Untreatable Columnaris

[LCRYAN]

I have uncontrollable columnaris in my 55 and 10 g tank. I have lost 5 balloon mollies 😞 I have 1 adult balloon molly left and today her eyes are swollen. I have 7 regular mollies that have scale loss and grey discoloration on the saddle but do not seem to be dropping at the same rate. Kanaplex did not work. Ick x did not work. Jungle fungal clear did not work. Salt is not working. Metroplex did not work. I tried polyguard…it did not work. I am now trying furan fish food flakes and that’s when I noticed my balloons eyes popping waaaay out. I feel like I’m over medicating these fish at this rate. I have been at this for over a month with death after death. I’m starting to wonder if it’s time to euthanize them 😞 I don’t know if I can morally do it when I see many still have fight…but they always seem to have fight until one day they just sit at the bottom and slowly suffer…What would you do ??? 😞 I am so sad.

I have two fry who were born into that tank. They are in a 5 g and at this time they seem to thrive and not be affected. 

Edited November 17, 2021 by LCRYAN

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I'm very sorry, how frustrating. 😞 Do you have another QT? Maybe your main tank could use a good cleaning. I know at this point it's probably grasping at straws and I believe columaris is a really hard one to fight. What are your water parameters right now? Temperature?

Edited November 17, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[quikv6]

You can try the Kanaplex + Furan together. They are exponentially better when combined, and I would add it to the food in addition to the water column.

The other option that has worked for me is a sulfa based med, such as API Triple Sulfa or Seachem Sulfaplex.

I would not euthanize unless you have tried everything else, AND they have no fight left, AND no desire to eat.

[Colu]

The best treatment for Columnaris is kanaplex and nitrofurazone which is in furan2 as @quikv6 suggest if you can't get furan2 aquatics foods premium flake containing nitrofurazone with kanaplex is the best option he how I treat Columnaris

[lojack323]

Sorry that you’re having a rough go at it.

When I was dealing columnaris, I didn’t have access to Kanaplex in a timely manner. So I went with two rounds of Maracyn 2 (minocyline) which cleared up the less sick fish. I did a third round of Maracyn 2 and Furan-2 in a QT for the worse off fish which seemed to do the trick. 
 

It’s tough since even the surviving fish will look pretty rough. Many of mine survived and are still around but an equal amount didn’t make it or died months later.
 

I hope it works out for you.