Fish and chytird.

[firedragon]

So I am wonder about this from people that actually knows.

I was thinking about buying betta smaragdina guitars and they can only be found as wild caught in my country, they have to be imported from thailand.
I am not intending on keeping them in the same enclosure as any salamanders. BUT I inted to have fire salamander or other amphibians aswell, perhaps in the same room.

Chytird came from south asian, so I wonder if they fish or their water can carry it and infect the animals i keep, or if it can spread from the fish I import to the local amphibian population in my sorroundings? It got me thinking, is fish safe to keep at all? Fish being the one or two things one can keep as wild caught ( the other being invertabrates) they are got in bulk by the suppliers, pet stores, and privet keepers for example of bettas buy regulary from thailand. So would be all of them introducing chytrid to their sorroundings? Does it realla matter what fish or where do you get them when at some point they would have come in contact with wild caught fish from south eat asia? by doing of petstores or private keepers?

My questions is can I have a imported betta smaragdina guitarr or any other fish and make sure I am not spreading the fungus to my local populations or captive kept animals?

 

[JM29]

The Anuran and Caudata chytrids attacks on keratinized parts, which are absent from fishes.
Moreover, they are specialized at least at the order level (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis/Anuran, B. salamandrivorans/Caudata).
So I doubt you'll have a huge risk with the fish itself.

But : the water travelling with the fish shouldn't be thrown outdoors directly because you don't know exactly what other animals it has been in contact with.
Heat this water in a micro-wave before getting rid of it, for example.

 

[chicco]

In short, yes. There is always a risk.
BD can in fact infect caudates so it is not order specific, we just know that BD is better tolerated by caudates than B-sal. There is not enough evidence to say that fish cannot spread chytrid. Many new studies are looking in to non amphibian chytrid host (like crabs and crayfish). We also know that chytrid spores can remain infectious for a long time when kept moist or wet..( exactly how long is unclear)
We know chytrid is sensitive to elevated temperatures with many studies reporting success trialing heat treatments at different temperatures for different lengths of times (for example 32C for 96 hours).
bioseculity is key here and I would not keep any new animal in the same room as my established collection until they pass my quarantine period, get fecals and swabs. Ive had chytrid infect some of my animals due to my inexperience and poor biosecurity. It taught me a great deal but came with so much heartache.
In short. Don’t keep them in the same room and don’t mix food, tools, water..etc.
there are a lot of zoological papers with protocols regarding amphibian biosecurity in captivity.

 

[firedragon]

i thank you both for you answers. I read that there are a version of the fungus that tolerates higher temperatures and is in fact the one attacking amphibians in tropical parts of the world aswell?

Also if anyone know a proper guide, if is visual is even better, of how do disinfect field quipment, like cameras, clothes, nets and such when photographing or exploring areas for amphibians? electronic equipment seem to be harder to do so.