Help! My Malawis Are Dying One By One

[jamesmacc]

What ich treatment have you used?

Esha 2000 will treat ich and other skin parasites (which is what columnaris is).

I must say though, that I find it strange that that all your fish have it at once. I would expect one or two fish to have it and then pass it around the tank. (That's what happened with me).

I still wouldn't rule out some sort of poisoning.
Are you sure byour test kit is accurate? Mighjt be ammonia?
Or have you used something else in the room? Paint? Windowcleaner?
Maybe someone used your water bucket for something else and you didn't know about it?

lost another fish this morning. i dont use buckets and i use the api liquid test kit which is usualy very accurate. its a fish cupboard and no chemicals or cleaners have been near it

 

[jamesmacc]

hi folks, i have ordered some salt. can anyone advise me on how to do a salt bath, most sites say 2 table spoons per gallon but i dont know how long to leave it in the tank etc

 

[balajake]

Can i just say i'm really sorry you are losing fish, they are really lovely looking at your photos. hope you get it under control

 

[afremont]

hi folks, i have ordered some salt. can anyone advise me on how to do a salt bath, most sites say 2 table spoons per gallon but i dont know how long to leave it in the tank etc

That seems awfully strong for anything more than a short bath. Bringing it up in steps, you should be able to put 1 tablespoon per gallon roughly giving a .3 to .4% solution and leave it in for a few days. I would add it in stages by dissolving the salt in tank water and pouring it back in. Start with one teaspoon per gallon of salt and dose three times keeping an eye on the fish the whole while you bring the salt level up. I would guess (and I do mean guess) that waiting one hour between doses would be a good idea to let the fish acclimate to the salt levels.

I'm not trying to be smart, but in the future you might consider keeping salt (both aquarium and epsom), potassium permanganate, and methylene blue on hand along with some antiparasitics and antibiotics. I bought a six quart covered sterilite container for $2 to use as an emergency dip/bath tank and I use it to store my meds.

 

[jamesmacc]

hi folks, i have ordered some salt. can anyone advise me on how to do a salt bath, most sites say 2 table spoons per gallon but i dont know how long to leave it in the tank etc

That seems awfully strong for anything more than a short bath. Bringing it up in steps, you should be able to put 1 tablespoon per gallon roughly giving a .3 to .4% solution and leave it in for a few days. I would add it in stages by dissolving the salt in tank water and pouring it back in. Start with one teaspoon per gallon of salt and dose three times keeping an eye on the fish the whole while you bring the salt level up. I would guess (and I do mean guess) that waiting one hour between doses would be a good idea to let the fish acclimate to the salt levels.

I'm not trying to be smart, but in the future you might consider keeping salt (both aquarium and epsom), potassium permanganate, and methylene blue on hand along with some antiparasitics and antibiotics. I bought a six quart covered sterilite container for $2 to use as an emergency dip/bath tank and I use it to store my meds.

yeh i will defo stock up in the future. when i have dosed the tank 3 times when should i change the water?

 

[afremont]

That seems awfully strong for anything more than a short bath. Bringing it up in steps, you should be able to put 1 tablespoon per gallon roughly giving a .3 to .4% solution and leave it in for a few days. I would add it in stages by dissolving the salt in tank water and pouring it back in. Start with one teaspoon per gallon of salt and dose three times keeping an eye on the fish the whole while you bring the salt level up. I would guess (and I do mean guess) that waiting one hour between doses would be a good idea to let the fish acclimate to the salt levels.

I'm not trying to be smart, but in the future you might consider keeping salt (both aquarium and epsom), potassium permanganate, and methylene blue on hand along with some antiparasitics and antibiotics. I bought a six quart covered sterilite container for $2 to use as an emergency dip/bath tank and I use it to store my meds.

yeh i will defo stock up in the future. when i have dosed the tank 3 times when should i change the water?

The fish "should" be able to tolerate that for many days if need be. I'd give it a day or two and see if it's helping or not. I'm a big believer in salt, but it doesn't fix everything. Also, if it's columnaris you do want to lower the temperature to slow it down.

Like the other guy said, potassium permanganate would be my choice in this situation because of the immediate effect and this seems to be "like a house afire" kind of situation. But just like the other guy said, it's not for the faint of heart. You have to be absolutely precise or you'll simply kill your fish if you overdose. It's like chemotherapy for fish, it can be wonderful but after you use it the fish is prone to more invaders. That's because it will be without a slime coat for up to a day and it's gills will be a bit raw. But any flukes, fungus or bacteria on the outside of the fish will be history in minutes. To put it simply, you're bleaching your fish. Consequently high concentration (50-100ppm) PP "dips" are very dangerous and can easily push a sick fish over the edge. If the gills are already damaged, PP can destroy the thin (one cell thick!) layer of epithelial cells leading to suffocation. Longer term "baths" at say 2-4ppm are safer and give you time to do something if the fish are reacting badly since you are trading strength for time by using lower doses. This may sound weird, but you can neutralize the PP immediately by dipping the fish in milk.

It seems that the feds have leaned on the fish med companys a bit and it's nearly impossible to find PP or methylene blue. Kordon has stopped selling their MB and PP products. I've had to resort to e-bay to obtain PP and I was able to find an LFS that still had the Kordon MB product on their shelf so I bought extra. Nothing illegal about any of it, it's just majorly inconvenient now. I went into this diatribe to further document the healing power of non-proprietary chemicals and drugs.

Here is a great article on columnaris treatment.
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/columnaris_disease.php

 

[rifty]

slow down did you remove all the rock etc maybe you have a dead fish stuck this can cause serious issues.
also is your filter chuching out a good flow
could your house have suffered a power cut whilst you have been out? this could have killed a lot of you filter media inc in the sand again causing a spike
when did you introduce your newest fish? Colomnaris is not a common thing apart from generally with wild and tb mixed tanks

 

[Squidward]

slow down did you remove all the rock etc maybe you have a dead fish stuck this can cause serious issues.
also is your filter chuching out a good flow
could your house have suffered a power cut whilst you have been out? this could have killed a lot of you filter media inc in the sand again causing a spike
when did you introduce your newest fish? Colomnaris is not a common thing apart from generally with wild and tb mixed tanks

I agree.
Columnarus typicaly doesn't behave like this.
I would also guess that it's some sort of poisoning. Ammonia is an option. Either from a dead fish rotting, or from the filter being compromised.

 

[jamesmacc]

havent had a power cut and filters are both producing strong flow. i will pull the background of the tank and see if there is anything in behind the rocks.
when should i feed the fish again, havent fed them in 3 days because of them dying. woke up this morning and have not lost one