Columnaris and Red Worm

[Jeannieb]

I have a planted 55 gallon community tank with Rainbow fish, upsidedown catfish, platys, hillstream loaches, nerite snail, amano shrimp, and a ton of cherry shrimp. 

Three months ago I noticed Red Worm. Treated several times with Expell-P. Fish were still dying one at a time. Lost my female Betta. She was bloated previous to passing away. Since then I've treated with Maracyn several times, para cleanse, and Ich X. 

Now one of my rainbows has a slightly swollen face, platys slowly dying one at a time, platy with top lip missing, platys with scales missing, and occasionally red bulbus feces from the rainbows. 

Currently treating with Jungle Fungus Clear. 

I honestly don't know what to do. I don't want to kill my inverts.  How do I get rid of the red worm and columnaris? I'm at my Wit's end! I thought I was doing everything right because I always quarantine and do the medication trio before adding any fish to my tank. 

Is there an effective treatment for columnaris that's safe for inverts? I don't know how much more stress & heartache I can take.

PH 7.2

GH 13

KH 5 

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 20

Edited January 1 by Jeannieb

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/1/2023 at 10:40 AM, Jeannieb said:

I honestly don't know what to do. I don't want to kill my inverts.  How do I get rid of the red worm and columnaris? I'm at my Wit's end! I thought I was doing everything right because I always quarantine and do the medication trio before adding any fish to my tank.

levamisole is fine to use.  (expel-p) for the worms.  Black out the tank for 24 hours, then do a heavy siphon on the substrate to remove them.

For the other issue I will tag in @Chick-In-Of-TheSea .  The med you're looking for is salt, kanaplex, and jungle fizz tabs

 

because of the snails, you can remove them, but you would omit the salt in that case.

[Jeannieb]

@nabokovfan87  Thank you 

[Colu]

On 1/1/2023 at 9:25 PM, Jeannieb said:

@nabokovfan87  Thank you 

Kanaplex can be harmful to shrimp what I would do is a course of kanaplex in food feeding a small amount twice a day for 7 days its less likely to harm your shrimp in food and Jungle fungus clear fizz tab's containing nitrofurazone to treat the tank the combination of the two is very effective treatment for columnaris I would do two course of jungle fungus clear fizz tab's back to back while treating with kanaplex in food I would do a course of levamisole in food its more effective feeding a small amount twice a day for up to 14 days after you have dealt columnaris 

Edited January 2 by Colu

[Jeannieb]

On 1/1/2023 at 5:35 PM, Colu said:

a course of kanaplex in food feeding a small amount twice a day for 7 days

I have never fed medicated food to my fish before. As it stands right now, any food that falls to the ground my shrimp swam it. The shrimp congregate in the front of the tank as soon as I start feeding the fish.

I am willing to give it a shot. Will the medicated food kill the shrimp if they get to it? 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 1/1/2023 at 4:05 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

levamisole is fine to use.  (expel-p) for the worms.  Black out the tank for 24 hours, then do a heavy siphon on the substrate to remove them.

For the other issue I will tag in @Chick-In-Of-TheSea .  The med you're looking for is salt, kanaplex, and jungle fizz tabs

 

because of the snails, you can remove them, but you would omit the salt in that case.

I would go by @Colu’s recommendation above given your particular livestock.

[Colu]

On 1/1/2023 at 11:43 PM, Jeannieb said:

I have never fed medicated food to my fish before. As it stands right now, any food that falls to the ground my shrimp swam it. The shrimp congregate in the front of the tank as soon as I start feeding the fish.

I am willing to give it a shot. Will the medicated food kill the shrimp if they get to it? 

It's the safest way to treat your fish less likely to harm your shrimp I can't give a 100 % guarantee that it won't harm your shrimp if it's eaten kanaplex is stressful to invertebrates it cause them to slow down I would still recommend the medicated food or you could more your fish to a quarantine tank and treat if you have a spare tank 

[Jeannieb]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea  Thank you. I will give it a try

[Jeannieb]

@Colu  Thank you for all of your help! 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Maybe you can put the shrimp in a breeder box so they don’t eat the food

[Jeannieb]

@Colu  I picked up Kana Plex. Do I wait to start it or can I use it while using Jungle Fizz?

[nabokovfan87]

@Jeannieb yes you can use them together.

[Colu]

On 1/2/2023 at 9:45 PM, Jeannieb said:

@Colu  I picked up Kana Plex. Do I wait to start it or can I use it while using Jungle Fizz?

Just remember to finish the Full 7 days of the medicated food and a full second course of jungle fungus clear fizz tab's 

[Jeannieb]

On 1/2/2023 at 8:02 PM, Colu said:

Just remember to finish the Full 7 days of the medicated food and a full second course of jungle fungus clear fizz tab's 

I will 👍🏻 Thank you