cotton wool disease?

[altabc]

Hi all;

I suspect that we've got a cotton wool bacteria in one of our tanks. It is not wiping the population out like an "influenza", but seems to be picking the fish off one by one over the last few months.

The fish get an infection around the mouth. It looks kind of white. As the disease progresses it seems as if the mouth area itself becomes destroyed. The fish cannot close their mouths. The fins become ragged. Their colour fades. A Serpae that contracted this became very pale, and had an odd dark spot on it's side. We euthanized the poor little guy today.

If this is cotton wool disease, and it is loose in the tank, would it be possible to treat the entire tank?

There are only two green barbs and one serpae left. As they are schooling fish I'm sure they're lonesome but we do not want to introduce more fish 'til we get to the bottom of this.

Any ideas???

 

[ksane]

Look up columnaris ----> http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=columnaris&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
I think that's what you're referring to. One of the fish must've brought it with them if that's what it is. It doesn't just appear as a 'bacteria' in the tank. The only set of fish I ever dealt with it with all died.

 

[altabc]

Thank-you. I understand that the bacteria would have been introduced to the tank...but once it is there, I assume that it will continue to breed. I would like to eradicate it if I can. Thanks for the link. I'm going there right now.

 

[dundadundun]

there's good information in our disease section in the sticky lupin created. if i remember there's a link to an article by a debbi in there too. good information!

i had columnaris and that's how i know. it wasn't fun. i was able to cure it luckily enough.

the hard part is it often has a secondary infection of aeromonas (sp?) that comes with it. it is best to treat for both just in case. kanaplex or kanamycin is what i'd look for since it treats both and is said to not kill off your beneficial bacteria in your tank.

the other option is erythromycin and tetracyclin. if you go this route you have to keep an eye on the tank they're in. one of those two is not so friendly on your bacteria and that'll throw your parameters off in your tank. i don't remember which one it is though.

i could not find the kanaplex in time so had to do the cyclins. what i did was put the affected fish into a Q tank. i dosed and did water changes just about everyday giving them a break on dosing from time to time. clean water is very important so i did 2 to 3 50% water changes everyday. it worked well and both affected fish are currently back home and cozy. good aeration is important too and if you can afford to putting some media in there from your other tank should help to keep things in check with your parameters.

if you end up going with the cyclins don't freak out when the bubbles come and the water changes color. it's ugly and looks real nasty but it's normal. i scooped mine out everyday with a net.

also be sure that anything you use on them gets disinfected before it goes in any other tanks to keep from cross contaminating.

good luck.

EDIT: other people like other meds and swear by them but i chose the cyclins by api because the active ingredients were just tetracycline and erythromycin... nothing else. like i said it worked well... no complaints.

 

[jm1212]

erythromycin is safe to use in your tank. it will not harm the bacteria population.

 

[TechAquaria]

In my experience of fish keeping ...

Hi all;

I suspect that we've got a cotton wool bacteria in one of our tanks. It is not wiping the population out like an "influenza", but seems to be picking the fish off one by one over the last few months.

The fish get an infection around the mouth. It looks kind of white. As the disease progresses it seems as if the mouth area itself becomes destroyed. The fish cannot close their mouths. The fins become ragged. Their colour fades. A Serpae that contracted this became very pale, and had an odd dark spot on it's side. We euthanized the poor little guy today.

If this is cotton wool disease, and it is loose in the tank, would it be possible to treat the entire tank?

There are only two green barbs and one serpae left. As they are schooling fish I'm sure they're lonesome but we do not want to introduce more fish 'til we get to the bottom of this.

Any ideas???

Like the person who gave you the link, I suspect columnaris also. You need to either confirm this, or disprove it.

I have not had 100% cure rate, indeed, 50% seems about right. Long ago, it did not seem to be that effective a killer. I am guessing, that either very resistant/aggressive have now been introduced from a far away place on the globe, and/or though inadequate treatments, resistant strains have been "bred-up" through poor disease treatments.

I have access to unconventional meds (human meds, farm meds); I have found clindamycin to be most effective for columnaris, for myself.

I place the infected fish in a hospital tank, with the plants--if possible, and use 300mg per gallon--this is MANY TIMES the recommended dose. I then sterilize the whole tank, with a strong bleach solution, rinse it thoroughly, and air dry it.

I like to even like to boil the gravel, before reusing it (10 minutes or more.) This disease has become so diabolical and DEADLY, I go to EXTREME measures when dealing with it.

Regards,
TA

 

[TechAquaria]

In my previous post, I did not adequately cover everything. ANYTHING involved in, or is part of the infected tank, I either sterilize or throw away! This includes, air stones, tubing, filters, powerheads, nets, ornaments, plants, etc. Make sure nothing goes back into the tank before sterilization.

This may sound like I am paranoid. I AM. As you pointed out, it can pick off fish one at a time, virtually forever. You can feel the disease is gone, and have it show up later! And, I mean MUCH later, months.

If there ever was a disease which can "go dormant in a fishs' body" and/or cyst and go into a dormant/suspended state and out wait you, this disease is it!

The above is simply my observations after loosing far too many fish to this disease ...

Regards,
TA

 

[msjinkzd]

This is a link to one of my favorite threads on columnaris, it also has some great informative links within the post. Although its geared towards goldies and inverts, its completely applicable: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134928

 

[KarlTh]

It is an opportunistic organism which is pretty much always around. It's much worse at higher temperatures; keeping the temperature down will give you more time for the treatment to work.

 

[minka-1974]

I don't know if you can get hold of 'Interpet' products but their 'Anti fungus and finrot' treatment worked really well for me when one of my fish got cotton wool growth on its dorsal fin. Cleared up within 24hours.

Whether the disease is still lurking in the tank I obviously don't know but this stuff seemed to do the trick on getting the fish healthy again and I haven't seen any others showing signs of it.