Help! Mysterious Deaths

[WBAC88]

So I've had a 60g freshwater planted tank for about 6-8 months now and until recently, things have been pretty healthy. Then a couple weeks ago my fish started to drop off one by one. In all, I lost three mollys, a pleco and a swordtail and now, today, one of my bamboo shrimp. There are still a few that are alive.

The thing that confuses me is that before they die, they show no signs of being sick. There are no signs of ick, which I've had before, they just drop dead over night. The shrimp turned orange last night and was dead this morning. After every death, I've tested the water and every time, the Ammonia, nitrates and nitrites come up at 0ppm or close to it. I do weekly water changes and use some Flourish for the plants afterwards. Any ideas? I'm tired of having my fish die, but beyond testing and water changing, I don't know what to do.
Thanks.

 

[LyndaB]

Hello from Naugatuck!

Which test kit you using?

The only disease I've seen which can attack any species and drop them overnight is columnaris. You're not seeing any type of symptoms at all?

 

[WBAC88]

I'm using the API test kit.

But now that you mention it, and I use google, columnaris looks like it might fit the bill. On one of the fish, I definitely saw the feathery growth after it was dead, but I assumed it was algae or something. This is the first time I've run across it, but I guess we learn something new all the time.

From what I've seen in a quick search, treatment is not the easiest thing. Any suggestions for dealing with this? There are 4 giant danios, 3 swordtails and a bamboo shrimp left.

 

[LyndaB]

Columnaris can be tricky as a fish might die prior to exhibiting symptoms. When I had it in my community tank, I caught it right away. I saw two fish with symptoms and culled them. I did a 50% water change/gravel vac, scrubbed down the interior walls of the tank with a scrubber, refilled the tank and did a half-dose with aquarium salt. I had no further problems and lost no more fish.

It is highly contagious and so it's very important to take a strong stand against it.

 

[WBAC88]

Alright, so it's been a few days, and it seems like things have calmed down a bit (knock on wood). I qt-ed two of my swordtails, one of which died, one survived. Everything else in the tank seems healthy (4 giant danios and a bamboo shrimp) no odd behavior. The tank water is getting slightly cloudy, though, after a pwc, so I'm not sure what's going on there. I'll update if anything else happens. Thanks so much for the help, LyndaB.

 

[BillD]

As a general rule, which I use, when you suspect a pathogen is present, do a very large water change. This serves to reduce the number of water borne pathogenic agents in the tank by the percentage of water removed. This allows the fishes' natural defenses to fight back and makes it more likely that any treatment will be more effective. By very large, I mean in the 75% or more range.

 

[WBAC88]

Hm, good to know. Is there a possibility of the disease growing in the filter medium as well? Should that be replaced with the water change. What worries me about a large water change is my shrimp, which are supposed to be fairly sensitive to changes in the water. If he's going to die by disease, though, I guess it's worth the risk. Thanks for the help.

 

[Chriznat20]

I fear I might be going through a Columnaris outbreak as well...

Bought 2 mollies 2.5 weeks ago, one died 3 days after with no tail. White fuzzy growth where the body meets where the tail would've been. Died the next morning.

After that, Ive lost 1 cherry barb, 1 zebra danio, and today a cory

I did a 50% PWC and added aquarium salt. I tried to QT the cory in a 10g tank with anti-biotic/anti-fungal to no avail - it apparently was in the cory's gills because he kept on trying to jump out of the water to get air. Very sad to watch.

Now Im fearing for my MT. Thats 4 mysterious losses in 2.5 weeks. The cory was fine this morning,dead by 4pm.

Im hoping adding the salt is going to help, I hate to start messing with chemicals/treatments in my MT. My temperature is 76.5 degrees, Im going to drop it down to 75f tonight.

 

[WBAC88]

Sounds like what I went through. It's a nasty disease. It seems like things have cleared themselves up. No deaths for a week or so after two 50% PWCs and the quarantine of my swordtails. It seemed to go after the fish that lived at the bottom of the tank first. Sad.

 

[Chriznat20]

Sounds like what I went through. It's a nasty disease. It seems like things have cleared themselves up. No deaths for a week or so after two 50% PWCs and the quarantine of my swordtails. It seemed to go after the fish that lived at the bottom of the tank first. Sad.

Very sorry to hear.. Do you have a pleco by any chance? Im wondering how he'll fare through this.

Also, did you use any treatments besides doing the PWC's?

 

[WBAC88]

Sigh, yes I did have a pleco. It was one of the first to go and was covered in the white feathery material. It was the one that tipped me off that something was wrong in the tank. Do you have one?

No I didn't use any other treatments. I was leery because I have a bamboo shrimp, and I'd read that they can be very sensitive to the chemicals in them. I was hoping to beat it without having to resort that. We'll see how it goes over the next week. Have you seen any improvement with the anti-bacterials?

 

[Chriznat20]

Sigh, yes I did have a pleco. It was one of the first to go and was covered in the white feathery material. It was the one that tipped me off that something was wrong in the tank. Do you have one?

No I didn't use any other treatments. I was leery because I have a bamboo shrimp, and I'd read that they can be very sensitive to the chemicals in them. I was hoping to beat it without having to resort that. We'll see how it goes over the next week. Have you seen any improvement with the anti-bacterials?

Ok NOW you've got me starting to panic.... I do have a common pleco. I was watching him earlier - he looks perfectly fine BUT I saw how fast the columnaris got my cory.

As far as the anti-bacterial goes, I only used it in my 10g QT, not in my MT. At the time, I had no idea what was wrong with the cory until I did a little research and was hoping I could isolate him and treat him but he died 3 hours after I isolated him. It spread really, really fast on him.

When I was upstairs last, I dropped the tank temp from 76 to 75f; Ive heard many places that 75f is a good temp for columnaris to NOT reproduce as much. I also checked all of my other fish and they all look good. I did a PWC earlier (~20 gallons/46g tank) and added 1 heaping tablespoon of aquarium salt per each bucket that went back in.

 

[WBAC88]

That sounds like a pretty good response as far as I can tell. I really don't have a lot of experience with this, so maybe someone a little more in the know will chime in, but from my one instance every fish that spent time in the moving water at the top of the tank survived and almost all the ones that lived mostly on the bottom died quick, starting with the pleco and then moving through my Mollys and swordtails and one of my shrimp. Just be careful with those bottom dwellers, I'd say.

 

[Chriznat20]

That sounds like a pretty good response as far as I can tell. I really don't have a lot of experience with this, so maybe someone a little more in the know will chime in, but from my one instance every fish that spent time in the moving water at the top of the tank survived and almost all the ones that lived mostly on the bottom died quick, starting with the pleco and then moving through my Mollys and swordtails and one of my shrimp. Just be careful with those bottom dwellers, I'd say.

Ive had fish tanks since I was 9 - my first tank was my ninth birthday 2-17-89...lol...Have had ICH three times, the last being around 2005'ish, but NEVER had a columnaris outbreak!!

I totally blame it on the black mollies I bought 2.5 weeks ago from Petco. The one died 3 days later and it had it - its tail was gone. I just figured it got bullied. Darn it!!

EDIT: side note, time to edit my signature line

 

[WBAC88]

Ugh I know the feeling, it just came out of left field. I think mine came from a new swordtail or something. I guess it really shows how dangerous those new fish can be. Well, good luck, keep us updated here, I'd be interested to know if you're efforts pay off.