Phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of Mycobacterium isolates from fighting fish Betta spp. in Malaysia

Mycobacteriosis due to mycobacteria is one of the most common bacterial diseases in ornamental fish. We describe here the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of Mycobacterium isolates from fighting fish Betta spp. using ATCC Mycobacterium marinum, Mycobacterium fortuitum and Mycobacterium chelonae as references. A total of four isolates (M1, M2, M3, M4) were obtained from four out of 106 fish samples using selective agar, and identified to Mycobacterium genus using acid-fast staining and 16s rRNA gene-based genus specific polymerase chain reaction. DNA sequencing and NCBI-BLAST analysis further identified isolate M1 as M. marinum and isolates M2, M3, M4 as M. fortuitum. Morphological, physiological and biochemical tests were carried out for phenotypic characterizations. Universal M13 and wild-type phage M13 RAPD dendogram was generated to illustrate the genetic relationship of the isolates and reference strains.