Columaris? I think? please help

[dirtyjerztek]

I bought a new oscar today from my local fish store. He was fine looking in the store. No marks or scars or sickness. He looked really healthy. I bought him home put him in my tank, and after slowly introducing him to the water I watched them all swim together for about an hour. I walked upstairs and came back down 4 hours later and ALL my fish were dead with white film or fungus looking stuff all over them. 2 full grown oscars ( including the new guy ) 3 dempseys, 2 red cichlids, 2 sucker fish. ALL DEAD WITHIN 4 HOURS!!!!

Im an experianced aquarium and fish owner of 35 years. Ive always owned Oscars as well as other kinds of cichlids and Jack Dempseys and have neevr seen anything like this

First
What do i say or do about the aquarium?
Of course I called today and the guy told me " the fish was fine when he left here, if he was sick he would have infected other fish" followed by "did you change the water in the tank, thats the only thing i could think of that would kill all the fish"
Well the oscar was in a fish tank alone at the store, and I didnt change the water today.

Is it possible that the tank at the store had a lower tempature to hide the sickness and my regular temp tank sped up and spread the disease? Because I just read this
>>>In acute cases of culumnaris the lesions spread quickly, often wiping out entire populations of fish within hours. High water temperatures accelerate the progression of the disease;<<<

Second
What do I do to fix the tank to get ready to start over?

 

[dirtyjerztek]

Heres the main Culprit with one of my poor Dempseys

 

[jsoong]

There certainly can be hidden diseases in the lfs .... sometimes the stress of moving will bring it on .... so sorry it wiped out your entire tank.

This is the main reason most fishkeeper quarantine new fish ... you never know what you can bring home ....

As for the tank, I think I would sterilize everything & start over. You don't want to chance harboring virulent columnaris. You can use bleach or boiling water to sterilize everything. I would also replace the filter material <as it is almost impossible to get everything out.> This would of course involve re-cycling the tank & lots of work ... but safer IMO.

 

[Dano01]

Your pictures show fish with excessive slime production from something that is irritating them.........High ammonia, extreme ph, or toxic substance in the water.

A disease such as columaris does not develop to that stage over night. Read this about columarishttp://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/columnaris.htm

The picture you posted is dated 01/01/04 and shows a possible Dempsey and an Oscar.

 

[jsoong]

I have heard of virulent columnaris that can kill within hours. Toxic water is certainly a possibility, but I am not sure where the toxins can come from if you just add a fish from the lfs. <Ammonia & ph don't change that fast with just adding a fish, and if the new fish is carrying some toxin, shouldn't it be showing something?>

Whatever it was, better be safe & start over from scratch.

 

[Dano01]

What ever the case may be, the pics show excessive slime production of a fish in distress and not the signs of a Columnaris infection.....The fish may have secreted the slime because of an infection.....If these fish came from a dealer's tank recently, it would stand to reason that all the fish from which these were selected would also be similarly infected....It would also stand to reason that if the disease was present in the receiving tank, all fish there would sick and dieing.

I do not disagree that tank sterilization is not a good idea.......I am however suggesting that all other possibilities be examined before taking any action.