus or vitamin D; one, two or all three. A crooked spine and the resulting bend in the fish’s body is the usual evidence, although the unfortunate humpback can live and even reproduce. It is not a pleasant sight among the fishes of the aquarium.
Proper lighting can prevent D deficiency; the active rays affect ergosterol in the skin of the fish and change it to the irradiated form which is vitamin D. Sometimes whole aquariums will show bent spines but generally only a few of the fishes are affected. There is no treatment; it is all a matter of prevention which is primarily a matter of proper feeding of a complete diet. TOP