Columnaris Wiping Out Tank...Help!

[Silencedogood]

Hi Everyone:

I have had a weird infection in my tank over the past several weeks (getting close to two months now). I have tried multiple different treatments: API Melafix, API Fungus Cure ( used twice), and API Furan-2. But this infection keeps coming back and over the past 72 hours I have lost 21 juvenile guppies. I started researching and it seems that this is columnaris. It is now affecting my eight juvenile mollies and five juvenile swordtails. I ordered Maracyn-2 but it is not coming until Wednesday. Is there anything I can use to slow down the infection until I get the Maracyn? I also lowered the temp to 75 whereas it was 82 and I put in 2 TBSP of salt (this is a 10 gal).

Symptoms:
White cluster between eyes and smaller clusters all over body
Sometimes starts with eroding of the tail and fins
Within a few hours tail and fins will be completely gone with only a ulcerated stump of the tail left
Bright pink gills in some and trouble breathing
Death occurs within 12-24 hours

I removed all of the gravel, rocks, and plants and I took out almost all of the water. My worry is that this is a strong, medication-resistant bacteria and I don't know if the Maracn will work or not. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Colin_T]

Pictures?

Normally Columnaris will wipe out an entire tank in a few days, so it is unusual for it to still be going 2 months later.

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If you use salt in a tank with softwater fishes, add 2 heaped tablespoons for every 20 litres (5 gallons) of water.

If you only have livebearers or other salt tolerant fishes, use 4 heaped tablespoons of salt for every 20 litres of water. You can add more salt if there is no improvement after 48 hours.

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If you are going to use chemicals and in particular anti-biotics, you need to clean the tank up first and get rid of as much gunk from the gravel and filter as possible. Anti-biotics work best in a bare tank so they can work on the fish and not get wasted on the bacteria living in the substrate and filter.

Before you treat the tank, do the following things.
Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[Silencedogood]

 

[Silencedogood]

This fish stayed alive until only its head was left.

I have been doing treatments on and off for several weeks which is why I think that it is columnaris since the treatments haven't worked and it comes back.

 

[Silencedogood]

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

I thought increased aeration 'feeds' the columaris?

 

[Colin_T]

It's a bacterial infection but I doubt it's Columnaris. We used to get it on newly imported guppies at the shop. It definitely needs treating though otherwise it will go through the tank and kill everything.

Did you introduce any new fish to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

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I think we used salt and a broad spectrum fish medication to treat them but it was a while ago so not 100% sure on the medication.

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Aeration has nothing to do with bacterial infections. Extra aeration/ surface turbulence helps the fish breath easier.

 

[Silencedogood]

It's a bacterial infection but I doubt it's Columnaris. We used to get it on newly imported guppies at the shop. It definitely needs treating though otherwise it will go through the tank and kill everything.

Did you introduce any new fish to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?

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I think we used salt and a broad spectrum fish medication to treat them but it was a while ago so not 100% sure on the medication.

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Aeration has nothing to do with bacterial infections. Extra aeration/ surface turbulence helps the fish breath easier.

I haven't added any fish for the past couple of months; this is my nursery tank and these are fish that I've bred.
So far, 21 guppies have died in the past 3 days. It seems to be very fast moving. Is there anything that I can put in to slow down the spread?

 

[Silencedogood]

The circled fish are dying; they are having trouble breathing. The fish on the bottom behind the circled one is dead and all of the others are infected. I put them in a breeding box because I didn't want it to spread too rapidly to my sword tails ad mollies.

 

[Retired Viking]

Sorry about your fish. I hope you will be able to find some medications to help with the lock down and all, it may be hard .

 

[angelcraze]

There is a synergistic effect between Furan2 and Kanamycin. They need to be used simultaneously for Columnaris treatment.

There are at least 4 strains of columnaris, each with a different degree of deadliness. Some will take out a tank in 24hrs, others will persist for months especially if some kind of action if taken. Sounds like you have one of the less deadly ones.

 

[Silencedogood]

I'm up to 24 deaths now. It seems to be wiping the tank out fast. Can I use Maracyn-2 for treatment? I can't get any medicine until Wendnesday; is there something I can use that will slow down the spread?

 

[Retired Viking]

Major water changes may slow down the progression of the disease

 

[Guest14017]

I was going to suggest Kanaplex and Metroplex combined. Looks like columnaris to me. I don't think Maracyn-2 will do much good and it is sadly likely to destroy most of your stock before any useful medication arrives. Poor little ones.

 

[Colin_T]

take out any fish that are infected and euthanise them.

wipe the inside of the glass down.

do a 90% water change and gravel clean the substrate.

clean the filter.

add a heap of salt. If you only have livebearers in the tank, add 4 heaped tablespoons of rock salt for every 20 litres of water.

 

[Silencedogood]

take out any fish that are infected and euthanise them.

All my fish are infected. How do you euthanise fish (least gruesome method is preferred)? I would prefer to not have to euthanise my swords and mollies; they aren't too bad yet and it took me a while to get any broods from my adults.

I'm up to 27 deaths in my 10 gal. Not sure if this is relevant but in my 30 gal I had three guppies die this morning. Is that just coincidence?