Columnaris - Mouth Fungus
Symptoms: cottony patches around the mouth, White spots on mouth, around the chin and mouth area, edges of scales and fins, cottony patches around the mouth. May be accompanied by clear stringy feces, a loss of appetite, and rapid gilling where gills are infected.
Names Columnaris is known by are Mouth Fungus, Cotton-Wool, Cotton-Mouth, Mouth-Rot, Saddle Back, Flexibacter, False Neon Disease, and Guppy Disease.
It is often called Mouth Fungus because it looks like a fungus attack of the mouth. It is actually caused from the bacterium Flavobacterium columnare, previously called Flexibacter columnaris, Bacillus columnaris, Chondrococcus columnaris, and Cytophaga columnaris. This is a common bacterial infection that affects freshwater aquarium fish, particularly livebearing fish and catfish. It is not seen in marine fish, they can be infected by myxobacterial diseases that are similar to columnaris, yet this is very uncommon in the aquarium.
Columnaris can enter the fish through the gills, mouth, or small wounds on the skin and results in an internal or external infection. It can have either a chronic progression of days or months or an acute progression with lesions spreading quickly, often wiping out whole populations of fish in just a few hours. It is highly contagious and may be spread through contaminated nets, specimen containers, and even food.
This disease is brought on by stress, injury, inadequate diet, and poor water quality, including an unstable pH. To prevent Columnaris maintain your water with good biological filtration and weekly water changes that include vacuuming the substrate. Keep the tank well aerated, provide your fish with a varied diet, and don't overstock.
Columnaris generally shows up first as a gray or white line around the lips and later as short tufts sprouting from the mouth like fungus. This bacterium produces protein and cartilage degrading enzymes that eat away at the fish and forms round or oval shapes with an open ulcer in the center. It may affect the fins, beginning with degradation at the edges, or as a lesion near the dorsal fin. The "saddleback" condition is a discolored gray patchy area near the dorsal fin and a pale white band encircling the body of the fish. A yellowish-brown ulcer develops in the center as it progresses. This coloring is caused by detritus particles trapped in the slime produced by the bacteria.
This is a quick acting disease and needs immediate treatment. The toxins produced and the inability to eat will be fatal unless treated at an early stage. This bacteria is often accompanied by a second infection of an Aeromonas bacteria and fungus often invades the affected skin. Be aware that some strains of this bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. So ensure you treat for the full length of the medication. To rid the aquarium and fish of this disease, first increase the water quality and then begin treatment.
You can treat Columnaris with a gram-negative medication. However, other bacteria that are gram positive mimic the Columnaris Disease, so if you use a gram positive treatment and it worked, the affliction was NOT Columnaris disease. Some aquarists suggest using both the gram positive and negative together just in case you are not sure.
Several types of antibiotics and medications can used to treat Columnaris:
- Penicillin: Penicillin at 10,000 units per liter is a very effective treatment. Treat with a second dose in two days.
- Chloromycetin: You can use chloromycetin, 10 to 20 mg per liter, with a second dose in two days.
- Kanacyn (kanamycin): Kanacyn will treat both bacteria at once.
- Maracyn (erythromycin): Maracyn is effective against Columnaris, and using Maracyn 2 (minocycline) in conjunction with it will treat the Aeromonas bacteria as well.
- Others: Copper sulphate, Furan, Tetracycline, and Potassium permanganate. Nifurpirinol, Acriflavine, Chloramphenicol and Malachite green are also said to be effective.
- Medicated Foods: Feeding food dosed with Terramycin (Oxytetracycline) will help to internally treat this disease.
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