Isolation of Mycobacterium fortuitum from fish tanks in Alborz, Iran

Fish mycobacteriosis is caused by the non-tuberculous mycobacteria. Infected fish are normally the primary source of infection, although non-tuberculous Mycobacteria can be found in the environment. The present study was designed to investigate the few recently found suspected cases of mycobacteriosis in Iranian ornamental fish tanks.

Pathological specimens including granolumas from autopsied fish were used to inoculate Lowenstein-Jensen medium. Genomic material was extracted from all acid-fast positive cultures. The mycobacterial identity of bacterial isolates was authenticated using a PCR assessment targeting a 543 bp-long stretch of 16Sr RNA gene. Further more, a PCR assessment targeting a 294 bp-long stretch of heat shock protein hsp65 was performed and the amplicons were sequenced to identify the isolates.

Characteristic mycobacterial bacilli were identified both in light and fluorescent microscopy of bacterial culture from all the suspected specimens. PCR-amplification of DNA templates from all isolates successfully resulted in production of the expected products. Existence of Mycobacterium fortuitum was confirmed by comparison analysis of nucleotide sequencing at hsp65 gene.

The present work clearly shows mycobacteria are important in pathology of ornamental fish diseases. People who are keeping fish as pet in their homes should be cantioned about the bacterial contamination risks arise from close contact with exotic ornamental species of fish.