Columnaris-Got it, now what??!!

[JHawk]

OK, I've been searching old threads and it appears I have columnaris in my 38 gallon. First noticed one of my brilliant rasboras with his mouth "decaying" so to speak. I thought it might be an injury but then I noticed one of my neons with the same symptoms. I'm starting to panick a bit here. The tank is about 9 months old, planted.

Here are the tank mates:

2 Bosemani Rainbows
3 B Rasboras
5 Neons
2 Corys
2 Oto
1 CAE
8 Haliquin Rasboras

1. What do I do? Does this stuff spread rapidly? Should I start an aggressive action with some sort of antibiotic?

2. Should I take out the filter media so the bio filter doesn't get impacted if I do the antibiotic treatment?

3. Lowering the temp was also recommended. Any other tips?

Thanks!

[JHawk]

BTW, I spent a ridiculous amount for the Rainbows (they are 3" & very beautiful!) $25 a pop. So I would hate to flush $50 bucks down the toilet. (The other ones add up too.)

[JHawk]

Still wondering if anyone has had recent experience with this stuff. I did some more research-Melafix & Primafix was recommended by Tankgirl for this stuff. My large, male Rainbow looks like he might be getting it! 8O (Or I could be imagining things. He has a little bit of discoloration on the upper lip.) I don't have a QT tank. I will post H2O parameters & filter info later.

[blang]

I recently had an outbreak with my 10 gallon. I started out using marcyn, then primafix. Neither worked. I called my LFS and they suggested usinga Furan based product. I used it for 3 days and stopped because the healthy fish were getting stressed. It is very strong but very effective. I then did daily water changes for one week. Then every few days for the next week. The tank is now healthy. I was lucky and only lost 3 out of 10 fish. This is a nasty disease and I wish you good luck.

[QTOFFER]

I had really bad columnaris on a blue acara once - poor fish looked like a huge cottonball with eyes and a mouthj. I treated it with Jungle Fungus Clear and DAILY 50% water changes. I'm not sure which of the water changes or medication had more effect, but the fish pulled through. Be aware that Fungus Clear stains things blue.

[JHawk]

From what I have read, columnaris is a bacteria & requires antibiotic treatment. (Only a few actually do the trick, apparently. Depending on the strain, some don't work at all! ) You may have had a fungus if that product did the trick.

[QTOFFER]

Your absolutely right - columnaris is a bacterial disease, but Fungus Clear claims to treat certain bacterial and fungal diseases. Again, it may just have been the fish' own immune system aided by my massive daily water changes that did the trick. I hope you are successful getting rid of this infection.

[JHawk]

Thanks...I may have been imagining things with the Rainbow. He looks normal today. I went out & bought a 10 gal QT tank last night just in case..

[blang]

Please keep in mind that if it is columnaris, you will need to treat thw whole tank. It is very contangious.

[JHawk]

hmm. I did make the decision to get rid of the 2 that had pretty bad cases of it. So far the others don't have the symptoms yet. I wonder if I should still go ahead and treat the whole tank or just wait & do lots of water changes & hope the others don't get it. The meds are a lot of $$ so I would like to hold off but maybe I should be proactive to kill off what might be remaining.

[blang]

I was warned not to wait and I was glad I took the person's advice. If you wait, it may be too late to turn back. I hope you really consider just treating he whole tank......

[BillD]

The first thing I would do is a series of massive water changes (no less than 50%)daily or twice daily if you can. This may be enough to stave off any further problems. If you treat your whole tank, you will probably wipe out the bio filter, unless you remove it. The only antibioticcs I know of that actually work are Furazolidone at 20mg/litre for 5 days, or Kanamyacin at 12or13 mg/litre daily for at least five days with daily water changes. I have only used the Kanamyacin, sold as Kanacin, but you may have difficulty finding it, as it is being withdrawn from the market. The dosages I post here are from The Manual of Fish Health (Tetra Press) and may differ from the dose on the package, but is the dose I have used and found effective.

[JHawk]

BillD-

Thanks for the message. You are right, I can't find Kanacin but Furazolidone seems to be out there. So are you saying, do the massive H2O changes for awhile & then try the antibiotic? It's been 2 days without anyone else showings symptoms so maybe I nipped it??

[blang]

JHawk, the same thing happened to me. It only spread to my tetras and then out of the blue, one of my cories died. This cory showed no signs that he was ill. I was also very lucky as one of my sick tetras actually did survive and is doing great now. You can try what Bill D suggested but I think you are taking a big risk by waiting any longer to medicate. However, I did not do my medication for the full 5 days as it was too stressful for the fish.

However, whatever method you use, I hope all goes well as I totally understand what you are going through.

[JHawk]

Blang-

I hear ya. Thanks for the empathy. This hobby can drive you nuts at times. Just when things look to be under control, something new blindsides you. I may take out the filter media & put it in a bucket with H2) & then feed the bacteria in the bucket with a little ammonia while I medicate. Just bought Maracyn & Maracyn II last night, now BillD is telling me these others are the only ones that work.

[oxymoron]

For what it's worth, one of my gourami started showing signs of Columnaris last Sunday. I started treating with Maracyn Monday evening and he seems to be doing much better today, this will be this evening will be the last dose. Hopefully it will continue to clear up.