Is this columnaris?

[hartgirl]

I have never personally experienced this problem, but have seen pictures. I have a 29gal tetra tank with 15 neons, 6 bloodfin, and 2 serpae tetras (used to be 7 and lost 5 in less than a week.) Water parameters WERE:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10-20
Ph 8-8.2

So I did a water change yesterday and took out 8 gallons, but this time I replaced 2 of those gallons with RO water mixed with conditioned tap water. The water parameters today are the same but ph dropped to about 7.4 overnight! (Was not trying for such a quick change!, which is why I only added 2 gallons RO!!)

Anyway, today all of a sudden 2-3 bloodfins have something that appears as though their mouths are rotting. I attached a pic (crappy from my phone sorry!) so is this columnaris? Could it happen over night like that?

 

[hartgirl]

Also, was thinking if not columnaris maybe a few fish went bumping into the sides from stress of changing ph?

 

[hartgirl]

Anybody have any advice on this? I now have 4 infects fish going into QT. Should I treat the main tank as well, or only sick fish in QT? I was thinking at the very least I would add salt (I have some live plant but it would tolerate salt for a little while, I believe. Water sprite and java moss...)

 

[shark21]

Could just be their slime coat working overtime to protect from the crazy pH swing....let the water chemistry settle and give them a few days...you should notice the white stuff start to disappear. ...I had my Fish do the same thing when I moved because of the crazy difference in pH level from one cities tap water to the next...are there eyes cloudy too by any chance?

 

[hartgirl]

No their little faces are literally melting away. It's so sad

 

[hartgirl]

I medicated with maracyn plus (treats gram positive and negative bacteria)...I know fins can grow back, but entire faces?!

 

[hartgirl]

Well another fish in the main tank had the beginning of this disease. I'm going to treat the entire tank. All that is left are neon tetras and one serpae and they group and move so fast I can't see their tiny faces!

 

[Mebbid]

It does appear to be columnaris which is a nasty nasty disease. Maracyn plus should take care of it though.

In the future, don't try to mess with your pH. There's nothing wrong with an 8 - 8.2 pH level.

 

[hartgirl]

I wouldn't normally mess with ph, but as tetras like it lower, and I want to add rummy nose I thought I would slowly lower it because from what I've read they're very sensitive to ph even if acclimated slowly...and yes this disease is terrible. Their faces are just gone! After the maracyn treatment in 5 days, will it be eliminated from the tank? How will I know when it is safe to restock (slowly)?

 

[Mebbid]

I wouldn't normally mess with ph, but as tetras like it lower, and I want to add rummy nose I thought I would slowly lower it because from what I've read they're very sensitive to ph even if acclimated slowly...and yes this disease is terrible. Their faces are just gone! After the maracyn treatment in 5 days, will it be eliminated from the tank? How will I know when it is safe to restock (slowly)?

From my understanding columnaris is always around but is advantageous in that it will infect stressed out fish, increasing the numbers of bacteria in the water and making it easy to infect other fish.

Once the fish are healthy again id give it a couple weeks just for things to get back.to normal before trying to restock.

 

[Delapool]

That's my understanding as well. It will last for about a month in an empty tank and from the description does sound like columnaris (gram negative).

What's your temp? Less than 77F or 25C will help slow it down.

 

[hartgirl]

Ok thanks! So I'm medicating for 5 days in the main tank, then a big water change. If my neons don't present problems, should I medicate further, or give them a break and let them just get back to normal for another few weeks?

 

[Mebbid]

Ok thanks! So I'm medicating for 5 days in the main tank, then a big water change. If my neons don't present problems, should I medicate further, or give them a break and let them just get back to normal for another few weeks?

Is let them get back to normal. Too much meds can damage organs.

 

[hartgirl]

Ok thanks for everyone's responses! I have been keeping fish a long time and have been lucky to not have to deal with disease until this year! (Well maybe a case of ich here and there, but that's easy to treat and diagnose!) If they can get this disease any time, quarantining the new fish when I restock before putting in the main tank won't even help with this particular problem will it?

 

[Delapool]

My experience has been there is always some trigger for it. Although the same here, keeping fish for a long time but don't see it that often. Temperature spike, secondary infection after ich, coming out of winter - this is what I've noticed. Fish squabbling I tend to see fungal infections from but also rare.

I've wondered how it gets a toehold as well?

So I think QT is still worth while as it could take advantage of any 'off' fish.

 

[Crazyhermitcrab]

Columnaris doesn't melt their face. It covers it with fuzz. If they had columnaris they would already be dead.

 

[hartgirl]

They do have fuzz around their mouths but it's basically degrading their tissue back to their eyes. I have been looking for answers like crazy and all I can see is that it's some crazy evil strain of columnaris....if it is something else I haven't a clue as to what it is!!

 

[Mebbid]

Columnaris doesn't melt their face. It covers it with fuzz. If they had columnaris they would already be dead.

There's 2 types of columnaris. There's the normal form of it which is a fairly slow acting infection that can take days to kill fish. The other type is the acute form which can wipe an entire tank in a single day.

They do have fuzz around their mouths but it's basically degrading their tissue back to their eyes. I have been looking for answers like crazy and all I can see is that it's some crazy evil strain of columnaris....if it is something else I haven't a clue as to what it is!!

You have the non evil version of it. Just be happy or else all your fish would be dead already

 

[hartgirl]

Very true. It's just very morbid- fish with no faces. I've had to euthanize two already :-/

 

[Delapool]

What are you treating with now can I ask. Is anything slowing it down?