Columnaris and Ich!

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juhason

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About a month or two ago I introduced some bait shop fish to my tank and they ended up having columnaris. They all died within three days and that was the end of it. None of my other fish developed the disease so I didn't dose. Now I converted the tank to (mostly) southeast asian tank so it has 3 gouramis (2 pearl and 1 gold) 8 rasboras, 2 yoyo loaches and 3 siamese algae eaters. The last fish is the only fish I didn't get rid of from my previous stock and that is a small Nicaraguan Cichlid. It is about 3" and doesn't bother anyone expect occasionally the gouramis if they enter its territory (which is almost never because it patrols the bottom and the gouramis patrol the top) It is not going to be a permanent resident. ANYWAYS...........................

Everything was going fine until I noticed one rasbora acting strange and upon closer examination it started showing the same symptoms as the bait fish so I knew it contracted columnaris, more than a month after the bait fish left the tank! I noticed this at night. By the morning the rasbora was dead. I quickly took it out and ran to the store to buy Furan 2 to treat the whole tank. I have never used it before so I bought one box but that is not enough to treat a 55 gallon so I'm doing half the dose. I'm on day 2 at this point. HOWEVER today one of my other rasboras has ICH!!! UGH! At this point I don't know what to prioritize.

I have some left of super ich cure, can this be safely combined with Furan 2? If not what is the best course of action to take to save all my fish. Please help!
 
First, you are certain the initial issue was columnaris? I have frequently seen this mentioned when it was actually something very different. Columnaris or one of the related bacterial issues appears as irregular shaped patches of plastic wrap sort of; it spreads very rapidly.

[Aside: Furan 2 is about the best antibiotic for true columnaris (or one of the very similar bacterial issues that can look like columnaris), though I would also use (together) Furan 2 and Kanaplex (Seachem make this, it is kanamycin). While generally combining products is not advisable, here it is very effective (I have done this) as the Furan does not enter fish effectively but kanamycin does, so it is more effective together.]

I'm not suggesting the initial problem was columnaris or similar, and I am not suggesting this is what got the rasbora. I would concentrate on the ich. Ich is caused by stress, always; the parasite is believed to be present but it is stress that triggers an outbreak as the fish are weakened and can no longer fight it off. Heat and salt are the most effective treatment. The fish mentioned should be fine with salt.

I have never lost fish from heat/salt treatments but when I used to use other products they either were not effective or some fish died.

Byron.
 
First, you are certain the initial issue was columnaris? I have frequently seen this mentioned when it was actually something very different. Columnaris or one of the related bacterial issues appears as irregular shaped patches of plastic wrap sort of; it spreads very rapidly.

[Aside: Furan 2 is about the best antibiotic for true columnaris (or one of the very similar bacterial issues that can look like columnaris), though I would also use (together) Furan 2 and Kanaplex (Seachem make this, it is kanamycin). While generally combining products is not advisable, here it is very effective (I have done this) as the Furan does not enter fish effectively but kanamycin does, so it is more effective together.]

I'm not suggesting the initial problem was columnaris or similar, and I am not suggesting this is what got the rasbora. I would concentrate on the ich. Ich is caused by stress, always; the parasite is believed to be present but it is stress that triggers an outbreak as the fish are weakened and can no longer fight it off. Heat and salt are the most effective treatment. The fish mentioned should be fine with salt.

I have never lost fish from heat/salt treatments but when I used to use other products they either were not effective or some fish died.

Byron.
How about if I did just heat? are all my fish heat tolerant so that i could turn it up to 89? Reason is I have a whole bunch of crypts and last time Inussd salt they started melting. They were really expensive so I'd like to avoid it if possible!
 
How about if I did just heat? are all my fish heat tolerant so that i could turn it up to 89? Reason is I have a whole bunch of crypts and last time Inussd salt they started melting. They were really expensive so I'd like to avoid it if possible!

I understand about the crypts, I have two or three species and have had several others and I know how they melt at changes. But on this point alone, I wold point out that increasing the heat to be effective will likely melt crypts. Any change in water chemistry or parameters,of which temperature is one, can cause this. Some species react more than others, a few rarely at all. But the heat is a likely issue itself.

Back to the ich...raising the temperature to at minimum 90F/32C is said by some to kill ich. I've never used just this, as I have had fish that I felt would have serious problems. Same can hold for salt obviously, but many species can manage for a week or two with salt that it not too high in content. I've had success three times using salt with the temp raised to 86F/30C for two weeks. Of the fish you mention, I have used this method with loaches and rasbora (as well as characins, cories, barbs). However, given the fish, you could try the heat alone for a week minimum.
 

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