Possible Columnaris

[GinkoTracks]

Hey there all! 

So I have a 30 gal freshwater tank. I fill my tank with RODI water remineralized with Salty Shrimp GH/KH. Its running on a sachem tidal rated for a 50gal tank, and I do water changes ~ every two weeks, though with school I'm not as good at that as I wish I could be (grad school is VERY BUSY). I check the water every so often with both test strips and the API water kit, and basically every time I have the same readings - no ammonia, no nitrates, no nitrites, ph is SKY HIGH. KH is always very low, and the GH is usually like around 16. 

Now, for the fish. I have quite a few fish in there (5-6 tetras, 8? kohl loaches, several otocinclus, 2 CPD and lots of shrimp and snails), but for a while i had been wondering if some have been going missing (a few months ago I got 5 ottos to fill out my school since I only had two, and now I'm back to two again, I got some neon tetras around the same time a while ago, and i think i may be missing one, etc). The fish in question is a celestial pearl danio, who is now in a school of two. The other CPD is a big bully who i believe bullied the rest to death - either way, I haven't seen them for a while. 

I saw the victim CPD hanging out at the top of the tank very briefly tonight. He wasn't swimming right (he looked a bit top-heavy), and it looked like there was a large, pale looking patch on his back - almost a V-shape. I tried my best to catch him, or even get a better view or picture of him, but he escaped into the plants quickly, and my tank is very heavily planted. 

I'll be doing a water change and updating this post with water values tomorrow, but what do you guys think? Should I treat for columnaris? Or should I wait and see what happens?

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:04 PM, GinkoTracks said:

Now, for the fish. I have quite a few fish in there (5-6 tetras, 8? kohl loaches, several otocinclus, 2 CPD and lots of shrimp and snails), but for a while i had been wondering if some have been going missing (a few months ago I got 5 ottos to fill out my school since I only had two, and now I'm back to two again, I got some neon tetras around the same time a while ago, and i think i may be missing one, etc). The fish in question is a celestial pearl danio, who is now in a school of two. The other CPD is a big bully who i believe bullied the rest to death - either way, I haven't seen them for a while. 

What is the temp on this tank...?
 

 

What is your PH and other parameters?  For columnaris, photos really would help out.

On 2/26/2023 at 8:04 PM, GinkoTracks said:

I tried my best to catch him, or even get a better view or picture of him, but he escaped into the plants quickly, and my tank is very heavily planted. 

Try doing a video.  Feeding might get the fish out. 

[Colu]

A little more information would be helpful what are your water parameters can you post a picture of the sick fish any red patches or white lips on any of your fish @GinkoTracks

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I've dealt with columnaris. This is what it looked like on my black neons.

There are 2 threads I had going at different points in time, if you'd like to browse them.  Columnaris thread 1 😷  Columnaris Thread 2 🤒

Columnaris is called saddleback disease because the patch on the back is a common symptom.

I agree w/ @nabokovfan87 and @Colu : Please share pictures, temp, and tank parameters so we can confirm the illness before attempting any treatment.  If you suspect illness I would highly recommend moving that fish out to quarantine asap regardless of what illness, so that it doesn't spread.  Also at this time do not share equipment (nets, siphons, etc)  between the tanks, and wash your hands thoroughly after each tank. If it is columnaris, it can spread from tank to tank on equipment or hands.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[GinkoTracks]

On 2/26/2023 at 11:05 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

What is the temp on this tank...?
 

 

What is your PH and other parameters?  For columnaris, photos really would help out.

Try doing a video.  Feeding might get the fish out. 

 

On 2/27/2023 at 6:42 AM, Colu said:

A little more information would be helpful what are your water parameters can you post a picture of the sick fish any red patches or white lips on any of your fish @GinkoTracks

 

On 2/27/2023 at 11:18 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I've dealt with columnaris. This is what it looked like on my black neons.

There are 2 threads I had going at different points in time, if you'd like to browse them.  Columnaris thread 1 😷  Columnaris Thread 2 🤒

Columnaris is called saddleback disease because the patch on the back is a common symptom.

I agree w/ @nabokovfan87 and @Colu : Please share pictures, temp, and tank parameters so we can confirm the illness before attempting any treatment.  If you suspect illness I would highly recommend moving that fish out to quarantine asap regardless of what illness, so that it doesn't spread.  Also at this time do not share equipment (nets, siphons, etc)  between the tanks, and wash your hands thoroughly after each tank. If it is columnaris, it can spread from tank to tank on equipment or hands.

Hey there y’all, so sorry for the delayed response! This semester has really been kicking me in the butt, on top of me not feeling good myself lately 

I finally got the water change done this Thursday, so I’m very sorry for the delay.

I have attached some pictures of the fish in the tank, as well as the results of the water tests, which I will also type out for ease of reading 

ammonia: 0

nitrites: 0 

nitrates: 0-5

pH: 7.8? 

Kh: 3 

Gh: 10

 

I poked and prodded around the aquarium as much as I could, but unfortunately I just couldn’t seem to get that fish to come out.  It seems to have disappeared altogether.

 

which honestly seems to be something of a running trend in this tank. The fish that are swimming around seem fine, but the numbers slowly dwindle until there’s hardly anyone left. I wonder if, if it is columnaris or some other illness, the sick fish hide until they die, and shrimp eat the remains, making it seem like fish are just disappearing? 

 

Should I treat this tank for something, or wait until I can perhaps catch a picture of another ill fish? 

[Colu]

It difficult to diagnose what's going on off your pictures usually when you get odd deaths every now then the fish start to gradually die over a long period of time it's more likely to be a parasitic infection columnaris causes mass mortality in any were from 24hr to 7days depending on the strain and spreads more quickly at higher have you notice any rapid breathing listlessness hanging near the surface flashing spitting food out sunken belly @GinkoTracks

Edited March 5, 2023 by Colu
Stupid autocorrect

[GinkoTracks]

On 3/4/2023 at 5:46 PM, Colu said:

It difficult to diagnose what's going off your pictures usually when you get odd deaths every now then the fish start gradually death over a long period of time I more likely to be a parasitic infection columnaris causes mass mortality in any were from 24hr to 7days depending on the strain and spreads more quickly at higher have you notice any rapid breathing listlessness hanging near the surface flashing spitting food out sunken belly @GinkoTracks

Completely understandable! 
 

I feel that perhaps I saw that in the one fish I couldn’t find again, but otherwise no, I have not seen anything of the sort that I can remember

[Colu]

On 3/5/2023 at 12:10 AM, GinkoTracks said:

Completely understandable! 
 

I feel that perhaps I saw that in the one fish I couldn’t find again, but otherwise no, I have not seen anything of the sort that I can remember

What I would recommend doing is combined treatment as this has been going on for a long time I would treat with Expel p once a week for 4 weeks and do a course of maracyn2 in food feeding a small amount twice a day for 7 days that will cover bacterial and parasitic infection

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@Colu there are shrimp in there, is this treatment ok for the shrimps?

On 3/4/2023 at 5:57 PM, GinkoTracks said:

the sick fish hide until they die, and shrimp eat the remains

There is a kuhli loach too 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Colu]

On 3/5/2023 at 1:29 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@Colu there are shrimp in there, is this treatment ok for the shrimps?

There is a kuhli loach too 

Maracyn2 is shrimp safe