Columnaris the Fish Killer! (My Fish are Dying! Part 2) - An Update
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- Columnaris. It's a deadly killer of fish. As you probably know, I've been in a battle with what has turned out to be columnaris and it has killed off a large number of my fish. Here's a partial list of the casualties:
Nimbochromis Linni
Lemon Jake
Otter Point
OB "The Old Man"
Dimidiochromis strigatus
VC-10 (2)
Dolphins (3)
Malawi Gar
Eureka Red
Tangerine Tiger
Red Empress (2)
...and several more
Here's an update and some comments on what this horrific experience has taught me.
Thank you for tuning in.
Your support is felt and appreciated.
Whenever there is a high stocking density of fish columnaris is a risk, even with good water quality. Some of the best salmon rivers in England still have outbreaks and it wipes out loads of salmon when water levels drop, temperature increases and dissolved oxygen reduces - add to those conditions lots of large fish in close proximity and you have a recipe for death.
Scale that down to an aquarium and it can be total wipe out, even with really good filtration it can hit hard.
Hello Pondguru, What you are saying makes total sense. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, it is always appreciated.
Sorry to bother you how do treat columnaris in UK tropical tank if you even see this comment I know your very bizzy aslo I'll buying more biohome off your eBay account I bought quite bit from you hope you can help me
By the way..sorry for the loss of your fish..aquatic family... Thankyou Very Much for sharing and taking the time to help the rest of us that needed your knowledge and experience to overcome our simular situations.
That was my intention. Maybe someone can catch this earlier then I did and by having the right med's on hand get a better outcome.
Just found your channel last week... love it, commented on one or two videos, then I was watching a few more and saw these. I am so sorry this happened to you!!
🍃🌹🍃
Pleased you did a follow up on your Part 1. It really helped to see some meds you found successful. You might want to mention the expiration date on the meds. I have kept some and found they were ineffective when I went to use them. I assume being expired had something to do with it. Not all the new fish died? Is that right? Were they from different tanks in the store? Have you checked back with the store to see if they had casualties as well?You are definitely one of my favorite u tube fish keepers to follow. It is your personality that shines through!
Really sorry to to see what your going through Ben ..... it really is a horrible thing to deal with .... dealt with a similar issue few months ago learned a lot from it lost a lot of very good fish an expensive lesson for sure .... glad you took the time to educate people and make this video on the benefits of being prepared and having products on hand for this type of emergency
It's a redness spot around their body, tail, and belly, within a night, I loss three of them, these rare and expensive pleco. Last year I even loss 7 of the l134 leopard frogs breeding group that has the same illness disease which I do not known. Pleco is one of my passion, but I can't keep them. I'm glad that you saved all your beautiful fishes. Thank you Ben.
Hi Ben, I'm so sorry! Just watching is sad. I am very glad to see the fish are healing. I'm also glad you shared this with us, because this is a disease I know little about. I am going to look up after work tonight and read more about it. Heartbreaking. Thanks for these informative videos.
My heart goes out to you! It's the worst thing ever when you start losing your fish! But it's even worse when you can't determine the issue or the correct medicine needed. Pet stores try to give you a treat all medication... Researching the issue on the internet is as difficult, and misleading as when you are trying to self-diagnose a medical issue. I have a 110 with African Cichlids, a 90 with my cichlid parrots, and a 40 with a mating pair of platinum South American Cichlids which I believe are derived from Convicts... I add 1 tsp of Epsom salt per 5 gallons of water. I replace the salt after every water change. And if I see any stressed or tattered fins, or small ulcers (usually they are white but not fuzzy) I will increase the Epsom salt. Ulcers will disappear, and fins seem to heal quickly. I've concluded that the Epsom Salt works as a great preventative measure and treatment FYI... Years ago a friendly pet store suggested doing so and to avoid "Aquarium Salt". I've used the Epsom Salt ever since. Not sure if the salt would have helped this predicament, but wanted to share the info. (Please note that not all fish species may be able to handle the salt.)
