Columnaris/fin Rot

[The Duke]

After much deliberation I am pretty sure I am dealing with fin rot/columnaris in my aquarium. Started by noticing a female rainbow with a white, bumpy gill which seems to be getting progressively worse. Next thing I notice a male platy with a white circle in his head. Those are the most prominent things but think some of the other fish are showing signs too. Well I have treated with interpret no 8 anti fungus and fin rot and the tank is back up and running. Will monitor for the next week. My other thought was that it could be damage from aggression as my male rainbow and male gourami do a lot of chasing but not seen any nipping to speak of. Anyone else had experience of this?

 

[The Duke]

Anyone?

 

[Tolak]

Please fill this out to help us help you;

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Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

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[The Duke]

Hi my parameters are 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate, 0.25 ammonia (same reading straight from my tap) and 7.4 ph. Fish are:
2 pearl gourami
4 splendid rainbows
6 platys
7 sterbai cory
2 rams
5 x ray tetra

Tank is juwel trigon 190. Water is changed at least once a week if not more often. Usually add some plant ferts and maybe some stress zyme weekly. First outbreak of any disease in the year I have had the tank. The fin rot treatment has been in about 6 hours now. The fish, particularly the rainbows are very listless and not eating but I have read this is not unusual when a treatment is added. The gouramis seem fine. One platy has a circular white mark with red in the middle in her head. It's the rainbows which seem the worst affected. One of the females has a lot of white fungus looking stuff on its gill and a couple of spots on its other side. One of the males has the fungus on its mouth which also looks quite sore.

Interpret treatment instructions say to leave it a week and water change on day seven. Also to take out the black carbon filter pad for this duration. I have also ordered some esha 2000 just in case this doesn't work as an alternative.

Sorry no pics as I have not set photo bucket up yet. I will try and get some uploaded in the next few hours. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

[The Duke]

Update - a first attempt at displaying some photos


Taken with Snapbucket

See the full size version on Photobucket: http/s1171.photobucket.com/albums/r552/TheDuke23/Snapbucket

And again.....

Taken with Snapbucket

See the full size version on Photobucket: http/s1171.photobucket.com/albums/r552/TheDuke23/Snapbucket

Sorry for the poor effort at uploading photos, anyone know how I could just get a pic straight onto the chat log? I am using an iPhone. Any ideas?

 

[The Duke]

Update - checked the aquarium this morning. All inhabitants alive but the majority are not looking good. The female rainbow that looks the worst has swam to the top next to the water intake, she made no effort to struggle when I moved her with a net. Don't expect her to survive the next 12 hours. Other than her, the three other rainbows are much the same, listless and not eating. Platys are subdued as are the rams. The only fish who seem ok are the male and female gourami.

Sincerely hope this is just a reaction to the meds I put in yesterday. Very tempting to do a big water change but interpret advise leaving it 7 days so the meds can take hold. I guess it's a waiting game now and a little prayer each time I look in my aquarium!!

 

[snazy]

Why are you treating with antifungus medication if you think it's columnaris?
Fin rot/fungus and columnaris are completely different things.
Post a picture of the affectef fish maybe?
Columnaris is always present in a tank but can cause a disease due to stress conditions of some sort.
Fungus is most of the times a secondary development to parasitic or bacterial infection which I think you would have noticed if the fish had it.

 

[The Duke]

Its an amateurs diagnosis and late on a sunday afternoon I was reliant on the meds stocked at my lfs. The interpret anti fungus/fin rot was my best bet as I knew it was not white spot or velvet. My other option was to do nothing which I believe would have resulted in dead fish this morning so I am happy with the course of action I have taken. I have ordered some esha 2000 which should arrive in a few days. Should the problem worsen or remain the same I will have to think about using this.

My investigations on the Internet lead me to believe I am along the right lines. A general purpose anti fungus med seems to be the way people are going with this problem. I have tried to post some photos I know they were not great but I am no expert in the technical side of things. Again, any help would be greatly appreciated, I will post another update later.

 

[snazy]

My point was that fungus is a secondary infection to a prior disease such as parasitic or bacterial problem. Treating the fungus itself may help for the fungus part and relieve the fish temporarily but the initial disease can be still present and eventually kill the fish.
If it is columnaris instead those meds won't help and you should see worse results in a few days. Problem is that if not treated on time it will wipe out your population.
Only time will tell. I am only speculating what it could be and what to expect.

I really hope after the dose of interpret all problems are gone and you have happy fish again

 

[The Duke]

Thanks snazy I really appreciate any advice. So what would my alternative be? Remember, I don't have a firm diagnosis just what I read and see on the internet. As expected, my female rainbow has died, the male rainbow still has a white mouth, slightly inflamed and reddened. The female platy's original white spot on its head now seems to have gone but the scales in its head are white and look crusty.

I am really open to any help here guys. I am quite willing to do a mass water change tonight and put the carbon sponge back in. Maybe treat with aquatic salt which I have? Or maybe a few water changes I itself would help? My fear is that I don't know exactly what is wrong with them so anything I try is a gamble. Can anyone direct me in the right direction before all of my fish die!!??

 

[Tolak]

If you're in the US, Maracyn & Maracyn II. Ignore the instructions, daily 50% water changes & redose, 7-10 days.

If you're in the UK best bet is what you're going with, 50% daily water changes & remed. Don't add dechlorinator to the water for about 10 minutes, the antibacterial properties of the free disinfectant in your water will help.

 

[The Duke]

Just spoken to a knowledgable guy who has pointed me I the direction of protozyn?? As snazy pointed out he agreed this is a secondary infection and that the protozyn is a strong med which will take care of everything. He advised that I put my carbon sponge straight back in and water change in a few days then dose with protozyn.

 

[snazy]

I don't think water changes will help by what you are describing.

To help you diagnose I'll just explain that fungal infection will settle in an already opened wound caused by an accident or a parasite protruding and causing an open wound. Then more than likely bacteria will settle and in the worse scenario when the bacterial is not treated, fungus will set foot. Once fungus sets into a spot on the fish it will keep at it and will not jump on another location of the fishes body such as it's mouth or head.
Therefore if a fish develops in a short time several fungusy looking areas then the cause is more likely something else such as bacterial infection like columnaris especially if other fish start getting it too in a short period of time.

Kanamycin and Furan 2 both at the same time is an option in your case if the fish look bad.

 

[The Duke]

Update - one fish fatality so far. Looking in the aquarium it looks like this "white fungus" is even growing on the wood I have in the tank!! Fish wise the affected platy looks worse - lot of white on its back and sat in a corner on its own. Three rainbows look the same, one of the males looks grim. On advice from someone "in the know" I have put the carbon back in for 24 hours to eliminate the interpret fungus treatment. Tomorrow I will do a 25% water change and dose with protozin - apparently it turns the water blue for a while but is supposed to be good. I will be surprised if I come through this without anymore fatalities!!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Please check the Interpet fungus treatment does not have any ingredients that are in Protozin. Waterlife specifically state do not add Myxazin and Protozin within 4 days of each other, because of the compound overlap, which would be toxic to the fish.