Treatment update columnaris

[Sylvia]

hello all,

i am currently trying to treat my betta for columnaris, he has the chronic strain. I started out with seachem sulfaplex but that didn't help. I am now trying to treat with amoxicillin, he has had 4 doages of this but it is not seeming to help him at all and he is getting worse.

The only other things I have to try and treat are Api triple sulfa Maracyn 1 and 2 and Api fin qnd body cure I am in the uk so can't get anything else quickly for him.

He is in a 30 litre planted, filtered and heated tank. His temp is at 26 degrees i have not lowered or increased it as scared too.

My ph is 7.4, GH 8, KH is 4. Normally I have no amonia or nitrate and keep nitrates at around 20.

The amoxicillin is killing the bacteria in the tank so daily 10 litre water changes along with using prime to lock the amonia.

Billy my betta is only 1 year old, I bought him from a UK breeder. He has always been healthy and I'm heart broken to see him like this.

Anything at all that anyone can advise me to do would be so much appreciated and welcomed. 

Edited October 8, 2020 by Sylvia
Retitled

[Irene]

I'm sorry to hear that! I'm not sure what medications are available in the UK, but here is another forum post on columnaris that might help: forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/81-keeping-fish-in-the-wake-of-columnaris/

Edited October 2, 2020 by Irene

[Sylvia]

Hi Irene, thank you so much for replying. I do have a stock of the following meds

Api fin and body cure

Api triple sulfa 

Maracyn 1 and 2

Any idea on which would be the better one to try?

[funkelt]

Im surprised the sulphaplex isnt working. Did you do it every 3 days for 3 weeks? If you are in the UK try to get your hands on Blue Planet Tri Sulfa, otherwise API triple. That Blue Planet is the #1 recommendation Ive seen for this slow, resistant strain. Unfortunately I cant find it here in US. I dont know about maracyn because I have hard water (ineffective in hard water) but 2 would be the one to treat gram negative bacteria I think.

Columnaris is really going around right lately! Ive been fighting this in my QT tanks for 2 months now.  Ive tried medicated fish flakes  with kanaplex and furan 2 to no avail. Started sulfaplex a week ago now and it seems to be slowing down. Columnaris attacks the organs so usually by the time the fish is showing white on the outside, it can be too late to save the fish. Cookies Fishroom has a great video.

EDIT: I do not expect you will have luck with Maracyn 2 after reading the following resource https://www.myaquariumclub.com/columnaris-and-what-i-have-learned-about-the-types-causes-and-treatments-1689.html

Edited October 5, 2020 by funkelt

[Sylvia]

Hello Funkelt, thank you so much for your reply. I have seen cookies fish room and have followed advise but it was not working for me. I used sulfaplex.

As my GH is around 7 I tried the maracyn 1 and 2. I have for the last 5 days also given baths in mb along with amoxicillin in the bath.

All the fuzzy fungus looking stuff is now gone and Billy is eating well again. When it first started he had chunks of his fins falling off, this has now also stopped. He is not a hundred percent better as he just stays in the same spot but it is early days.

I am going ahead with the second round of maracyn 1 and 2 just to be sure and will carry on with mb baths but every second day now so not to put more stress on him.

I had tried kanaplex and furan two but that also didn't seem to work. Kanaplex probably needs harder water for it to work well.

I have purchased some other gram negative bacteria antibiotics to have in case it comes back so I treat again if needed which as you said may be likely but at least this time I have some knowledge to be able to try and combat it.

I have read if a GH is over 11 (200) maracyn will not work as it is bound by the calcium if that is the case it makes to me that kanaplex works better in higher alkaline water?

This forum has really helped me with treating Billy so far, any advice is very much welcomed and I would like to know if I should continue mb baths or not? And how long to continue?

Thanks a million in advance for any advice you all can offer me

[Cory]

I find salt does wonders for this, if you have a QT tank or no plants in his tank, salt over the course of like a month will really help we find.

[Sylvia]

Hi Cory, thank you so much for replying to me. How much salt would you suggest?. He is currently in a filtered planted 30 litre tank. I don't mind losing the plants (I know bad, but Billy is more important to me) I don't want to stress him more by moving him