[glegleglo]

Hi everyone,

I have a 30g planted tank. I have four male guppies, 6 neon tetras, 6 otos, and three male platys. When I got home from work yesterday I noticed that one of my guppies was lethargic and resting near the top of the tank. This morning I realized he had some bit of fuzz that reminded me of columnaris. In the past I have fought columnaris, to some success, in my small betta tank. This time around, I took out the guppy and put him with a heater and triple sulfa.

My question is what do I do with the big tank? Everyone else seems fine but two days ago this guppy also seemed fine. Should I add triple sulfa to the main tank? Will it harm my plants or otos?

 

[Oceangirl]

If this is columnaris, your best bet is to clean the plants separately from the tank. Then treat the tank. I treated with Nitrofuran and Kanaplex. And had no success, But I do know plants don't really take to chemicals. I suggest either dipping the plants and keeping in another area till the treatment is done or throwing them out. Columnaris just sucks

 

[glegleglo]

But I have a lot of plants have you had any issues using triple sulfa on plants?

 

[Monster Fish]

Triple-sulfa isn't really effective against columnaris. Pick up Kanamycin and Nitrofuran.

http://www.myaquariumclub.com/columnaris-and-what-i-have-learned...-1689.html

 

[glegleglo]

Is there a place I can order either one of those online? I cant't find much information on purchasing, just drug info.

 

[Oceangirl]

I got mine from ebay under the names Kanaplex by seachem and Furan 2. Try those names. Cheapest for Furan 2 would be ebay, and cheapest for Kanaplex for me was Amazon. Is that ok to post where I got my meds from? I hope this doesn't count as a vendor review.

 

[Monster Fish]

You can post Amazon links and for the ebay auction, just post the item number.

 

[Zapins]

Lots of salt kills columnaris. I managed to save a wild caught pygmy sunfish that had it using about a third seawater salt treatment for a week. Keep your tank temperature cool, if it is warm the disease kills the fish within a day or two. I had no luck with medications, but salt worked fairly well.

 

[Oceangirl]

Salt will kill your plants too. So, if you want to go the salt route or the chem route your going to have to unroot those plants. Or you could take the fish out to Q tank and let the tank sit with NO LIFE for 35 days with the heat up to 75 degrees. I did this for some plants, Columnaris cannot survive that long without a host.

PS Thanks Monster fish for clearing that up!!

 

[Zapins]

Yes salt will harm plants. However, if it is columnaris you don't have a lot of time to order medications. It will kill your fish in a few days, it is much more virulent than ich or other diseases. So you either need to remove the fish and dose them, or sacrifice the plants.

Also, from what I've read columnaris can last for weeks in the tank without a host. I am unsure if that is true or not since I broke down the tank after the fish were cured.

 

[jrman83]

I had to treat for it about 3 months ago now. The med I used was very strong and gotten through http://nationalfishpharm.com/, their meds are very strong and pharmaceutical strength. Some of my plants did not fair very well. Wiped some out, stunted others. Good luck.

 

[glegleglo]

Thank you all for all your help and advice! I didn't know it couldn't survive without a host. That's what I was afraid of, that I would treat the fish in qt but it would be alive and well in the main tank. Do otos handle salt okay?

 

[Oceangirl]

I used salt with Ottos, I know it sucks to have to Q the fish, But I would either leave the tank with no Life in it to run for 35 days, ( it won't survive this long without a host.), The plus side to this leaving the tank without life, you'd most likely not have to kill any plants. You can still fert, light, and dose everything. You'll still have to re-cycle the tank, but its better than throwing all the plants out.