Columnaris? Please Help

Hi one of my female guppies has what I believe to be columnaris. She has a whitish puffy appearance starting from her dorsal fin. I believe this is referred to as "saddleback". I can't get a good picture of her but she looks like this picture I googled ... Only the dorsal area seems affected the rest of her looks fine
This is actually really extreme as compared to my guppy.

Do I need to treat the whole tank? Is this contagious? I did a 30% water change already.

Also I had another guppy with the same ailment and treated her with maracyn two and it seemed to just kill her fast. I thought it was fungal at the time but it seems it was bacterial.

Anyone with some advice would be awesome

Columnaris isn't exactly unusual in an aquarium, it's pretty much everywhere, so treating the tank is more importantly in getting the conditions good so that it doesn't happen again that it is in getting rid of the organism. Hard water, high in nitrates and organics, with low flow, will encourage columnaris. As will stress or damage.
 
My preference for treatment is with salt, personally salt dips, although you can also treat the tank with plain salt to knock columnaris back.

Thanks I have all guppies so the salt is definitely worth a try... Can you explain the salt bath, I have just one affected fish so I'd like to help her more than the others even though ill salt the whole tank

With columnaris, I advise treatment of the whole tank with a antibiotic that treats gram-negative bacteria which is what causes columnaris.  It either spreads really slowly to other fish and kills slowly or it moves lighting fast and can take out a whole tank in 24 hours. I recommend something along the lines of Kanamyacin for treatment.  It is one of the few diseases that I act quickly to treat because I have lost a whole tank before by waiting or trying other treatments.  Depending on the temperature of your tank, lowering the temp to about 75F is best.  Any temperature above that and the bacteria really grows.  Also dose the tank with salt at 1/2 teaspoon per gallon as columnaris prefers a low salinity environment.   Good luck!

Could it be "ordinary" finrot ?

I doubt it since all of her fins are fine and she just has the saddle on her back

Columnaris is not just one simple disease. There are different strains. Usually they get divided into two broad categories- very virulent and less virulent. Make no mistake, this is a bacterial disease and when properly diagnosed requires antibiotic treatment.
 
The bacteria are present in most aquatic environments and under normal conditions fish have natural defenses. However, overcrowding is a major condition which increases the incidence of this disease. Having temps near the upper range tolerated byt the fish also seems to be a contributing factor in increasing to potential for the disease to gain a foothold.The normal treatments involve antibotics, but I have seen a study where
 

A clinical field trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of aqueous chloramine-T to control mortality of goldfish (Carassius auratus) fingerlings infected with Flavobacterium columnare....... Mortality of the untreated control (0 mg/l chloramine-T) group was 70% while survival of fish was significantly increased with increasing chloramine-T concentration up to 15 mg/l chloramine-T

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from http/www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0044848604002984
 
and
 

The herbicide 6,7-dihydrodipyrido (1.2a: 2, 1-c) pyrazidinium bromide (Diquat) was shown to be an effective bath treatment at 5.4 mg/L when compared to potassium permanganate 2 mg/L, chloramine-T 15 mg/L, hydrogen peroxide 75 mg/L, and copper sulfate 1 mg/L (Thomas-Jinu and Goodwin, 2004).

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from http/etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11112004-113024/unrestricted/Farmer_thesis.pdf
 
I am also aware of some of the Altum Angel folks experimenting with Diquat for imported angels. It is a treament of value because it takes only one application and works great when fish are not eating and can not be given medicated food.
 
As for salt, the research indicates that it might be used to prevent the spread of columnaris between fish when the bacteria is free in the water. However, when the fish has actually been infected, salt will do 0 to prevent death. My understanding is salt water is between 3% and 4% salt.
 

