villandra

Been reading the related questions. ICH is the tiny white spots. Columnaris, a bacteria often mistaken for mold, causes the large white cottony spots on mouth, fins, gills, other places. Could be other causes too but if so it must be alot less common.

I have a tank less than one week old, having problems with ammonia and nitrites - atleast, by my definition and the fish's definition of trouble. Numbers fairly steady but not changing and not going away.

Filled out data form for the forum. Have in depth data at http://www.geocities.com/tiggernut24...iumNumbers.txt

Got five black phantom tetras and three are still living.

Fish were initially way too quiet, hanging out in a corner; two successively stopped eating and died. Others have stopped eating. Improved methods of changing water and controlling turbulence in the tank seem to have resulted in happier and more active fish, but they aren't eating.

One fish has a cottony white tuft on its mouth - it has been there for atleast two days. I understand it is rare for a stressed fish with columnaris to have just one thing wrong, and another fish has an area of gold flecks.

I have so far added two tablespoons of aquarium salt to the ten gallon tank, and I don't think they particularly liked this. Tried a polyfilter for ammonia and not working, possibly because tank is too alkaline.

I obtained a furan 2 type product (Aquarium Soultions BiFuran, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals makes something similar), and also have on hand docycline 100 mg capsules.

I am using a penguin filter with biowheel, and have treated with BioSpira and with Cycle. Am not treating at present - people said I could do too much of a good thing.

I need to know how to use it to best treat the tetras, while not kililng the biofilter.

I learned after exhaustive searching that tetras need a half strength preparation of any of the furans.

I've gotten completely contradictory advice on whether the treatment would harm the biofilter and whether to add more bacteria.

I understand the often repeated advice to leave the fish die and let the tank cycle, but I'm not willling to just let the fish die.

It has occurred to me to do some sort of dip - what is the best way to do that?

I don't have an isolation tank, and no, I'm not going out and buying a whole second setup to serve as the spare for my ten gallon tank. Am willing to set up something temporary in a large jar or bucket. But the fish couldn't live there; would have to spend just so much time.

Is there any topical preparation I could apply to the infected areas on teh fish? Only thing I've seen is to apply methylene blue; will the methylene blue in my microscope set work, or does it have to be special methylene blue?
I actually do haVe besides prepared methylene blue, some solid that has never been mixed, if it can be mixed and applied to the fish. Don't really want to dye the tank itself blue.

Now, I'm checking - is there any reason why I should not apply a small amount of triaminycin antibiotic cream to the lesion? SEems like must about any antibiotic the bacteria aren't resistant to will kill them. The stuff does contain praxomide, a local anesthetic.

Thanks!

Yours,
Dora Smith

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore.

First off, cycle is the wrong type of bacteria and has to be added to the tank forever to maintain it, while still creating mini-cycles. It actually will kill the bacteria that you want (and it wiped out the BioSpira for sure) and it totally collapses when you stop using it.

I would first recommend Prime for treating the water. It will help protect the fish from the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates while the tank is being cycled and is our favorite water treatment for any tank.

Fish Protector would also be good to add - it helps enhance the effectiveness of meds as well as healing in the fish. We order it from www.thatfishplace.com. We also like to add Vita-Chem to the water and Garlic Guard. All of these aren't meds, but will help your fish.

For meds, I'd recommend Triple Sulfa to deal with the columnaris. Also Rid-Fungus to deal with the Velvet (the gold spots). I wouldn't add any more salt to the tank.

I think that's all that I'd be adding to the tank. The Rid-Fungus is herbal and organic, so the only harsh med in all of that is Triple Sulfa and it's not damaging to the good bacteria.

I would recommend 25-40% daily water changes, except when using the Triple Sulfa since you'd want to follow the directions that gives for water changes while using it.

For now, that's probably the best course to take. Once you get the fish healthier, you could add BioSpira again and cycle the tank that way or stick with daily water changes until the tank is cycled naturally.

Your fish can pull through and this is the least 'harsh' way to deal with their problems while still giving them a real chance of recovering.

villandra

Don't think you're replying to my thread, but it's the same topic.

I have a life threatening allergy to sulfa drugs, won't be using them in my fish tank. Coming in contact with a small amount could kill me.

I have bifuran, Jungle Fungus Clear Tank Buddies, which is (believe it or nto) Jungle's brand of bifuran, and I got maracin and maracin 2, which a number of web sties say to use in combination with columnaris because you seldom see just one germ infecting the fish if you've got columnaris.

Instructions for fungus clear are clearer than for bifuran, and the pill form should be easier to measure. It says to use one tablet for 10 gallons - which I gather means use 1/2 tablet for 10 gallons to treat small tetra. It says to add another dose four days later if necessary and change 25% of the water first. This is clear enough. So if I change 30% of the water every day, I should add 1/6 of a tablet each day until day four, or not?

I've seen it said several palces that you have to treat columnaris a minimum of 10 days.

But noone has yet told me - will furans or the drugs in maracyin and maracyn 2 hurt my biofilter, and if so what should I specifically do about that?

villandra

I see now that you did reply to my thread.

Are you telling me to start over with biospira after I finish treating with the antibiotic?

Someone else told me somewhere that biospira only works on new tanks; it won't work after the tank has been started by any method.

COBettaCouple

Yea, Maracyn and Maracyn-Two used together treat both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, in place of Triple Sulfa. I'm not as allergic to Sulfa as you, but still have to be very careful using it so I can see how that would be a no-go for you. I'm really not sure on the Furans, I've yet to use them. But those Fungus Clear tablets are just anti-fungal and don't do anything with bacteria.

As far as I know, BioSpira can be added at any time to cycle a tank. Rose (chickadee) know a lot more about BioSpira than I do and can give you great info on it.

villandra

Fungus Clear says it contains nitrofurazone, furazolidone, and potassium dichromate. Problem is that fish get fungus and bacterial infectinos that look similar, and what people call fungus is usually columnaris, a bacteria. People who know it's a bacteria persist in calling it a fungus.