# What can you tell me about Columnaris based on experience?



## IanHulett (Oct 6, 2013)

I lost two betta fish to this horrible infection and I still have a tank that has it in there. I can't do anything with it as it is a Natural Planted Tank with Anacharis, Wisteria, Dwarf Lilies, Sword Leaf plants and a plant I'm not too sure of.

I am unfortunately under educated on the disease and am hoping you can give me as much knowledge as you can about this including little things.

I thought it was a fungal infection but apparently I was wrong, so I don't know what it is.

Thanks a bunch.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

I believe it is bacterial. You can med the tank with plants safely with things like Furan 2 or Erithromycin. If dosed as the package says it will not harm live plants. It never did for me. 

Just curious, what is the tank specs that has the issue? Usually stress related in dramatic temps is what sets it off in bettas.


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## Jet (Oct 14, 2013)

It is a bacterial infection. It usually enters the fish through wounds, or the mouth/gill area. The first step treating it should be aquarium salt and Methylene blue. I learned that decreasing the temperature helps. Three of my tiger barbs were stricken with it a few years ago, and I was late in treatment. Unfortunately I lost all three, but was able to treat one showing minor symptoms. My biggest mistake was in increasing the temp rather than decreasing it. You should lower the temp to about 25 C. Hope that helps.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Columnaris is a gram negative infection.So only certain antibiotics will work.There are two types of bacterial infections;gram positive and gram negative.This determines what med(antibiotic) is appropriate. Kanamycin sulfate or Furan 2(nitrofurazone) are good meds for columnaris.More waterchanges and lowering the stocking of the tank(I think you already moved guys around) are good advice.Keep temp at 75 or at least not higher as this bacteria loves heat.
Maracyn andMaryacyn 2 can both be used at the same time.
Fish Columnaris | Fungus & Saprolegnia | Treatment & Prevention
Columnaris Information and Symptoms @ petfish.net


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Furan and Furan 2 can be used at the same time. Most of these meds don't harm plants. I lost about 50 fish from it about a month ago. Infected two tanks with the net I used to net out new fish to both tanks.

I went here Fish Disease, Diseases of Fish, Medications & Fish Health Treatments , found what I knew it was and bought the med they recommend. This place sells pharmacy grade meds, not the crap you buy in the stores. I was able to treat 2-125g tanks with one dosage per tank and only about $30. Would have cost me $160 the other way buying Furan and Furan 2.


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## sharkettelaw (Aug 30, 2011)

coloumnaris comes in two strains - external & internal. the internal strain will kill the fish within hours or 3 days of contracting it. External strain is extremely painful and literally tortures a fish to death..a fungus that forms the shape of a saddle can be seen right in front of the dorsal fin as well as fungus by the mouth...this disease is extremely contagious and fatal and quick too. if one fish has it, the rest of the tank will have it in no time. Methylene blue and aquarium salt or even coarse salt is your best bet of getting rid of it BUT there is only a 14% survival rate. .

that is courtesy of research and my own experience..i had over a 100 guppies and one fish bought from the wrong petshop changed that. i emptied the tank, scrubbed it down with bleach, rinsed it a lot and left it to dry out for a week before using it again.


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## Threnjen (Jan 10, 2013)

jrman83 said:


> Furan and Furan 2 can be used at the same time. Most of these meds don't harm plants. I lost about 50 fish from it about a month ago. Infected two tanks with the net I used to net out new fish to both tanks.
> 
> I went here Fish Disease, Diseases of Fish, Medications & Fish Health Treatments , found what I knew it was and bought the med they recommend. This place sells pharmacy grade meds, not the crap you buy in the stores. I was able to treat 2-125g tanks with one dosage per tank and only about $30. Would have cost me $160 the other way buying Furan and Furan 2.


Not the OP but thanks for that link. I have been googling and googling and not come across that site on my own, I wonder why.
Sorry to hijack but another question re: columnaris...
I believe some of my cories had this, stress and injury induced. 3 of them died, 1 after going into quarantine. There is a 4th still in quarantine holding out and he has been there since Friday. The other remaining fish in the main aquarium (cories and otherwise) all appear and act fine. 2 of the 4 cories died on Friday in the main aquarium, one in quarantine died on Saturday, and the remaining one lives in quarantine. Would the main tank fish be showing symptoms by now if it is indeed columnaris? Does the fact that they don't show symptoms mean it probably is NOT columnaris?


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## sharkettelaw (Aug 30, 2011)

read the other posts and you'll notice that nearly all of them agree on the fact that coloumnaris is contagious...can be spread from tank to tank with just the net or water on the net from the other tank..and i said there are two strains of it, internal and external. just because you cant see it on the outside doesnt mean the fish doesnt have it, and that is if the fish even has it. who knows why you move your fish around to other tanks when you know they have a really bad illness, unless its to a hospital tank.


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## Threnjen (Jan 10, 2013)

Are you talking to me? 
Yes, I read the posts. Yes, I see that it's contagious. If you read my questions I was asking if I should expect to see more deaths/illness/evidence in my main tank by now if it were, in fact, columnaris.
I hoped it was more obvious by me saying "quarantine" that I was moving sick fish to a hospital tank. I'm not just willy nilly moving my terribly ill fish around to various tanks for fun and laughs.

