tank breakdown - disinfect plants too?

angyles

angyles

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Nov 4, 2002
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So after months of battling columnaris, I broke down my tnak this weekend. Euthanized 13 fish total (RIP - thank god for clove oil) and have bleached everything. Right now everyone is living in a giant rubbermaid bin...gotta get it put back together ASAP, just as soon as the substrate is bleach-free. so question about the plants. PRetty much all of my stem plants are dead at this point from the meds/AS, but there are some left, as well as my huge swords. Do I need to disinfect these somehow? I've read that Potassium Permangranite is a good thing to use on them, but it sounds like it just kills snails and algae. Is it possible for them to carry the ilness back into my tank? Should I jsut run them under clean water or what? I would like to get things re-aquascaped tonight if possible but I'm concerned about the plants.
 
I don't know the answer but if I went through all that I would do a bleach dip on everything going back into the tank including the plants.
 
I have been struggling for a long time. I want to do this right. IF it comes back, I'm afraid I'll take the whole thing down for a few years cause I'm exhasted!! I think I'll toss the stem plants, bleach the swords cause they're the biggest, healthiest swords I've ever seen. They're roots go on forever, so I think they'll handle it. My concern is the marino balls that I just got. God I don't wanna kill those :-( Yet they're also like little sponges so if anything holds onto the bacteria, they would be it.
 
So last night, I toseed everything except the swords and the marino balls. I put them all in a bleach bath, thuroughly bleached the marino balls especially. I did come home to one of my khulis dead ;-( This is very stressfull on the fish. The tank is coming back together though, and it's going to be better than ever. As of last night, it's filled with water and running a filter with like half a bottle of prime in there to make SURE I nuetralize any remaining bleach. I'm going to do another masive water change tonight, and hopefully get the fish back in before bed. I am going to use seachem Stability so hopefully there wll be no cycling problems. I know it's more ideal to cycle without the fish, but I think in this case it's more important to get them put back.
 
I know this is a plant specific question, but I wonder why you are having such a difficult time with combatting this disease, especially for so long.

PP is supposed to kill also bacteria, which is what columnaris is. You could also use Marcyn 2 to combat the gram negative disease. Are you familiar with the unfavorable conditions that columnaris dislikes?

There's also a more natural way of disinfecting your plants, without the need for chemicals. If you understand the life-cycle of the bacteria, you can combat it simply by starving them. You can wash your plants thoroughly and then plant them. Have lots of circulating water, and low temps. Increase air and start cycling the tank with ammonia. By the time you're done cycling, the bacteria would have all starved to death, and you can add fish again.

I hope this helps, just PM if you have any questions.
 
At this point, I have done a TON of research on columnaris. I have started a number of threads chronicling my drama and at this point, I'm done. I've dropped my temp, gone through MANY rounds of MANY medications, done daily water changes, aquarium salt, increased water movement, the works. When you consider it lived in my tank over two years without me even realizing it, when it came on some new fish, I'd say it's a hardy strain. I don't feel TOO bad about tossing the plants, euthing the fish, and bleaching everything else to hilt.
 
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