Urgent! Bacterial Problems (Columnaris?)- Antibiotics and other questions!

[Otaku1811]

So now it is day 6 and the Maracyn and Maracyn 2 treatments are done, however that one silver dollar still has the "lumpy" skin; near his belly now it has a more yellowish tone while the rest of the lumps are more whitish grey. He also still has that one tiny open red sore near his anal fin. He scratches on the rocks of the tank and often tries to scratch himself onto the20 year-old pleco. I tried the antibiotics to make sure I got rid of any harmful pathogens since I had fish that died of pop-eye and other unknown causes. Now I am wondering if this silver dollar has something parasitic? I looked up fungal infections and his symptoms don't match. I also wonder if the fish's gasping for air at the top might be parasite related too since the water parameters are testing out to be fine.

Today I can finally cycle the tank again and put the carbon back in the filters. Should I just do that and give the fish a little break for now? What should I do next? Should I treat for parasites and wait on putting the carbon back in? Any advice would help greatly! The fish are still hanging in there, but the silver dollars haven't eaten in nearly 8 days now since I started with trying to fix the water and treat them.

Here are the remaining symptoms broken down:

-One silver dollar has lumpy skin colored whitish grey (not fuzzy, not stringy), yellow coloring on belly (velvet maybe?), scratching, one open sore, no appetite.
-Other 3 silver dollars have no appetite, two of them still have tiny white spots on their 2nd dorsal fins (not fuzzy, not stringy, just cloudy).
-All fish wind up gasping for air at the top of the tank after every 17+ hours, water gets cloudy again. Parameters check out fine. I do a 70% water change, they go back to normal.
-Kissing gouramies, pleco, and tetras have good appetites, normal poop, and look fine. Occationaly the larger gouramie does look to be "itchy" and moves erratically as if to scratch itself.

What is my next course of action? Please help me ;-; Somebody!

 

[Jannika]

Hi Otaku,
I would take a watch & see approach at this time. Medication in the water can sometimes irritate their skin, so with carbon and fresh water you may see some improvement. If the pleco is eating, some fiber in his diet from fresh veggies like zucchini as well as driftwood to gnaw on will help his digestion.

Here's an excellent article about bacterial infections and medications that may be of help as well. Keep us posted.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_2/mycobactera.htm

 

[Otaku1811]

Thanks so much, I'll put the carbon in and just keep an eye on them. That link you sent said:

"Another common sign of internal bacterial infections are lumps or swollen areas on the body. These often represent the formative stages of ulcers and granulomas. Granulomas are a particular type of lesion associated with certain species of bacteria that cause chronic infections, most typically fish tuberculosis, of which more will be said later."

I hope my fish doesn't have TB :< He's had those lumps for months now, but he always acts normal and before all this he'd eat fine and wasn't itchy and scratching himself on stuff. I'll go buy some fresh veggies for the pleco too. Maybe that will even entice the silver dollars. The pleco had some shrimp pellets today with a little seaweed. The gouramies ate them too, but the silver dollar still won't touch anything. They might mouth it a little but they spit it out. Poor things @^@

 

[Otaku1811]

Good news! Back from the store, I boiled a leaf of romaine for the silver dollars and they're attacking it with a gusto! That did the trick I guess they wanted real food and no flakes or algae pellets etc. I am so relieved they're eating @3@

 

[Manafel]

That's good to hear! Glad that things are going well on your end!

Sent from my PC36100 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[Otaku1811]

Well I think the worst is over. All the remaining fish (20 y/o pleco, 2 black-shirted tetras, 4 silver dollars, and 2 kissing gouramies) are healthy and doing well, full appetites, no signs of anything BUT that one silver dollar still has lumpy/lighter patches of skin and on occasion he tries to scratch himself on the pleco. I did the run of Maracyn 1 and 2, the tank parameters are perfect now and it's clean, and I also did a treatment with Maracide to rule out parasites. The skin problem that silver dollar has doesn't match any fungal infections either and he's had it for over a year, so I am at a loss for what it could be other than "fish TB" granulomas or tumors or something. It doesn't seem to be fatal and definitely isn't contageous, so maybe it's just something that one fish will have to live with. If anyone knows what it could possibly be, I'd love to know. Otherwise I fear I have done all I can do and there's nothing else I can do to help this fish be completely normal. At least he's still playing the dominant male in the tank and eating his veggies, he looks just as hearty as the other fish and shows no signs of distress. I suppose his lumpy skin will remain an unsolved mystery...