Hey there. My husband has an infection caused by Mycobacterium Marinum (fish tank granuloma). We are just looking to see if anyone else has dealt with this. It’s hard to find information on whether we need to treat the tank, some things say it’s in lots of tanks so no point treating if no one is sick, others say scrap everything. Also curious on how the treatment went for the infection, whether surgery was needed, how long it took to cure and so on.
Thanks so much!
Welcome to Reef2Reef!
I've had confirmed human Mycobacterium marinum/chelonae once, and in years past, I've had a number of suspected instances resulting from being "spiked" by FW fish while I worked at a wholesale shop. For me, I've been able to "fight off" the infections. With the earlier cases I had, I would get little nodules in my hands near where I had gotten spiked (granulomas). These would go away after a month or so. In the confirmed case, I went in for routine TB testing at work (I worked at a zoo aquarium). The results of the tine test came back "suspect". They had me go back in for a more sensitive test and it came back "atypical Mycobacterium" (fish TB) and a retest in 6 months was negative. One of my staff developed a larger lesion. That was 20+ years ago, and darn it, I can't remember what they did to treat that, but he still works in aquariums and has had no further issues.
Here is some text from my fish disease book that I wrote about this issue, but I must strongly caution you that with any zoonotic diseases, you MUST follow proper medical advice:
Zoonotic disease
While there are no reports of human diseases being transmitted to aquarium fish, aquarium fish can transmit diseases to people. A “Zoonosis” or “Zoonotic disease” is the medical term for a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Some, like rabies, are very serious. For other zoonotic diseases, the significance of the infection may be dependent upon the individual’s level of health.
Aside from eating raw fish (which can transmit worm parasites to people), all of the zoonotic diseases that aquarists need to be aware of are caused by bacteria. Groups known to be transmitted from marine aquariums to humans include
Pseudomonas,
Staphylococcus,
Vibrio, and
Mycobacterium.
The last one,
Mycobacterium, tends to get the most “press.” The other three typically cause skin infections similar to the type doctors see in non-aquarium cases, but
Mycobacterium infection is stubborn to treat and can cause a “false positive” in some human tuberculosis (TB) screening tests. Also called “swimming pool granuloma” and “fish handler’s disease,” atypical
Mycobacterium can cause localized infections in the extremities of humans and, in some cases, results in a deep-seated infection that may require surgery. In other cases, the disease is self-limiting; it goes away on its own if given enough time.
As an aquarium owner, if you ever test positive for human TB, you need to ask your physician to screen for atypical TB. In most cases, serious cases of atypical
Mycobacterium are seen only in people who have some other underlying health problem that makes them immune-compromised. The risk of infection from any aquarium bacterial zoonotic disease is minimal as long as a few safety precautions are taken.
Preventing human infection
The following safety steps are intended to help prevent human infections from atypical “non-pulmonary”
Mycobacterium spp. most commonly encountered in aquariums (
M. marinum,
M. fortuitum, and
M. chelonae) as well as other potentially infectious bacteria:
1. Gloves should be worn by anyone working in aquariums, handling seafood products, or performing a necropsy on an animal. Aquarists should wash their hands with germicidal soap after removing the gloves.
2. If shared for human food preparation, all work surfaces and kitchen equipment should be decontaminated after each use. A 10% solution of household bleach in water (5000 ppm sodium hypochlorite) is an effective disinfectant.
3. Never siphon aquarium water by mouth, the risk of ingesting contaminated water is too great. Start siphons by filling the hose with tap water first.
4. Foods for human consumption should always be stored separately from frozen or fresh aquarium seafoods.
Regarding the tank itself - you really cannot treat this in order to exclude Myco from aquariums. Here is my text on that:
Mycobacterium infection (AKA "Fish Tuberculosis") is a common, yet often misdiagnosed bacterial disease of freshwater and marine fish. It has zoonotic potential as it can infect humans through cuts in the skin.
Symptoms are varied and non-specific, and can include darkened coloration, popeye, emaciation, fin erosion, skin ulcers, and granulomas on the internal organs (which will stain for gram positive, acid-fast bacteria). In most cases, the disease is chronic and slow acting, with most fish succumbing due to "old age". However, in some species, held under crowded conditions, acute
Mycobacterium infections have been seen, where a high percentage of the population will die, even at a young age. This has been noted in cichlids, pupfish, pirate perch and zebra danios.
Many treatments for
Mycobacterium infections in fish have been proposed, but none work well. Antibiotics that have been used include erythromycin, kanamycin, and rifampicin. It is probable that any drug used would need to be dosed orally, especially if freshwater fish are being treated. Control is the best course of action; maintain optimal water quality, avoid overcrowding, and remove any dead fish promptly.
Atypical
Mycobacterium, M. chelonae, M. fortuitum, M. marinum are very common in the environment, and therefore are found in aquariums. They are difficult to culture but can be isolated from virtually every aquarium if you sample properly. They are commonly found in frozen seafood items, so the chance of them being introduced into aquariums is consistently high.
Sterilization of infected tank decorations and equipment is difficult, and not strongly advised since these bacteria are already in the environment, but > 200 ppm sodium hypochlorite for > 1 hour has been shown to be effective (Noga 2010) - In a bare tank of course, as this will also kill all life in the tank.