ABSTRACT: The impact of salt and low pH on columnaris disease of fish was studied. Survival of Flavobacterium columnare after exposure to either 4% NaCl (pH 7.2) or pH 5.0, pH 4.86 or pH 4.6 for 15 min or 1 h was studied in vitro. All conditions significantly reduced the numbers of viable bacterial cells. The effects of salt (4 and 2%) and acidic baths (pH 4.6) were studied in 2 experiments in vivo with rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss infected with F. columnare. Both salt and acidic baths failed to prevent fish mortality; the overall mortality reached 100% in all groups. However, according to survival analysis, the mortality rate was lower in fish treated with 4% salt baths compared to a control group. The buffering capacity of fish skin mucus against low water pH was also studied. Fish skin mucus was an efficient buffer against decreased water pH and the pH of the skin could be remarkably higher than that of the mucus. This may explain the failure of bath treatments to prevent mortality providing that attached F. columnare are located below the mucus surface. We suggest, however, that salt and acidic bath treatments can be used to disinfect water containing F. columnare cells shed by infected fish and thus prevent the transmission of the disease.

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from http/www.int-res.com/articles/dao2005/65/d065p115.pdf
 
My conclusion from the above is that one needs to treat with water born antibiotics or antibiotic food. But it seems to me if one is dosing the entire tank, the medication should work on free swimming bacteria as well as treating the infected fish. If this is the case, would the addition of salt be a benefit? Is it possible it might actually raise the the level of stress with the problems that too could bring? However, the research indicates on needs to add salt approaching sea water levels to be effective. If the fish are eating and one treats the tank with a large amount of salt, it could help. I do not think 1/2 teaspoon/gallon would be enough to produce the desired result?

Thanks for the very thorough info twotankamin, I'm unable to get to a store right now and it will take 2 days to get he meds in the mail so I did use some salt for now since I keep guppies and I know it won't harm them, I'm going to order the antibiotics , is there one In particular you recommend.

Ahhh, you see, this is where we fall over in the UK, we can't sensibly get the antibiotics required, so we're stuck with the salt.
 
You want something that'll treat gram negatives. I suspect the US people will be able to advice you on what you can get.

On a side note will the salt harm all plants or only some ?

I've done heat salt treatment for ich on my planted tank. There were some leaves that I need to trim off, but all the plants I have pulled through!

Ok thanks she seems ok still and the patch is receding slightly.

This is the medication I recommend for treating gram-negative bacteria like what causes columnaris.  I have personally bought from this guy multiple times and he works with you to keep the costs as low as possible and get the med to you as fast as possible as well,
 
http/www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?medications&1377217215
 
I have personally never treated with salt although I did advise it in an earlier post.  I did this because all the info I had every heard talked about adding salt at the concentration that I mentioned.  I keep bettas which don't do very well in water with high salinity so with your guppies it might be feasible to do a higher concentration than I mentioned before.

Bear in mind the salt will not cure any infected fish, it will only kill free floating bacteria which can help prevent the spread of the disease.
 
I had no clue whether salt would kill columnaris or not, I just checked it out because it was posted and found what I posted. I have always treated this disease with Maracyn or generic Erythromycin, whichever was the cheaper 100 tablet bottle. Because secondary infections are common with columnaris it is often suggested that a broad sprectrum antibiotic be used or a combination of antibiotics be used.
 

 
Other antibiotics can also be effective. Kanacyn (kanamycin) will treat both bacteria at once. Maracyn (erythromycin) is effective against C. columnaris, and using Maracyn 2 (minocycline) in conjunction with it will treat the Aeromonas bacteria as well.

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from http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Mouth%20Fungus
 
Another decent site to purchase meds in the states is here http/www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/fish-medication/medication-links.html
At this site Seachem Kanaplex is available in 5 and 100 gm containers.
 

 
KanaPlexª is a blended kanamycin based medication that safely and effectively treats several fungal, and bacterial fish diseases..........
Usual dose is 360 mg/40 L (10gallons). Contains kanamycin sulfate, potassium sulfate DIRECTIONS: Use 1 level measure (180 mg) for every 20L (5 gallons). Measurer included.

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 5 gm is $5.25 plus shipping.

You guys were very helpful. I already tried maracyn and had no luck with that so I'm headed to the store in the morning to pick up tetracycline (sp?) from various sources that I have been reading all day this seems like its worth a shot....

Does anyone else feel a bit crazy when you stop to think about the fact of spending big bucks to save a 4 dollar guppy.... Lol

To us the are just priceless I guess