Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

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pinaki_pal
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Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

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Columnaris Attack…
23rd Feb 2014 : Added 45 more cardinals to my 4 feeter low tech planted tank which I have set up specially to keep a school of Cardinals. Total cardinals count reached to 72.I cycled this tank for 2 months and for last 3 weeks have been keeping 50 pieces of Danionella priapus. Tank descriptions are as follows
Tank size = 4' X 1.8' X 1.8'
Filtration = 2.5' X 2.5 X 1.5 Sump
Decoration = Bog wood
Flora = As of now thought of adding Crypts and Anubias and S.Sabulata
CO2 = No
Substrate = Sand + Sand Gravel + Laterite
Fertilization = K2SO4 & KNO3 dosing along with micro

24th Feb 2014 : Took pic of tank..No sign of any stress among fishes. They are roaming around and accepting food happily.

25th Feb 2014 : In the morning saw 5 Cardinals stuck at outflow pipe of sump. All dead and became pale. Thought fishes were trapped in overflow during night and were unable to recover due to strong current.
Same day my friend Saumya told me he has outbreak of Columnaris in his tank and he’s treating his fishes with some medicine. I felt worried as we both purchased fishes from same source.
26th Feb 2014 : More dead fishes . Consulted Saumya and concluded that my fishes are affected by columnaris as well.

Symptoms of Columnaris in Cardinals : It’s v tough to conclude that your fishes are infected by columnaris . It’s my friend Saumya who figured it out. I am not an expert , hence I might not be able to tell you the exact symptoms. But, I’ll document my observations which I think in terms will help you understand the symptoms.
Symptom 1 : In a school of healthy cardinals u’ll find few fishes have become pale. U’ll also notice their gills are visible & displaying blood red color. Those few fishes will be roaming near surface and their movement will be a bit odd .Their gill movement will be frequent and they will surface for air quite often. The group will accept food and will not show any sign of stress. This behavior will make you think ur fishes are fine till u find dead fishes.

Symptom 2 : Fins will become torn / ragged and white spots will be visible over body. Now in my case I didn’t notice ragged fin but definitely the fish will become pale and white spots will be there.

Columnaris symptoms which u normally find in net will not be visible in Tetras or u might not able to notice them properly due to their small size. U might be thinking the fishes are dying due to stress or other reasons.

27th Feb 2014 : I confirmed that my fishes are suffering from Columnaris .But, didn’t get a chance to start treatment. I had a reception to attend .Being a family person priority of fish treatment was overruled by the importance of attendance in reception. Lost more fishes .

28th Feb 2014 : Took half day off from office , returned home and started treatment .
PFA an useful link and a well documented article on Columnaris which I referred other than my friend’s suggestions.
http://www.myaquariumclub.com/columnari ... -1689.html
I am not repeating the facts mentioned in the article. But, I must say you should at least once go through it. It’s well informed , well documented and most outstandingly it’s written based on hands on experience.
As per my friend’s suggestion and above mentioned link PFB the treatment methodologies I choose.
Tetracyclines minocycline: (Hostacycline 500) : I charged 3 capsules (1500 mg) in the main tank. I should have separated the fishes and treat them separately. But, these bacteria can live upto 3 months without host. So, I had to treat the whole tank. So, thought of not to separate the fishes. But, again I still feel treating the fishes separately is a better option as u can monitor them properly. Columnaris bacteria are known to build resistance against Tetracyclines minocycline . Hence it’s best to treat infected fishes with Kanamycin . But, I decided to go with tetracyclines minocycline first and keep Kanamycin as my back up. In case I fail to treat them then I’ll be using Kanamycin.
I broke the capsule & poured the medicine in a cup of water. I mixed the medicine well and poured it in main tank. Strong water flow carried it all over the tank. Provided extra aeration . Within 1 minuite I noticed lots of yellow colored foam accumulating in the first compartment of sump . Tank water became yellow. Initially fishes will not like it and will be in shock. They will be running here and there. But, afterwards they’ll acclimatize. I decided to go for 80% water change in next day.

1st March 2014 : Completed 75 % water change and in the evening again charged 3 capsules (1500 mg). I’ll be changing water once again on next day. It’s v imp to continue the treatment for some time as this notorious bacteria are known to build resistance against antibiotic. Hence I’ll be continuing the same procedure at least thrice to ensure total cure.


2nd March 2014 : Water change & charged 3 capsules for the last time......From 28th Feb to till date no casualties (touch wood )......
Tomorrow will be doing a large water change .....lets c....


9th March 2014 : Till today no casualty (touch wood) ....Hence i can declare my attempt as SUCCESS......but due to antibiotic all my beneficial bacteria are dead hence i am doing frequent water change to keep NH3, NO2 parameter low in tank................

I must admit, most of the fishes i lost is due to my negligence .I could have started treating them sooner.


