URGENT PLS HELP - Columnaris infection in my planted tank

[nimo]

Hi All,

My planted tank of 45 gallons is more than weeks old. I had introduced 7 rummynose tetra's a week back after a quarantine of 1 week.

Yesterday evening, I found 2 of them dead floating on the surface, the face eaten away for one and other no distinguisable mark on the body.

Out the of the remaining 5, 2 of them have white spots covered all over the body, fins, gills and faces.. These white spots looks like some kind of sedimentation..
My guess is a columnaris infection...

My NH3 is 0, however NO2 being slightly high.. I performed WC of 30% last night. The tank is heavily planted with no CO2, and lights of 1.75 Watts P/G , ON for 6 hours a day.

Apart from Rummy nose, I have Neons, Ramirezi, peacock rainbos and Corydoras who are doing fine..as of now no signs of these infections on them...

I am guessing, would loose 2 other rummynose soon....

Tank is running a Cannister filter with 1000L/H capacity... There were some rotten leaves noticed yesterday from couple of my Pigmy Amazons, which I removed..From the same plant, with the rotten leaves, the new leaves are also coming out.. Water is otherwise crystal clear...

1. Is this a columnaris infection?
2. What would be the treatment.. Do i need to remove all rummynoses now.. removing them is headache, as they are hiding within the plants, netting them out is difficult..
3. Can I add malachite green to my planted tank?
4. Can Neons and other get this infection too?

5. Is this because of NO2 spike or this is an infection?

Please help urgent...

Regards
Subhankar

 

[tedr108]

Are you sure this isn't simply ich? If you can slowly raise your water temp to 83°F, maybe 84° if necessary, I think it go away. New rummy nose have a strong tendency to get ich. I do not know the max temperature rating for your other fish, however. So, you would have to be careful there.

 

[nimo]

Thanks for the reply.. it gives a hope though...

The temperature in my tank is already 32 degrees celcius and with my limited knowledge I realize ich outbreak happens only with a sudden drop in temperature...

If its ich.. then can I add Methylene Blue??

 

[tedr108]

If your water is actually 32°C, your ich should be pretty much gone by now. Isn't that too hot for most fish? If there is another disease that looks similar to ich, I wouldn't know what it is. It is usually fairly quick to research and find treatments for diseases on the internet.

If it were me, I would sure be tempted to catch those rummies and put them in their own quarantine tank. You have a nice collection of fish, it would be a shame to bring harm to them.

 

[nimo]

Thanks to all the experts here.. Your diagnosis has been correct. It was indeed an Ich...
I carried out WC of 20% every day and put the ich medicine, 3 days gone by and the ich is completely gone... the rummy's are swimming fine and happy....
For the 2 which died earlier, it did not gave me an opportunity..

Thanks every one again.. things are back to normal in my tank...

 

[tkos]

Thanks to all the experts here.. Your diagnosis has been correct. It was indeed an Ich...
I carried out WC of 20% every day and put the ich medicine, 3 days gone by and the ich is completely gone... the rummy's are swimming fine and happy....
For the 2 which died earlier, it did not gave me an opportunity..

Thanks every one again.. things are back to normal in my tank...

Just so you know. The life cycle of ich is pretty well set. And a three day treatment will not get rid of it. A quick google search will find you lots of information on ich and its treatments. Ideally a tank should be treated for 1 week after the last sign of visible ich.

And temp swings do not cause ich. If ich is present in a tank, a source of stress could lead to a fish loosing the abiloty to fight it, but the temp swing will not make ich magically appear. Otherwise I would have an outbreak every time I did a water change.

 

[aquabillpers]

Just so you know. The life cycle of ich is pretty well set. And a three day treatment will not get rid of it. A quick google search will find you lots of information on ich and its treatments. Ideally a tank should be treated for 1 week after the last sign of visible ich.

And temp swings do not cause ich. If ich is present in a tank, a source of stress could lead to a fish loosing the abiloty to fight it, but the temp swing will not make ich magically appear. Otherwise I would have an outbreak every time I did a water change.

On the several occasions when I have encountered ich, raising the temperature to the upper 80's for several days has got rid of it with no side effects.

Pathogens are perpetually present in aquariums, always attacking and almost always being defeated. It is usually only when a fish has been weakened by something that the attack is successful.

Bill