OK XmasFish, here's the translation:
Christmasfish said:
Findings for animal upon viewing slides was severe bacterial infecction signs with bacteria still present in different amount. The main suspected causative agent is Mycobacterium fortuitum...
He took samples from the fish (usu. scrapings from skin, gill or other suspicious looking areas) and looked under a microscope, he saw signs of infections caused by Mycobacterium fortutium. Mycobacterium is an acid fast bacillus (it takes up a specific stain on the slide - that's one way to identified it) and is related to TB (tuberculosis).
In the general discussion area, there is a sticky on fish disease & human health - that thread talks about this bug getting on fish-keeper's hand & resulting in chronic infection & amputation of digits! My suggestion - disinfect your tank, etc. lest you come down with this. Also talk to your doc if you have non-healing ulcers/wounds on your hands.
Christmasfish said:
Original suspect was pseudoloma but symptoms are actually in relation to changes caused by the Mycobacterium and an acute case of Hypochondroplasia; associated with these changes are intervertebral disk disease and joint dysplasia, suspected to be a genetic anomalies caused by linebreeding with the presence of an immature endoctrine system and enlarged heart with atrophied protions as in underdevelopment.. Kidney and liver damage apparent as both organs are very undeveloped for stated animal age. I would suspect this is only a further complication impacting mortality....
He also found that the fish has grossly underdeveloped bones & joints (espicially in the spine), and also underdevelped heart, kidneys, and liver. He sees an immature endocrine system (that is your "glands" - thyroid, adrenals, etc.) He suspected that all this is due to inbreeding and is contributing to the cause of death.
Christmasfish said:
Present were Areonomas hydrophila (sp Ranae). Likely as a secondary infection but not a common agent in a regionally bred animal. Also present in amounts that can be causative is Capillaria pterophylii. Signs in the owners claim of aggressive medication are present, but the titers reflect weaker dosage than would be effecient.
Also present are Coccidiodes...possibly immitis...very unsual in an aquatic animal.
(here words like serum antibody titers and lots of gobbledy gook chem strings vs percentages enter the lil mail up image and two tables)...
He also found the presence of other bacteria (the gobbledy gook are blood tests he did, serum antibodies are indications of previous infections in the fish). He listed some bacteria he found that were unusual, but he don't think that these are primary infections.
As a fish got ill, all kinds of opportunistic infections are involved. Bugs that are normally harmless can have a field day, ending up killing the patient. <See this in ICU all the time. #1 cause of death in multisystem failure is infection - not the underlying disease>
The summary of his findings:
01 Acute renal failure due to: <kidney failure , acute = rapid onset>
A. nephronophthisis likely due to bacterial infection <kidney stones>
B. abnormally constructed organs
a)caudate lobe is not developed on right side
<part of right side kidney is undeveloped>
b)renal cortical necrosis,
<this is the pathological signs of acute kidney failure>
02 Sac in the anterior abdomen shows signs of possible past viral infection based on:
A. complete necrosis of the rete mirabile
B. scarring and acute inflammation of sac epithelium
< The peritoneal sac - lining of the abdomen - shows signs of scaring & dead tissue, maybe from a past infection >
03 secondary infection of areonomas attacking gill structure and labyrinth cavity and epidermal layers
04 secondary infection of Capillaria pterophylii . affecting gill function and also likely causitive agent of "dropsy" symtoms
< 3 & 4 are just listing of secondary bacterial infections.>
05 no evidence of enviromental cause
Christmasfish said:
06 hypoplastic heart.with:..significant hemodynamic alteration and moderate aortic stenosis
A. apparent cardiomeagalyto left ventricle
B occlusive coronary Severe LV hypoplasia. with 70% of right anteriir decent
C concentric atrophy of r vetricle
D complex cardiac anomalies producing cyanosis.
E generalisesd atherosclerosis most likely becase scarring from bacterial agents
This is the most interesting bit of information. This fish has a severe congenital <ie born with it - a genetic defect> complex cyanotic heart anomaly.
Before I talk about this: some biology - blood from the tissues goes back to the heart at right atrium (RA) via veins, from there it goes to the right ventricle (RV) then to the lungs (eh gills in fish), and then back to the heart at the left atrium (LA), then the left ventricle (LV), which pumps it back out to the tissues via arteries.
This fish has LV hypoplasia - that is, the left ventricle is underdeveloped. All the other findings are results of this. The LV is the main pumping chamber of the heart, without it, you die. The reason the fish live is that there are connections between the left & right side of the heart - these connections are present in embryos but should be closed. The abnormal connections are kept open so blood can shunt from the left side of the heart to the right, so the RV can take over the job of LV (which is not there!) I believe the RV should have concentric HYPERtrophy (not atrophy as stated ... there is no such thing as concentric atrophy I know of) because it is doing both the job of RV & LV.
So in this fish, blood from the lungs has to go to the RV to be pumped (there it is mixed with blood from the RA - the blood from the tissue - thus the
O2 in blood is decreased - why this is called cyanotic). The mixed blood then goes to both the lungs & the tissues (to the lungs --- er gills! sorry I'm a people doc --- via normal channels, to the tissue via some connections to the left side of the heart - ususally a connection called the ductus arteriosum between the pulmonary artery & the aorta)
As you can imagine, this is an ineffecient arrangement. In people, this is a lethal condition. You have to find a heart transplant within days (weeks if you are lucky) or you have a dead baby. I am amazed that the fish lasted so long.
Anyway, with LV hypoplasia, the fish was doomed to die early, if not from one thing then another. Since this is likely a genetic condition, the fish from this line are not good breeding stock.
Whew! That's it. This vet obviously did a lot of work ... He is to be commended. I hope this clears things up a little. If you have any questions <about the translation that is ... you are obviously a more experience fish-keeper than me!
> , just ask. I'll see what I can do.
and hence my sig....