Thanks for posting on what must be a sensitive subject for you right now. Some great advice that I will use in the near future and this post may save some of my fish in the future. Sorry Ben, hope the rest pull through.
I just started tuning in I have no idea what this disease is!
. Maybe a recap for some last video. By the I'm really sorry about your"lost" fish. It is sad when you put your heart into something like that.
Thanks Ben for the update. Things are looking better.
Hope all works out from here on in. Keep spreading the love.
Sorry for your loss Ben , but thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us
Im so sorry u lost so many of those beautiful fish. That just sucks , so badly. That crap really does kill the masses. I am pleased that u have been able to save the ones u did.
It was no fun. Really taught me the importance of putting new fish in quarantine for at least a month!
Hi Ben, if I could give this video a thousand thumbs up, I would! You Sir, are an inspiration! You nearly had me in tears with your candor and resilience. Some fishkeepers never own a single mistake they make. They just bitch and moan (and cry) and blame everything on somebody or something else. Pisses me right off.
I for one have learned a great deal from your horrible experience. I am the queen of rescuing fish that look like they need a little help.I've been lucky up to now and haven't had any terrible repercussions from it. However I'm taking your advice and I won't ever do it again. Also I'm also going to extend my quarantine times. Thank you so much and I wish you all the luck in the world with your remaining fish. You've worked so hard and deserve it.
Ben if you're relying solely on your water change hose/system to gravel vac your tanks ill tell you from my experience that these do not have enough suction to pick up all the detritus underneath the gravel. I found that if I use my regular gravel vac with a 5 gallon bucket and stick my aqueon vac in the bucket to transfer water out of the bucket while my gravel vac is going into it gives me substantially more suction and time to gravel vac before that bucket fills up, when it does I simple wait for my water change system to take more water out of the bucket then go back to vacuuming. Im not saying your tanks are dirty, they look great. For whats its worth...happy fish keeping.
Not sure what I have but did a water cycle and vacuumed gravel. Bought a round of meds at local walmart while I wait for online meds to arrive. Had to quaratine the one fish, other fish seem fine for now. I bought some guppys and one became sick. It has a white spot with a open sore. The meds and salt I added seemed to help it. I made a lot of mistakes with this tank set up. But videos like this is really helping.
We get forced to learn in this hobby, or we give up. I'm glad you found the video helpful.
Hi thank you for an update hope your ok and your fish are recovering. Was wondering does this disease only affect cichlids or can it affect other tropical species?
Hey Ben, just thought I would update you with my "experiments". I tore the 20 gallon tank down and tried to sell it but nobody wanted to pay what I was asking so I decided to use it as a quarantine tank and then I also have a 10 gallon for a sick tank. I kept the gravel and ceramics "wet" per everything I read and then put it back in the 20 gallon tank and restarted it. I bought 10 baby platys and put them in. The next day 2 dead fish and I started to worry next day 2 more dead fish and they looked like one still living had the white sore looking area on their bodies. Darn if it wasn't columnaris again. So obviously it still lives in substrate without a host. I treated with Polyguard and didn't lose any more fish.... including the one that had the sore. I had used some of the "infected" gravel in 10 gallon tank too so i put H2O2 in it to disinfect 8 days ago. 20 gallon tank is so milky white that I can't see the fish. So I moved them to 10 gallon tank after 8 days of treatment. Hopefully, the H2O2 has cleared the columnaris from the 10 gallon tank and none will get sick again. Thought you might find this information helpful. No one seems to have any ideas on how to disinfect a tank. Seachem said their products only treat the fish not the environment. But, obviously the bacteria lives in substrate without a host. So, columnaris is under control in 20 gallon tank and we will see if the H2O2 worked in the 10 gallon tank. Maybe Seachem says that to not guarantee environment but, I believe it killed off columnaris in the gravel too.
That is a difficult disease to get rid of. You’ll beat it eventually!
really sorry Ben, hope all your survivors pull through
Thanks for helping me stay positive in this difficult time.
You're welcome Dana.
Sucks man. As hard as is it thru good and bad you teach me a lot. Hope the good times come back soon. Sorry to hear about all the fish in quarantine. At that moment I wished you were my neighbor so I could bring you over some good beer.
