Not Yet A Disaster, But....

[Devorax]

True, but they do act normal when they do move, they forage for food like the older one does. The shop looked a picture of perfect fish health and perfect keeping conditions,no dead fish in any of the tanks (bar one we did spot, probably because the staff hadn't been past very recently).

Assuming this can be cured with meds, I propose to add Interpet Anti Internal Bacteria when the JBL course is done (and the required water change of course), but tbh, it looks like a congenital defect, since his body looks 'too long'. I can attempt to get a pic of this individual if you think it will be of any use, but if they don't show any signs of improvement sometime soon, they will be returned to the LFS as 'faulty goods'.

As for the usefulness of the JBL Ektol Cristal, I wouldn't be able to shout it's name out loud, for the simple fact that it cannot be determined with any degree of scientificality (is that even a word? lol) if it was responsible for the turn around against this outbreak. There are too many other factors, such as the quadruple overdosing of Interpet AFF the day before (ie 100% dose in a 25% full tank whilst we continued to refill it) and the possibility that no other fish actually had columnaris. However, I would be okay with the recommendation of Ektol Cristal if someone else had a similar problem and had exhausted other avenues of curative attack and was pulling their hair out and there was little else to lose.

Can I 'overfeed' the CLs in seperation, to beef them up a bit? They don't half look odd compared to the older one we have.

 

[WILDER]

I would maybe do a thread in tropical discussion asking what meds members have used on clown loaches for skinny desease.

 

[Devorax]

I have done a water test today looking for ammonia, as the filter is not cycled, but to my suprise found none/barely registering (API Master). Overnight the water went very cloudy, like a fog, whch is only now beginning to clear (bacterial bloom?).

No-one has died that we can be certain of, apart from the odd looking CL (no suprise to us tbh) and the very youngest fry.
Anyway, I asking now should I listen to the meds advice and not feed the fish? I have only fed them once properly since Monday and now they are all looking quite hungry again. What reason would I have to withhold food? I know fish in tiptop shape can last 5 days without food if they absolutely have to, but it seems like adding insult to injury.

The female molly is sat clamped on the gravel again. She goes through spells of looking normal, then goes clamped again. There are no signs externally of illness apart from the clamping and grey stress colouring.

Approx half the fish are pooping normally, but the others are passing a long white hairlike stringy substance. What is this? A side effect of the medicine or symptomatic of a disease? (The mollie mentioned falls in to the abnormal group)

 

[WILDER]

Thought the tank was already cycled.

Have you increased aeration with the med. Some meds can knock water stats.
I would feed the fish as they need the energy to fight the illness.
Soak there food in garlic juice its meant to boost there immune system.

long stringy white poo can be contipation, bacterial infection, internal parasites.

 

[mixmaster jay]

Thought the tank was already cycled.

Have you increased aeration with the med. Some meds can knock water stats.
I would feed the fish as they need the energy to fight the illness.
Soak there food in garlic juice its meant to boost there immune system.

long stringy white poo can be contipation, bacterial infection, internal parasites.

Ive found if you raise the temp in your tank to the higher end of safe limit that also helps to keep white spot at bay amongst other deseases too

 

[Devorax]

Right, well, the 2nd dose of Ektol was given last night, promptly followed by the hyperactivity of all the danios in the tank again. The mollie is doing as she has done over the past couple of days, ie several hours of seeming normal and then clamping for an equal time.

We still have pretty cloudy water, and I have added a second airline in because I think there are CO2 deficiences (all the plants are dying despite floral food being added). Our snails are still around, movig at about 1/3 of normal speed but they are still feeding etc so they will probably survive the meds. We have only seen 2 amano shrimp, so the others probably haven't made it.

No-one else has died and it would seem the worst is over. The tank is by no means as active as it was before the meds, but there are no new patches/lumps/dodgy fins.

As for the tank not being cycled, the eheim 2224 filter was cycled but now it has been switched of (it contains zeolite) it will probably need a mini cycle to kick start it on Sunday when the meds are finished. The Juwel filter wasn't cycled and is completely new, so is cycling as we speak, so I am watching the water stats like a hawk.

Thanks to everyone for their help. I'll keep updates as necessary.

 

[WILDER]

Why didn't you just remove the black carbon from the filter and keep it on. Black carbon dosn't work after 2 to 9 days.

You need to look for the dead strimp if there still in the tank as rotting bodies can make fish ill.

 

[Devorax]

The Eheim (an external cannister type) doesn't have any carbon in it, I wish it did because that would have been a lot simpler. Instead it has Ammochips in amongst the filter media that I added. With hindsight I wish I'd bagged it up first before adding it in.

As for any rotting shrimp, I believe the gouramis would dispose of any bodies in there, and seeing as the ammonia test today was nil/neglible then I doubt there are any bodies in there, especially as they went hungry at the start of the treatment.

Most of the fish's toilet habits are returning to normal now they are being fed back on their regular feeding regime, so it was probably due to constipation that caused the change in appearance.

Is there any way I can de-mist the water without doing a water change?

 

[WILDER]

The water cloudy as the other filter turned off. The tanks cycling again. All the bacteria will die off once you turn a filter off.

 

[keenonfish]

Sorry to hear of your losses. Was that the betta in your avatar?

Ektol worked well against a nasty case of Columnaris for me and I still have all my original fish that showed signs of the disease (2 neons and 1 platy).

I am very, very surprised that a MA store has passed on any disease they are generally quite hot with their stock HOWEVER I am not sure that they use seperate isolation tanks, unless they somehow re-divert the plumbing behind the scenes to a separate filter? Maybe they do have isolation tanks in the back you need to ask the store manager (I wouldn't mind knowing).

Also my store had very acid water it was actually 6.0! My tank water was about 6.6 on the day so it is always best to slowly acclimatise your stock. I think this is too often overlooked and fish can fall fowl where otherwise they might be able to shrug off some illness, although maybe not in the case of columnaris!

Anyway, finish the first course and if I were you I would complete a second course after a water change to be safe. Also if things are persistent the LFS that sold the stuff to me suggest I combine Ektol Crystal with Ektol Fluid but as the fluid kills filter bacs I have not yet tried this combo.


Oh and my betta seems to have recovered the columnaris / fin fungus / white spot again I have completed 2 courses to be on the safe side of things.

Good luck!

 

[Devorax]

Hi Keenonfish, thanks for your concerns. No, Boris was not the fish in my avatar pic, that's George. He is his own tank alone and is oblivious to the problems in the main tank. Unfortunately he is nothing like Boris' personality and won't be able to go in the main tank, he'd either stress everyone else to death, or kill himself by stressing himself out from flaring/attacking too often.

Yes, it is very very odd how this infection came in on fish from MA, especially so as when we went back down to them 48hrs later after the outbreak and their tanks were perfectly clear of anything negative (including the very tank we had the Fancy Guppies from). But I think it is fair to say that the Fancy Guppies DID bring it in because right up until that point there had been nothing wrong in there.

I don't see any need to continue the course for a second treatment, as there are now no unexpected illness symptoms on any of the fish. They are all markedly inactive since the meds went in, but no-one has any blemishes, no-one is behaving ill, they just don't seem to like the water atm, kinda like us in a foul smelling room with no way out. I'm sure we'd behave differently too....lol

Still no deaths, still got cloudy water. Final dose goes in tonight, then a water change Sunday and we'll see how things go. Thanks everyone.

 

[WILDER]

Columnaris lives in the background of your tank. That's why it's important to keep up with maintance.
Out breaks can be caused by stress, bad water quality, dirty tanks, over stocking and unstable temps.