Columnaris outbreak

That's so sad :'( keep us updated, I need to know how the pleco does! Good luck!

 

Thank you! I'm so worried abt him & my others that are still pulling through

 

Thank you! I'm so worried abt him & my others that are still pulling through

Who else is still fighting?

 

Who else is still fighting?

Wondered about this myself.

 

Who else is still fighting?

A wag, 3 guppies, a tetra, & this morning I found a khulI loach.

& I've got my temp down to 78. I'll continue to lower it & seen how they do.

 

How goes it?

 

If your Pleco is not showing symptoms by now, than I'm sure he is fine.
Columnaris is very fast moving and its symptoms show up, at temperatures above 80 degrees, within 24 hours.
Deaths can occur within 72 hours.
You have probably reached the peak of the deaths from the disease and the fish that have had the benefit of medication will most likely be fine.
It is good that you are doing the daily water changes- this probably prevented a total loss in your tank.
Good luck.

 

How goes it?

Thank you for checking in. A bit better today overall - except my khulI seems weak & isn't really eating.
I've been trying to target feed - but he isn't interested even with the garlic guard.

& on a good note - I found a young pleco that was bred in the tank I am so ridiculously happy!

If your Pleco is not showing symptoms by now, than I'm sure he is fine.

I am so cautiously relieved to hear this. He's looking real good too.

Columnaris is very fast moving and its symptoms show up, at temperatures above 80 degrees, within 24 hours.
Deaths can occur within 72 hours.
You have probably reached the peak of the deaths from the disease and the fish that have had the benefit of medication will most likely be fine.
It is good that you are doing the daily water changes- this probably prevented a total loss in your tank.
Good luck.

Thank you!
I raised the temp when I was attempting to control the ick...
This morning the temp was down to 78 & now I'm at 76.

I'm still seeing the white patches on 3 of my fish. But they're swimming good, not spending so much time in the output flow of my filter, & spending a bit less time at the top of my tank.
Treating again tonight with the Furan/kanaplex combo. I just finished a 50% wc.
*fingers crossed*

Big thank you's to everyone. I really appreciate the support

 

This is my tetra - the one that's mostly visibly affected by the columnaris. He's swimming good, eating great, & not hanging at the top of the tank nor is he crashing at the bottom.
I'm just wondering - he still has a chance, right?
My platty has a tiny bit on the tail. & I thought I saw a bit on a guppy - but they're all over right now & not interested in taking a break.
No further deaths so I'm remaining cautiously optimistic

 

This is my tetra - the one that's mostly visibly affected by the columnaris. He's swimming good, eating great, & not hanging at the top of the tank nor is he crashing at the bottom.
I'm just wondering - he still has a chance, right?
My platty has a tiny bit on the tail. & I thought I saw a bit on a guppy - but they're all over right now & not interested in taking a break.
No further deaths so I'm remaining cautiously optimistic View attachment 347989

I'm very glad that you haven't lost anyone else. That picture is of a Harlequin Rasbora though. Not a tetra. Two different lines there. Not that it really matters right now. I definitely advise more of them once your tank is situated though.

 

I'm very glad that you haven't lost anyone else. That picture is of a Harlequin Rasbora though. Not a tetra. Two different lines there. Not that it really matters right now. I definitely advise more of them once your tank is situated though.

I didn't know it was an HR! when I started my tanks abt 6 years ago my son & I were told it was a tetra. I'm absolutely certain the employee said that.
I am going to school him - I feel so badly I can't right now.

 

I didn't know it was an HR! when I started my tanks abt 6 years ago my son & I were told it was a tetra. I'm absolutely certain the employee said that.
I am going to school him - I feel so badly I can't right now.

A lot of people make that mistake. Myself included starting out. They show so much activity and personality in adequate schools. I started with 4 and now have 8 in my 20 gallon long. The one in the picture is 6 years old though?

 

Yeah 5 or 6. He was in my 10 gallon with his school and then following this hobbies protocol we added tanks so he moved in to my 20 gallon and finally to my 55. He's had a couple schools - the last group fell to the ich and columnaris.

 

Yeah 5 or 6. He was in my 10 gallon with his school and then following this hobbies protocol we added tanks so he moved in to my 20 gallon and finally to my 55. He's had a couple schools - the last group fell to the ich and columnaris.

Sounds like you've done pretty well with him then. I'd just say keep it up once the illness is gone. Lol.

 

My new khulis might have brought in columnaris

I had placed them into the qt section of my barracks-specially built for the purpose, sealed off from the tank and self-contained when I lower the water level

But one got over the divider somehow and into the main tank, to reside with my female Betta, Butch

I found her dead this morning with no symptoms-her only other tankmate, a snail....perfect health yesterday

Mr bubbles is not looking so good either- he spends more time sitting than swimming

Can I use kanaplex and furan2/jungle cure with khulis?

 

Sorry to hear you lost your betta.

You can try using kanaplex or those other meds however, kuhlis don't have scales just like my YoYos so I would try using half the full dosage and see how it goes, if theyre okay with it you can do the full dosage.

 

I used Paraguard for my YoYos and they did fine, not sure about kuhlis though.

 

Antibiotics are a lot safer than antiseptics. Use the full dosage and duration or risk development of resistance.

Columnaris is in all freshwater so you didn't bring it into your tanks, you brought in a susceptible fish. New fish are often banged up during shipment and subject to low oxygen, temperature extremes, and ammonia so they're susceptible to infection.