Great video Ben. My three l333 pleco died a couple days ago. I felt so bad, couldn't save them.
Sorry to hear that. Any idea what killed them?
Really sorry for your loss. I can imagine how devastating it is. Just wondering, you mentioned the tank that is treated with Prime was not impacted. Do you think this could be more than just a coincidence?
Hello. I'm thinking of contacting Seachem and getting their take on it. It is the only difference. Fish from the infected batch were distributed to all three tanks and the one I use Prime was not impacted one single bit.
Man Ben, this is terrible. I am glad that it looks to be in the mend.
Hey Ben, I’m so very sorry this has happened to you. It’s a vicious disease that I have seen wipe out an entire tank. Thankfully you have a few survivors. I am assuming that you used Maracyn 2? If not, what did you use to turn things around?
Sorry again for the losses and thanks for sharing. So you and Paul and others have finally convinced me to have a quarantine tank. It’s up and ready. So when I get new fish they go in. I observe obviously, and what else? I have some api general cure, do i dose that or wait for signs of sickness? Am open for suggestions and thanks!
Ben, I love your videos but what medicine did you finally settle on? You said the brand but not the medicine. What’s is the Mericyn?
go here: www.amazon.com/Fritz-Aquatics-Mardel-Maracyn-Treats/dp/B00OTH6EFA
Hi Ben, not sure if a video this old will trigger but wanted to thank you for sharing this. I knew something worse was going on than the local aquarium stores were telling me. I had a tank full of Glofish Tetras lost 10 of them while out to dinner for my birthday. Came home to carnage. I was still within the week guarantee policy so Petsupermarket did refund some of them. Over the next 2 months I tried the same 2 medications recommended to me that you had and I lost the rest of the tank. So sad. Should I treat the tank with antibiotics now that I know what it was and then recycle the tank? I'm not sure if the bacteria can live without a host. Thanks again!
Sorry you had to go through that. Meds infused in the food along with a strong antibiotic like Fritz Maracyn Plus stopped it in my tank (after I lost half my sock).
@@BenOchart Thanks Ben, also, should I disinfect the aquarium now that it is empty with H202 or Bleach?
So sorry for you and your fish , ive had this horrible disease and almost wiped out my americans , thank you for sharing ,
Did this tank have a sump? The speed with which the disease spread would suggest that your existing fish might have been experiencing occasional ammonia burn and stress from the high and growing bioload on your system.
Fantastic video on columnaris and the battle, and not least howto handle the aftermath with bacteria, carbon and all. Will have to go through it and it helps tremendously. Columnaris is evil, hard to get rid of and have many faces :-( Sorry you have to deal with it hard way. I lost my 2 favvo fish to it (among other fish) and this time the 3rd favvo is battling it. So tired of this crap. Best of luck to you!
Thank you for watching. You're right, it's a nasty disease. Good luck beating it. It's not easy but it can be done.
@Ben Ochart , Just saw these two videos on the Columnaris. Thanks for your thorough coverage of this outbreak. When using Stability how much did you need to put in the tank(s) to bring them back? Thanks
Sorry to hear mate. Hope all is well for the future to come
Ben I’m battling with Columnaris at the moment (loss one brave strawberry peacock). Do you know if you can use focus with Furan-2 or with kanaplex ? What was your regimen like ? Did you alternated between the two meds ? Any info would be greatly appreciated since I’m racing against time
Sorry and hate to hear this Sergio. I used a very strong antibiotic from Fritz and after treating for a week I also purchased some "gram negative" antibiotic fish food that I believe also helped. I would suggest calling the company, like Seachem and ask them about combining the meds. Something they can work together but other times they counter-act or harm the fish. Be sure all carbon and other chimical filtration is removed prior to treatment (like purigen or chemipure). Watch the follow-up videos to this one for more details and good luck. Columnaris is nasty.
Sorry your going through this Ben, Keep up the fight. Hope all goes well.