CONCLUSION :

1. Columnaris in small fishes like Cardinals r very hard to detect. In most of the cases u might not find torn fins. Hence always look for below furnished symptoms.

a) Fishes r roaming near surface and then dying due to suffocation .

b) Fishes r becoming pale, close inspection might reveal torn fins.

2. Even in case of minimum fish death u have to treat the whole lot along with the whole tank as this bact is contagious can live for months without host.

3. I treated the whole tank with Tetracyclines (Hostacycline 500) : Near about 22 mg per gallon.

4. During treatment high aeration is MUST....lots of foam will be accumulated in surface which one needs to remove manually.

5. I treated my lot continuously three days. Charged (Hostacycline 500) at night , provided high aeration and in the morning 70-80 % water change. I did same three
times. I'll suggest to continue this treatment as long as u find ur fishes r doing fine and no casualty .
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SCORPIO
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Re: Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

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Nice explanation.
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Re: Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

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this will be very helpful.... nice write up
Finally i am Broke but Happy :D
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Re: Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

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Nice explanation. This will be good reference for future.
One of the method to counter these type of disease is by using a good UV filter.
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Re: Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

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I have a question for you....you have a tank which is 4 feet long and 1.8 feet across and you have 72 cardinals (or had them had some point) and 50 of the Priapus ? Thats 122 fish in a 300 ltrs tank.

If this is correct, then the root of the problem is not the disease but why the disease has struck in the first place.

In my experience, ANY South American species which belongs to large flowing water bodies requires careful stocking. Over stocking will lead to immediate disease and death till the population stabilises. If you read some articles on the internet, experienced aquarists NEVER recommend medication. They always suggest tackling the root of the problem, which is always,one of these :

- A tank which is not cycled properly
- A tank with adverse water parameters to the stock kept in it
- Poor filteration
- Over stocking
- Disease at source
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Re: Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

Unread post by Romi »

sushant wrote:Nice explanation. This will be good reference for future.
One of the method to counter these type of disease is by using a good UV filter.
A UV filter will kill everything that passes thru it, including the bacteria that balance the aquarium, cycle the filter and are in the water. In a small tank, this can lead to ammonia spikes just like in new tanks. When the tank is huge , like a Koi tank or pond, it can work but not here.
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Re: Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

Unread post by swapanbaruah »

nice explanation boss,helps us lot.
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Re: Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

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Romi wrote:
sushant wrote:Nice explanation. This will be good reference for future.
One of the method to counter these type of disease is by using a good UV filter.
A UV filter will kill everything that passes thru it, including the bacteria that balance the aquarium, cycle the filter and are in the water. In a small tank, this can lead to ammonia spikes just like in new tanks. When the tank is huge , like a Koi tank or pond, it can work but not here.
the population of beneficial bacteria in tank water is very low and they are generally found attached, as such the chances of them getting destroyed by UV and disturbing the equilibrium of tank is negligible.
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Re: Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

Unread post by pinaki_pal »

apuda2010 wrote:I have a question for you....you have a tank which is 4 feet long and 1.8 feet across and you have 72 cardinals (or had them had some point) and 50 of the Priapus ? Thats 122 fish in a 300 ltrs tank.

If this is correct, then the root of the problem is not the disease but why the disease has struck in the first place.

In my experience, ANY South American species which belongs to large flowing water bodies requires careful stocking. Over stocking will lead to immediate disease and death till the population stabilises. If you read some articles on the internet, experienced aquarists NEVER recommend medication. They always suggest tackling the root of the problem, which is always,one of these :

- A tank which is not cycled properly
- A tank with adverse water parameters to the stock kept in it
- Poor filteration
- Over stocking
- Disease at source
Well just to answer ur queries...... this tank had been cycled for 2 n half months or more than that .... i test water [parameter on regular basis n even with that amount of fishes NO3 level was too low ...even sometime i had to dose NO3 .... NH3 & NO2 was "0" ....now the size of Priapus is 1/2 inch with a negligible bio load....... i took all precaution before introducing my stock............. So,


- A tank which is not cycled properly ----- Negative
- A tank with adverse water parameters to the stock kept in it ---- Negative
- Poor filteration ----- NEGATIVE
- Over stocking ------ Absolutely NEGATIVE
- Disease at source ------ POSITIVE (Me and my friends both have purchased from same source and both have faced the same problem...he kept 27 Cardinals in 4' which was cycled for 2 months .....yet he has lost half of his fishes....... )

"----If you read some articles on the internet, experienced aquarists NEVER recommend medication-----" Absolutely ,, it was my last resource as my fishes were dying ,,,, The root of the problem was IMPULSE buy........Cardinal which is normally sold at 65 per piece is being sold at 35 and we took the bait.......rather than inspecting more why fishes r sold at such low rate we brought the whole lot...........
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Re: Columnaris Attack… in Cardinal Tetra

Unread post by Abhishek »

Lovely documentation and care for your fishes Pinaki dada :D
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