I'm so sorry for your loss. I wouldn't do a saltwater dip. I'd continue with pristine water and the antibiotics.
It was the guy with the severe damage to his tail fin, right? He really was terribly sick so the odds were against him. He looked like the description of columnaris in the worst case appearance as described in an article from the "Flippers 'N' Fins Emergency Room on the web.
Flexibacter is the bacteria that causes columnaris.
Here's an excerpt: "The signs of Flexibacter infection run the gamut from fuzzy lesions of the mouth (“Mouth Fungus”) to septicemia (infection in the bloodstream) to white fuzzy patches scattered over the body, sometimes so severe as to cause the skin to look as if it is shedding or peeling, with the fins disintegrating." Quoted from Dr. Barb, on th Flippers 'N' Fins website.
This came from her article "The Dreaded Flexibacter".
Tell me, WW, do any other fish in the main tank show any signs at all? Describe anything unusual or different, please.
What's the temperature like? Keep it low; bacteria love warmth. Don't do a salt dip; it's not very effective against these bacteria and stresses the fish.
But, I have a to pull the other three Congo Tetra's, 1 of 2 angel Fish, 2 dwarf Neon Rainbow fish, and both of my Upside Down Asian Catfish. All of them seem to be stable. No significant signs of any one getting better but at the same time definitely not getting worse. Ever since I pulled them out the others in the main tank have shown no signs of infection. Also, most of the fish I pulled had VERY minor signs of any illness. I just pulled them out and started treating them to be safe.
....oh yeah, I lost one of my discus fish. ( He/she was in one of my QT tanks and some how the lid came off and it jumped out. We didn't find it fast enough. ...my boyfriend even tried to give it "tube to mouth", as I like to call it, and it seemed to be working for a little while but he/she didn't make it. ...and the tube to mouth was actually kinda funny. I will post some pictures of it. It was a very thoughtful of him. He knew I loved my discus, even if he thought it was ugly. ....I thought it was cute!
Other than that, everybody is stable and hopefully will start showing signs of improvement soon. They are all active and act normal.
Thank you everyone for your help. If it wasn't for your help I probably would have lost most of my fish in that tank.