I feel for you Ben. Im glad to see you may have gotten things slowed down and to see the Tetrastigma.
Nice to hear that you were able to find out the actual cause,not easy. But you seemed to get your fish to
Looking healthy
My goldfish died two days they had red belly fin rot covered white I think fungus treatment failed I'm sad terrible disease
holy damn... great video and a learning lesson to always keep medicines for emergency situations like this. I lost over 500 betta fry from 1 to 2 inches to this freaking disease. It's coming out of nowhere and within 2 days, it wiped out all of my betta fries....
Hello...great video as always... would you tell me the exact meds that you got and where you got it from... I'm having a problem with my Oscars that I desperately want to get solved.
Sorry to hear that Stacey. I used Mardel Maracyn Plus by Fritz Aquatics. You can get it on eBay and at local fish stores. But we have to be sure that what your dealing with is a bacteria infection. Describe it or come to the FB group page, Ben O'Cichlid, and post some pictures. You'll get a lot of help there.
We lost most of our fish to this stupid Columnaris disease. We are slowly looking okay, but I’m afraid to even say that. I hate this disease. I hate that I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. I thought it was a fungus but it kept killing our babies. Thank you so much for sharing this, I am forever grateful to see fish that are obviously loved and taken great care of, and STILL got it, like our babies. I dk where it came from. Your video is giving me hope. Thank you so much ❤️
Hows your tank now ?
Same
It's sad part of hobby. But I'm glad fish are coming back. Hopefully sand diver and rest of the fish will get better in no time .was waiting for this update .
First and foremost Ben sorry about your misfortune. I too had a similar situation not as severe as yours but I did lose several fish. I could not for the life of me pinpoint the culprit of the disease and how it got into my tank. At the time I only had two tanks one 40 gallon which is my quarantine tank and a 220 which is my show tank. I will quarantine all the new fish for 2 weeks before I place it in my tank. Here's where it got strange for me I'd haven't purchased any fish for three maybe four months. Then one fish had tail rot then 2 then 3 and it just went on from there. My maintenance remain the same throughout the whole ordeal water changes 40% every week. Two Fluval fx5 filters which I clean 1 every month with biohome media and seachem Matrix media. Along with Prime and API aquarium salt doing every water change. After I lost half my stock of fish I finally turned the corner once I started medicating with Metroplex also by seachem. The melafix or the pimafix didn't work for me either. At the seeing your videos I realize that your symptoms was very similar to mine. After being in this hobby for 20 years this disease almost made me quit the hobby all together. So I do know how you felt because the disease felt like it was never ending. Once I saw signs that my fish was sick it was already too late. I know it's very difficult for you to share this with everybody but it is much appreciated. Knowledge is power
I hope things keep vetting better👍 what part of California do you stay at?
What caused it sr!???? New fish additions???
What does columnaris start out looking like?
Dang that sucks looks like horrible disease. Glad it's getting better. Thanks for sharing
Wow! Sorry to hear that your fish are going through this.
Glad to hear that some of the fishes are doing well.
thank you for sharing... important subject! 👍☑
I'm still trying to figure out WTH happened in my tank. 36 hours ago was my first sign something was wrong & in 24 hours I've lost half of my population in that tank. I'm just sick over it. I'm about to leave for my local fish store to buy more meds. I'm going to treat all of my tanks. I have only 1 fish that looked "damaged" & the rest looked pristine. I looked closely at the bodies I took out & there is just nothing. The only one that looks rough is still fighting it out. This was my mbuna grow-out tank. The tank never got weird, so there was no warning until I noticed they looked scared/stressed - not their active little selves.
I have to pull it together for a family thing. My mood is dark right now. I'm going to keep watching videos trying to make sense of it.
I'd hit it with something like API General Cure. Hard to tell what it might be. If there was a recent water change you might be seeing a reaction to ammonia. Without seeing, it's hard to guess. Hang in there. It will pass.
