Antibiotic treatment of zebrafish mycobacteriosis: tolerance and efficacy of treatments with tigecycline and clarithromycin

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are a popular model organism used in a growing number of research fields. Maintaining healthy, disease‐free laboratory fish is important for the integrity of many of these studies. Mycobacteriosis is a chronic bacterial infection caused by several Mycobacterium spp. and is the second most common disease found in laboratory zebrafish. Current mycobacteriosis control measures recommend the removal of infected fish and in severe outbreaks, depopulation. These measures can be effective, but less disruptive measures should be assessed for controlling mycobacteriosis, particularly when valuable and rare lines of fish are affected. Here, the in vivo efficacy of two drug candidates, tigecycline (1 μg g^?1) and clarithromycin (4 μg g^?1), was tested in adult zebrafish experimentally infected with Mycobacterium chelonae. We assessed both short (14 day)‐ and long‐term (30 day) treatments and evaluated fecundity and pathological endpoints. Fecundity and histology results show that zebrafish tolerated antibiotics. Antibiotic treatments did not significantly impact the prevalence of acid‐fast granulomas; however, the severity of infections (acid‐fast granuloma intensity) was significantly decreased following treatments.