Human illnesses from fish???

Hi Professor,

I trust that this thread will not be one of those meaningless and pointless threads that get started in the "Ask the Professor" forum.

I have noticed over the past 14 months that I have been getting ill with rather strange ailments. They are generally not illnesses that leave you FEELING SICK, and yet, if left unchecked, they can become rather serious. WHat I mean is you don't actually feel sick... just general head-aches, high temperatures and lack of energy to do anything.

Over the past 14 months I have had Gastric flue twice, a viral infection, and more recently, what the doctor called a bacterial infection. Generally I am a very healthy person, and would suffer from flu or sinusitus once a year.

I'm sure we have all had a mouthful of fish water when we are starting up the syphon. 9 out of 10 times a water change is done with either a beer, a cold-drink or a cuppa joe at hand. I am sure that no matter how careful we are, an innocent scratch of the nose or rub of the eye can accidentally be done with wet hands from the tank.

So question I want to ask is- Is it possible for us as aquarists to contract any disease (be it bacterial or viral) from our fish or the water?

 

I was actually thinking about this today, i got a nice big mouthful of not so nice tasting water today. Will keep watching this thread to see the answers

 

google fish TB - i read a story somewhere about it infecting fishkeepers

 

I also read about that fish TB and that it was very dangerous when you contract it.

 

Hi Zoom,

Your post here is actually not a simple one at all. You are requesting me to make a medical diagnosis which:

1. I cannot make because I am not a medical doctor as a result of which I am not qualified to do this.

2. I cannot examine you and do not know what your general medical condition is, nor do I have the right to even ask you about this.

For these reasons, whichever comments I make here are general comments, but I can only urge you to have yourself examined thoroughly by a medical doctor and a specialist, I do not want to have any responsibility about your medical condition, or for any incorrect diagnosis of your problem. I can think of numerous reasons, but I will not even list them here, because I would be speculating completely.

So, my general comments:

1. As Henk correctly indicates, you can contract fish tuberculosis from contaminated fishes. Fish tuberculosis occurs in many fishes in Singapore and Malaysia which is where just about all our fishes come from, so this is not impossible. For symptoms consult the internet.

2. You can develop an allergy to bloodworms, this is well documented in fish keeping circles in Germany.

3. Bloodworm is often cultivated in the East in dams that are run-off dams of piggeries. Such run-off contains masses of bacteria, many of which are directly infectious to man such as Salmonella, and such bloodworms, in spite of being frozen still contain these bacteria and they do survive the freezing process, I am absolutely sure about this. As a result you can pick up a number of harmful gut bacteria from water in which you have fed fishes with these bloodworms. Such bloodworms are lethal for discus, and I only feed and supply European bloodworm which are fed on yeast and malt from the production of beer and are therefore not loaded with harmful bacteria. You can PM me if you want to obtain some of these.

Having stated this, I am going to say that I will not tolerate any funny comments on this thread, and unless you may want others to comment, I am going to close this thread after this.

My personal opinion on your question is that I believe that I am infringing on your personal rights and I feel uncomfortable about this.

I sincerely hope that you manage to get into a better state with regard to your health and would like to wish you the very best.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

one quick note before closing this thread...

TB is documented to have been contracted by humans from the Knysna Sea Horse. Hippocampus Kapensis. (I dont have the facts and notes on this so for more info please google).

 

I was not aware of the situation with the bloodworms.
I think that Zoom was asking about contracting diseases from fishkeeping in a general sense, and not specifically wanting a diagnosis of his physical condition.
Thanks for your usual very informative reply. I will be changing my bloodworm supplier due to your info.

 

I personally think it is possibly if you drink contaminated which has bacteria and diseases in it, it surely will cause you not to feel great as your body fights what ever foreign entities are now in your blood stream. Zoom i would go to the doctor and have a complete once over and well as maybe blood tests done.
JUST FOR THE RECORD i am no Dr and far from it, but was diagnosed being a type 1 diabetic at the age of 32 after not feeling well for two weeks.

 

every now and then i get to swallow a mouth full of tank water and man oh man - am i not a happy camper after that....

 

Hey guys,

I PM'd the professor in more detail with regards to my thread... Just to give you a bit of more clarity...

Darren was 100% correct that I was purely asking out of general for all of us, and not myself specifically. Yes I am currently fighting a bacterial infection, but that is besides the point.
What I was aiming at was to give you a general indication that my entire life I have been a very healthy person, usually only suffering with a cold, flu or sinusitus once in a while... but since getting a fish tank, I have had the before mentioned illnesses which I usually do not get.

So I put 2+2 together, and thought that the viral/bacterial infections could have been cause by bacteria and funnies in the fish water, and wanted some more clarity from the Professor if this was possible.

In all instances I have sought medical attention, been for necessary blood tests, and have have successful diagnosis and treatment thereof.

I also have to take into consideration that in Gauteng we have had an astronomical amount of rain the last few months, and we even had a fairly wet winter last year. Unfortunately with rain always comes outbreaks of virus and bacteria infections... and apparently, according to my doctor, the bacteria infection I am fighting at the moment is very common, due to the amounts of water.

So don't worry guys, I'm not dying yet... and I will be pestering you all on TASA for many more years to come!!!

 

Glad to know you will be around for a while still Zoom .....
for general purposes and stress and job and everything else i started taking a multivite which seems to have helped boost my system and give me energy. I think a lot of us dont stop and think about the stress and strain we put ourselves under daily. Maybe not enough exercise or eating right .

 

Slightly off topic but I was assuming people know how to do gravel cleaning /water changes without sucking the pipes.
If not
Fill pipe completely turn pipe into tank and bucket
Release both ends
or just Google it or search YouTube

 

I have had an problem a while back in one of my tanks. I was cleaning it and cut my hand on the rock not thinking anything of it I just carried on working and I don't know if it was just coincidence but I ended up in bed for 3 days after that and I was very sick....
so guys be careful when working in your tanks.