My Fish has Columnaris! Help!
http://network.bestfriends.org/grou...06/23/preventing-and-treating-columnaris.aspx
Below is my own personal treatment protocol, with which I have had immense sucess. It is based on suggestions from several reputable websites, as well as my own experience and knowledge. I can not guarentee that it will cure your fish, but it may give him or her a fighting chance!
* A 100% water change should initiate all treatment. I typically use a seperate hospital tank to treat in so that the origional tank can be sterilized to reduce the chance of future outbreaks, and so that the fish can be transferred to a new, medicated environment as quickly as possible.
* The hospital tank should be heated to approx. 74 degrees. 76 and above is the ideal breeding temperature for columnaris. Though there is some dispute over lowering the temperature, my experience has been that 72 is too low for the medication to work rapidly, 76+ causes the disease to breed more rapidly than the anti-biotic can kill, and 74 is "just right." Remember to keep this temperature stable!
* The hospital tank should also carry the maximum medicinal dose of aquarium salt - NOT table salt. The iodine can be deadly! The dose I use, as suggested on the box, is one heaping tablespoon per 5 gallons.
* You MUST provide aeration during treatment. Simply must. Columnaris hates cool water, salt, and oxygen; if you do not assault it with these three things, your anti-biotics are a giant waste of money, especially since anti-biotics often leech oxygen from the water.
* Maracyn is the most useful anti-biotic I have encountered for Columnaris. It is readily available at almost any fish store, can be easily divided into treatments for tanks ranging from 2.5 to 10 gallons, and seems fairly gentle on the fish's system. You should start treatment with Maracyn immediately.
* If possible, feed an anti-bacterial food, as columnaris typically causes both internal and external damage. Feeding Jungle Anti-Bacteria or GelTek Ampicillin greatly improves the chances of survival. If that fails, however, I suggest a very high quality pellet paired with plenty of live or frozen foods for maximum nutrition during treatment.
*Finally, be religious with treatment and water changes. Pristine water, continued anti-biotics, loyal feeding, and a low-stress environment are all absolutely vital to columnaris treatment.