@@BenOchartThank you. I actually used exactly that and Erythromycin and Ich-X. Not leaving anything to chance. I just wish I had done it sooner. Most of the remaining are showing some rebound since I put the Erythromycin & Ich-x in. They actually showed interest for food. Their water perimeters were/are great. No ammonia, no nitrites & under 20 on the nitrates. I even pulled out my mega test stripes that checks everything else & still nothing. It is so frustrating not knowing.
I just bought some Matrix Carbon after watching your video. I'm going home to treat my big tank as a preventative and intend to use the carbon afterward. That tank has an HOB and canister - I'm thinking about turning off the canister but my concern is if this is some bacteria or something I'd hate for it to hide in there... if that is even possible. Again, so frustrating. Thank you for the encouragement. Have a great day.
Thanks for advice, dealing with my 2nd round of diseases, using mardel clout to get rid of the fish illness. Hopefully it works out well
mike smaili Did you figure out how it got started? That’s important because if not it can just start all over again. It can be very frustrating (and expensive).
Yes it was a number of things that contributed to the sicknesses. Feeding northfin and using clout to clear it of my 120
No fun dealing with parasites bacterial infection fungus and the like. Glad to see that your beating this dispite the losses .
Keep up the difficult task as it is working. Good luck.
Sorry for your loss
Ugh 😑 ben that sucks but thank you for sharing your experience good learning experience for everyone keep your head up
It can happen to anybody and the introduced fish may look perfectly healthy. It's heart breaking. Gonna miss that OB, tho! He was sure pretty. :(
My fish have culmneris rn , have lost about 8 and my smaller black moor goldfish seems like the next to go , it’s so sad my 2 black moor were the first fish In this tank😢
This is currently happening to me right now- lost alot of fish very fast! came across this video in the research of what was going on in my tank
Also= I dont have the medication on hand and I just found out you cant get the meds in Canada unless you go to a fish vet. Weird as they really dont exist
So sorry for your losses Ben
Hi ben I use a 36 watt UV light on my 300 gallon I thing that helps with parasites sorry for or loss
This and mycobacterium are the two worst things that can hit our fish, so sorry u have had to go through this...hang in there!
Great info on this video. It will go in my like video's
Sorry for your loss,,
Hopefully the fish have turned the corner, what a horrible situation to be in.
I had the same experience with the 2 herbal remedies you used. When you start medicating with these "natural cures" the couple days you lose before you realize they are not working makes the difference between a minor and major outbreak and losses. Remember the key thing with fish diseases is prevention, the top two culprits are new fish and ammonia spikes (inadequate filtration). You were lucky that you ID's the disease early, the majority of fish diseases are harder to diagnose and it's easier to pick the wrong meds. Good luck, stay inspired knowing your knowledge, new practices will one day "bullet proof" your fish keeping (or close to it) .
LOL
So sorry Ben.... total buzzkill!
This really looks like a redox issue considering that AC''s need high amounts of positive calcium and magnesium ions, a GH test cannot tell you the amount of positive ions are present in the water column,only the ppm of minerals. Osmotic stress causes columnaris are you aware of that? You see Ben we are somewhat forced to over stock our AC tanks and because of that these cations(+ions) get depleted quickly no matter what the pH,kh and gh tests say. How I mitigate this is by adding fresh ions by using seachem replenish in a drip arrangement and wondershells. Just because the substrate is high in minerals doesn't mean they are releasing positive mineral ions,don't be fulled into consensus groupthink that using substrates that contain high amounts of Ca/Ma are going to forever recharge these ions. Treat your tank like an open system as much as you can by replenishing these important elements on a continuing basis. Hit me up if you have more questions,I offered to help in another video but maybe you were suspect of my intentions which is perfectly understandable these days. Hang in there Ben, I've been right where your at now and once I finally got off my butt and talked to the pros in this hobby my problems kept going on. Redox is an issue that does not get the attention it deserves and I find that disturbing because I just don't have all these problems that so many fish freaks have and it's so simple to fix. Having thick liquid rock type water is not going be enough, even with water changes!!
Sorry for lost
Fighting this one right noe ben. Wish me luck
Sorry to hear Ryan. This is what stopped it in my tanks: fritzaquatics.com/product/maracyn-plus/