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

[excuzzzeme]

Silver Dollars are herbivores which is why they ate all the plants. The rest are omnivores. Maracyn and Maracyn II can be combined in a treatment using full dose of each. If you have columnaris it would look like a fungus. Columnaris is aerobic and I would drop the air bubbler and see how the fish react. Also drop the temperature to about 75 if you can. The tetracycline and oxytetracycline are optional medications but do not use unless you have enough for a full treatment. This is typical in older fish as a common complaint.

Minocycline (Maracyn II) is a good gram negative treatment and has shown to be very effective in treating columnaris.

 

[Otaku1811]

Thanks so much for the advice! I did the maracyn and maracyn 2 first treatment today. Unfortunately when I got home from work the 10 year old pleco was dead, God rest his soul. I'll be burying him out in the garden tomorrow and saying a prayer for him; this is what I do for all my fish that pass. The other fish are still okay except the one silver dollar with lumpy skin that was scratching itself is a bit worse today. The lumps turned white and fuzzy so I know the water changes and failed medication attempts of the past 3 days stressed the fish out and exacerbated the problem, but he's still looking hale and hearty so I think with the Maracyns it should clear up and he'll make it throught his, fingers crossed. I pray this medicine will work since the water parameters are still good. The temp in the tank is 75 right now, I can't lower the air bubbler though, it's a Whisper motor and I can only unplug it. Would the fish be okay if I unplugged it? How long can they go without the air? I want to help make this treatment be as effective as possible. I still have the Penguin biowheel filter running (without carbon or anything in it atm), that is aerating a little. I turned off the canister filter so I can detach it and take out the carbon as well.

 

[Otaku1811]

One more thing I am concerned about: I know the Maracyn and Maracyn-2 will kill the nitrifying bacteria as well as the bad bacteria, causing the ammonia levels to spike and then the nitrite levels before it can re-cycle. I also read that adding amquel would reduce the effectiveness of the antibiotics and of course any water changes during treatment would dilute the effectiveness as well, but what am I supposed to do for the ammonia? Do I just keep doing the treatment for 5 days then do a 25% water change and add amquel? Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[NismoStyle]

I have used maracyn to get rid of a BGA outbreak and monitored my ammonia levels closely afterwards. I had NO detectable ammonia spikes using a liquid test kit. So you should probably be ok

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[Otaku1811]

Today the fish were at the top of the tank trying to get air so I tested the water again. Now the pH is 7.2, 0 ammonia, Nitrates still 20 ppm, but the nitrites were suddenly high so I put in amquel to try and help. The problem is the tank is uncycled and the antibiotics are killing all the bacteria. The water is cloudy and smells odd, all the plants and ornaments are covered in a pale sludge now which I am guessing is dead bacteria. The one silver dollar with the white bumpy skin seems more active today, none of the fish are eating much. Today was day 3 of antibiotics. There's still 2 more days to go and I am holding off that 25% water change, but this whole thing has me anxious because the tank is in a constant battle to balance itself but it can't while I am medicating. I just hope the fish can hang on, they're still swimming strong and showing no other signs of stress aside from going to the top to gulp air on occasion. If there is anything I should be doing, please let me know!

 

[Otaku1811]

I decided to do a 40% water change and just re-medicate for the amount of water I took out; it won't do them any good to be in toxic nitrite. I managed to get the levels down, but it's still not perfect. I think for the next two days of treatment I will have to do these water changes and add meds for whatever I put back in, I'll have to go out and buy more, but I gotta get my fish through this... This whole thing making me a nervous wreck, but I want to save my babies! x-x

Good news though, after that water change they are no longer at the top gasping for air and they look much happier. e.e This whole thing is teaching me how to be a good fish doctor I hope!

 

[Jannika]

Good job, you did the right thing, Emily. I'm not sure about AmQuel, but Prime will detox ammonia and nitrite yet not interfere with establishing your biofilter again. Good luck!

 

[Otaku1811]

Well Amquel is also supposed to remove nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia as well as chlorine and chloramines, it's basically the same thing as Prime just a different name. So this morning I wake up at 7am and all the fish are at the top again, the nitrite levels once again are too high so I did a 50% water change. I'm running out of antibiotics so I have to buy more to make up for changing out so much water, when I get home I'm gonna do another 50% change and re-medicate it. I hope that will keep the nitrites down for the rest of today at the very least. The fish just need to get through today and tomorrow then I can put the filters back in and get that tank cycled properly.

This is exhausting though, it's really hard work doing these water changes, I have to fill up my big trashcan three times, drag it to the bathroom a good 50 feet away and struggle to lift it to dump it into the tub. Then I only have a large pot to refill the tank with so I have to make like 20 trips back and forth to refill. I guess it's good exercise, but boy does it wipe me out x_x and having to do it 2 times a day... ugh... but I love my fish so I will do it for them!

 

[Otaku1811]

Update: I did another 60% water change, got the nitrites down to 0.5 ppm which is considered a safe level, nitrates 20 ppm, ammonia 0, everything is good, water is clear again. I took out all the plants and washed the slime off them, vacuumed the gravel and got out more fish waste to help slow the nitrite process for the next 2 days. I cleaned the two filters and got the sludge out of them too. I also re-medicated the water with the proper amounts and tomorrow will be the final dose. So far the fish seem happy and they are showing no signs of stress, their skin looks good; fingers crossed the water will hold out till after the final dose tomorrow since I had to go through a lot of boxes of maracyn and maracyn 2. It looks like the silver dollar with the lumpy skin is clearing up too, the only fish with any appetite right now are the kissing gouramies, but I am holding off on putting any food in the tank to avoid more nitrite spikes. I think they can last another 2 days. So that's the scoop so far! This has been a wild ride, but I learned a valuable lesson from all of this... water changes, gravel vacuuming, and water testing at least once a week from now on!

 

[Otaku1811]

Today is the final day of treatment with Maracyn and Maracyn-2 and once again there's a problem that seems to have developed over the past 5 hours... The water has gotten cloudy again, the fish are once again at the top gasping for air.

I tested everything just now with my API test kits and the readings are perfect! Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, pH 7.0, temperature 78 degrees F.... So the water parameters are perfect. The only thing I can think is maybe it's the antibiotic now that it's at 4 days of concentration? I haven't even put in the final dose for today yet. Could it be oxygen depletion? I have a bubbler on and the two filters running so the water should be aerated... Either way something has to be wrong so I'm going to do another water change.