Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a florida banded water snake that is still a little guy (1 foot) anyway, i feed him guppies and zebra danios. mostly danios now as he is outgrowing the guppies. the guppies are in the water side of his terrarium and he can go and catch them at his leisure. anyway, i usually keep a dozen danios or more in my razorback musk turtles tank. recently ive noticed that some of the danios that i get from my local shop have mouthrot. my question is this:

could tropical fish and the like that have some sort of ailment (bacterial infections or parasites) transfer that ailment on to my snake or my turtle? if so, what should i be wary of?

thanks in advance for any experienced advice that i may recieve.

paul

Depending on what exactly the mouthrot is caused by, its a possibility.

Steve

there are some pathogens that can affect both fishes and turtles.
"mouth rot" in fishes is a generic term (like shell rot in turtles) that is caused by several different things.
Unless you have a microscope and a good book at hand i'd avoid feeding the fish to anything unless you cook em or freeze em first.
(cooking obviously safer)