protozin not working?

[shuvit]

I have finished a course of treatment today (day 6) but a couple of my guppies are still flashing and still look to have inflamed gills. Shouldn't this have stopped by now? :-( the treatment was for fin rot and columnaris.
Water is ph 7.5
Ammonia 0-0.25 (in the tap water)
NitrIte 0
NitrAte 10
Temp 27

 

[Kirk808]

Kanaplex will clear things up for you. I battled columnaris for two months before I finally used Kanaplex and it cleared it right up. Takes 6 days for mild cases and 12 days for severe cases. I also used it on a fish with mild fin rot and it cleared it up in only a couple of days. Kanaplex was a miracle worker for me!

 

[shuvit]

Will I have to wait to use it? Is it available in UK do you know?

 

[Kirk808]

I would do a minimum 50% water change first before starting treatment. Once you do start treatment, it's also a good idea to continue doing 50% water changes before adding each dose. You should be conditioning your water using Prime by Seachem to condition your water too, it'll take care of your ammonia problem and your fish will thank you for it. I buy both Prime and Kanaplex on eBay.

 

[shuvit]

Brilliant, thank you.
Do you know if it will harm fry? I have some heavily pregnant guppies in there as well as my plec and albino cory. Although to be honest they have all tolerated the aquarium salt!

 

[Kirk808]

I had the same issue. Fry can tolerate it just fine. Kanaplex is an antibiotic, not a treatment for your tank, that's the reason for the frequent water changes so you should also vacuum the gravel a little each time to actually treat the tank. My columnaris problem involved about a dozen guppies (2 pregnant), 50+ fry, a sailfin albino bn pleco and 6 glofish. Columnaris is highly contagious, fish would show signs of infection within 24 hours of being added to the tank. I finally won my fight with only losing about a dozen fry that may have had birth defects since the mom was on death's doorstep when she had them. The lesson I learned from all of this? Water changes! That's how I avoid all problems now. I got a hose and a faucet adapter. Now I perform water changes once or twice a week depending in how stocked the tank is. I siphon 50% of the water, dose the tank with Prime and fill it back up with the hose! My fish have never been happier!

 

[shuvit]

I do pwc twice a week at least depending on api (master kit) results but have only been using tetra safe conditioner. The fish that are flashing were added day 2 of the treatment by my not so bright husband (he wanted to surprise me as I was so upset my guppies were being wiped out) does that make a difference? I can't afford to have the stuff shipped until Monday so guess I will have to keep everything crossed if I can't find anything local :-( am looking into getting water tested by suppliers too.

 

[Kirk808]

There's no need to test your water if you're using Prime with your regular water changes. The Tetra conditioner is better than nothing but doesn't work IMO. How much water do you replace each time you do a pwc? How big is your tank and what fish do you have? What symptoms are your fish currently showing?

 

[shuvit]

I usually do at least 35 litres out of my 125 litre tank and 20 out of my 65.
In the small tank I have only got 2 guppies, 6 neons and 6 black neons and a baby bn plec as whatever it is pretty much wiped all my other guppies out. It's only affected the guppies in both tanks.
In big tank I've got
3 female and 1 male guppy left,
6 mollies,
6 platties,
2 glass bloodfins,
3 gold barbs,
2 kahuli loaches
An Apple snail
1 bn plec

 

[shuvit]

The fish's fins started to shred, tank was treated for fin rot, then found 2 that tails thinned and dissappeared overnight, pictures looked like columnaris and lfs confirmed. Some gills were open and inflammed, red dots were seen on 1 of the guppies tails. they start to get listless and then just die. I use salt in both tanks now. flashing on a few of the other fish started around day 2 of treatment, Too little too late I guess :-(.

 

[jlk]

In the UK, kanaplex (or any other antibiotic) is not available without a vet prescription. You may be able to find Kanaplex/kanamycin sulfate on ebay but I am not sure of the legallity of importing antibiotics in your country. Without antibiotics, it will be a bit difficult to try & treat. You can try reducing the temp into the low 70's, adding .1% aq salt (not sure about the plec & loaches though) and I believe methylene blue is available to you though it will stain everything. Your other option is to contact an aquatic vet for help.

 

[Kirk808]

Those are good regular weekly water changes to be making. Was anything introduced to your tank that you think may have been infected with columnaris?

 

[shuvit]

Those are good regular weekly water changes to be making. Was anything introduced to your tank that you think may have been infected with columnaris?

Not that I can think of to be honest, other than new fish, unfortunately we had them from 3 different places and pretty much all of those have died, my small tank was perfect, had only males in. I took one out to add to the bigger tank to breed with the females but he was getting bullied by the bigger one. I put him back in the small tank so I guess that's why they both got infected. I had such a beautiful assortment of males, I'm gutted that I only have 3 left in all and 3 females and the 2 in my small tank are looking mighty shabby!
The weather warmed up so there was a big spike in temperature and a few had been suffering from high ammonia and nitrates too (long story) if that makes any difference?

 

[shuvit]

Oh and I have gravel in my 65 which I vacuum every wc and sand in my 125 which I find more difficult to manage as the waste doesn't suck up the tube :-s I have live plants in both, feed fish every other day alternating fresh veg, dried flakes, bloodworms and algae wafers.

 

[Kirk808]

From my experience, salt won't help at all for your specific issues. Columnaris is highly contagious and difficult to get rid of. Fin rot can take awhile before the fins grow back. Are all of the fish infected or only some? If only some are, then you could try giving them methylene blue baths in a container (that way you won't have to stain your tank) for 30 minutes twice a day while doing 80% water changes to your main tank every one or two days until everything's back to normal.

 

[Kirk808]

Definitely the ammonia and high nitrates along with the warmer weather caused your problems. I also recommend keeping the temp in the low 70's if possible.

 

[shuvit]

The temp has been lowered to 25 in the small tank. Have tuned down the heat again on the big one. It looks like the heavily pregnant one is the only one flashing in the big one. Should I just do regular large wc for a few weeks if nothing else happens? How will I know its clear? Sorry for all the questions, you have been a massive help. X

 

[jlk]

Can I ask why you believe you have a columnaris infection? Red gills, red spots and flashing are all signs indicative of a parasite issue though water quality issues can cause similar symptoms.

Fin rot is a bacterial infection- poor water quality is the biggest culprit. For minor cases, lots of healthy water can be enough to cure it.

 

[shuvit]

The water issues had been resolved before the fish started showing symptoms, then 2 mollies died overnight after the first sign of their tail thinning to it disappearing completely, just Luke it disolved! Then all my guppies were dieing one after the other. Over 20 in the course of a few days. Tails were getting split, holes in them etc. One had a white cottony patch at the base of the tail that seemed to come and go :-s I took the worst of both tanks to lfs and he agreed it was a mixture of a few things and that the protazin would sort them all.