I'm not sure why your response to me was so condescending. I felt that my questions were rather clear.


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## sharkettelaw (Aug 30, 2011)

if the disease originated in the main tank then the other fish probably have it as well...even if they dont show symptoms of it, they may have the internal strain or they could have been the lucky few not to have gotten it, only time will tell or if they die. moving them to an isolation tank may or may not help but because of the low survival rates, you'd only be transferring the disease to new water..coloumnaris is like dropsy, once it hits theres not much that can be done, so prevention is the best cure though apparently methylene blue helps. in my case it did..the fish that had the disease was the sole survivor for a month after it hit but still died from it


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## Threnjen (Jan 10, 2013)

Almost as if on cue, I noticed this morning that several of the fish in the main tank have tufty cottony white growths and/or pale spots around their mouths.
I just ordered overnight meds from that link you provided, Jrman

I feel like I'm going to throw up.

I've read probably three dozen pages on the web about this and still don't really understand how or why my fish seem to have contracted it. My water quality is pristine and I'm not overcrowded. But then, I wouldn't expect any regular on this site to have poor water and overcrowding, and clearly it has affected you guys.


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## sharkettelaw (Aug 30, 2011)

did you get any new fish recently? or were they stressed for some reason?


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## Threnjen (Jan 10, 2013)

Yes, the illness (regardless what it is) began in my cories, who unbeknownst to me were being bullied to death by White Fin Tetras under cover of night. They were extremely stressed and then several died. The deaths were very fast and I reacted as quickly and appropriately as I knew how.

I removed the source of the stress and quarantined the two remaining cories who were ill both visibly and behaviorally, but it seems I may have been too late.

If you're more interested in the issue and my timeline, I can start a separate post about it rather than take over the Op's.

Thank you for your replies, they have been helpful.


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

When I had Columnaris in a 75 gal, I treated with Amoxicillin Capsules that I bought at Southern Agriculture. I still lost a lot of fish, but they had the internal infection, keep the temp. down in the water and make sure to dose good meds, but try to keep the water clean.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Just wanred to thank sharkettelaw and Manafel as I never even knew there two types!
Since I didn't know this may sound stupid,but I imagine the internal type is "very diffacult" to recognise?
And I'm not the OP but Threnjen I think it is best to combine as much info on a topic as possible(always welcomed others to my threads) as it is a great way to get more info when someone ask the question differently(kind of like 2 sets of eyes are better than 1)?


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## Threnjen (Jan 10, 2013)

I made a new post because I had too much to say.
Please, please take a look if you have the time.

http://www.aquariumforum.com/f5/possible-columnaris-timeline-diagnosis-possible-treatment-67265.html#post399401


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Here is a good article:
Columnaris Disease


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## IanHulett (Oct 6, 2013)

majerah1 said:


> Just curious, what is the tank specs that has the issue? Usually stress related in dramatic temps is what sets it off in bettas.


Sorry for the late reply.
I had the water tested somewhere between 3 and 7 days before the infection and the results said 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrites, 5ppm Nitrates. The ph was a little high though, I think about 8.0.


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## IanHulett (Oct 6, 2013)

*How do you treat a tank for Columnaris if it houses snails, clams and plants?*

I can't do any disinfecting really because I have clams and snails in there and it's a heavily planted tank. I have 2 assassin snails, two asian gold clams and the tank is also my bladder snail trash can because of the assassins. I want to house something else in there eventually, like a lobster, or maybe put Lemon in there. I don't think I can move the mollusks to another tank or else I have to treat that tank for Columnaris as well because the bacteria responsible will cling to them.

Can you tell me what I can do? Thanks a bunch.


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## Akinaura (Nov 8, 2010)

We've had columnaris is our tanks a couple of times...nasty little bacteria ><

As for treating/disinfecting the tank afterwards, that's where you have to be a bit creative, lol.

For us, all of our tanks were heavily planted at the time of infection. If you followed the standard tank dosing procedure (removed carbon until meds are done) then you'll more than likely want to just go ahead and do a replacement on the carbon.

Next up is anything you used to deal with the infected fish like nets, extra containers, etc. These can all go into a single bucket with clorax and left to sit for a little while (we usually did 24 hrs). Afterwards rinse everything off real good, then everything back in with either a double or triple dose of dechlor. (To make sure all chlorine was gone in from the items, we used liquid pool testers that would show low levels of chlorine).

For your actual filter, you can do the same thing, just keep the media wet inside another bowl. Your plants can cover you temporary (less than 2 days) while your filter is getting a disinfectant scrubbing.

This isn't for everyone, just what we did when our heavily planted tanks would get infected.


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## IanHulett (Oct 6, 2013)

Will this treatment harm my clams and snails?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

What treatment do you plan to use? Some can kill inverts, some will not harm.


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## IanHulett (Oct 6, 2013)

Is there a conservative method?


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## IanHulett (Oct 6, 2013)

Can Assassin Snails and Asian Golden clams handle aquarium salt? If so, I'd like to treat that way. Thus no risk killing my inverts with meds.


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