Columnaris is primarily an external infection. Sudden death without visible ulcers is most likely not Columnaris. A study isolated it from the interior of just one species, catfish in a fish farm, but I don't think the fish died from it.

 

The new fish seem fine, it's the Betta that are coming down ill

I'm half inclined to hold all of the khulI in separate quarantine for the next month whilst treating the tanks affected - I already have the khulis in a 5gallons away from the Betta now, as my son graciously gave up his 5 gallon for the purpose

Which means the affected tanks are populated with Betta and a couple of cherry shrimp

Perhaps the khulI that got in with the Betta whilst they were in the barracks stressed them out. I know that the main tank was stressed by a substrate change- it became aenerobic and had to be removed so I had put them and the plants all safely into a bucket whilst I messed up the tank

 

Personally, I would treat the tank for prevention too. Your shrimp shouldn't be affected because they can't catch diseases fish catch, most of the time.

Are there any holes in your solitary confinement of the kuhlis?

 

Now they are in a 5 gallon tank in another room, but the solitary section that I built into my Barracks is built under the following pattern:

Plexiglass divider cut to the size of the tank, with two rows of holes at the TOP of the divide. It's sealed with silicone. This allows me to either raise the water level to keep the section cycled, or lower the level to use it as QT. I have a sponge filter in each section.

I had the water level lowered while I had the Khulis in the QT section, so it was self-contained. But I believe the miscreant khulI that joined Butch in her section must have jumped the divide.

 

Now they are in a 5 gallon tank in another room, but the solitary section that I built into my Barracks is built under the following pattern:

Plexiglass divider cut to the size of the tank, with two rows of holes at the TOP of the divide. It's sealed with silicone. This allows me to either raise the water level to keep the section cycled, or lower the level to use it as QT. I have a sponge filter in each section.

I had the water level lowered while I had the Khulis in the QT section, so it was self-contained. But I believe the miscreant khulI that joined Butch in her section must have jumped the divide.

It's better for them to be in their own tank, they have more room and this time there won't be any jumpers lol

 

Yes

The QT in the barracks was built for Betta, not regular fish. When I built it the idea was that if a sorority girl came down with something, I could scoop her out and treat her without having to use a Betta jar. The water's heatered and filtered, and I can keep it cycled when it's not in use.

 

Actually, I can show how the qt is working, since I'm running Tetra fungas guard in the main barracks and have my sons Cherry shrimp in the qt

 

Actually, I can show how the qt is working, since I'm running Tetra fungas guard in the main barracks and have my sons Cherry shrimp in the qt

 

I have been recently hit with the colmanaris infection which had killed off 10 of my African cichlids over half of my population for now and I have been feeding medicated fish food for it but my other fish that have it on them won’t eat so I decided to buy kanaplex and metroplex and use them together and I don’t know if this will work for now so what medications would kill off this infection and make sure that anymore fish won’t die off

 

You'll want a combination of kanamycin (Kanaplex) and nitrofurazone (Tetra Fungus Guard or API Furan 2). I've used this combo to treat successfully. Below thread has more info. Good luck!

Columnaris Symptoms And Treatment

 

I agree, I would use kanamycin and nitrofurazone together. The Metroplex is more for internal infections. You need to treat for external infections instead.

Be sure to do 2 rounds of treatments. You want meds in the tank for 7-10 days. Re-evaluate around day 7, and decide if you need to do a 3rd dose.

 

I treated mine with kanaplex, metroplex and furan2.
But I did lose a few fish before getting ahold of it.
Good luck

 

Metronidazole is ineffective against Columnaris. Save it for something else, like ich.

 

Thanks for all your help this infection really hit hard on me and I will be happy to see it go

 

I think I have a columnaris in my 75 gallon tank. First a glofish tetra was found dead 2 days ago with white stuff all over it and then a zebra danio the next day. Did a water change and gravel clean which I do weekly anyway and my water test is all zero with nitrates at 10-20. All appeared ok the day before so a bit concerned. Looking closely today I see another of the zebras is looking a little yellowish so I have been looking into treatment.
Salt seems to be a common treatment so am currently dissolving 15 tablespoons pure kosher salt in some tank water. Doing a 2 tablespoons to 10 gallon ratio. I have neon and glowlight tetras so hoping they will not get too stressed as I hear tetras can be sensitive to salt. No catfish so hoping all will be ok.
Should I be looking into other medication?

 

Here's a couple of useful threads about columnaris.

Columnaris Symptoms And Treatment


I wouldn't dose the salt as the fish won't do well with it. Some zebra danios do have a natural yellow tint to them; don't take that as a sign of columnaris.

 

Ok good articles thanks. Do you think my fish won’t do well with the salt because they are mostly tetras? Both articles have salt as a treatment option.
If I don’t use salt should I be out looking for kanaplex or do I just observe and see if I start to have more sick fish. Everyone looks ok today but as a newbie I fear I am missing behavioral changes that would alert a more experienced fish keeper.

 

Freshwater fish in general don't do well with salt.

Salt was an old treatment used when meds weren't up to snuff.

Now, salt is obsolete.

 

I would just observe your fish. They may have developed fungus on them after dying. I'm assuming your numbers are 0,0, and somewhere between 5-20.

I would recommend buying some of those medications to have them on hand in case it is columnaris.

 

Ok will observe and maybe get in some stock meds in case. Thanks guys

 

I've been treating my columnaris outbreak for 3 days with furan 2 and kanaplex. I just had another fish die today from it. Does that mean I need to start treatment again?

 

I think if it were me, I would.

 

Lowering the temperature and adding salt will also help.