Hey Debs... I know this is hard to deal with. I'll ask Kairi to pop in as she has been through this whole fish TB ordeal. She actually had a vet confirm the diagnosis so she knew for sure.

To be rid of the mycobacteria (fish TB)... in addition to nuking everything with bleach... we suggest wiping everything down with isopropyl alchohol... I know you had a terrible experience with the alcohol and your acrylic tank. We're still investigating a safe way to sterilize an acrylic tank following suspected fish TB. Kairi has done this in some of her acrylic tanks - some were okay and some were not salvageable (I asked her after your experience).

Other non-porous items, I believe, can be wiped down with iso-alcohol and then rinsed immediately. I wouldn't keep any substrate, filter media (cartridges, floss, sponge, biowheels), decorations, driftwood, live/silk/plastic plants.

But there is no point in doing any of this while you still have fish that may have possibly been exposed to this suspected fish TB. The fish would be infected with it and it's not curable... and will have to live out their lives till they eventually succumb to it... in which they may still live a long, symptom-free life till it takes their life one day.

Debs... we'll have to see how it goes with your surviving fish... if they all pass from the same symptoms... then we can be pretty sure of the diagnosis. Again... there is no way of knowing 100% certain, unless some tissue samples (from a dead fish) were examined.

We'll help you through this the best way we can...

Michele