Columnaris Treatment
Carlrs
THE BEST AQUARIUM TREATMENTS/MEDICATIONS VIDEO:
AAP Professional Aquarium & Pond Medications
Treatment Information:
STEP ONE:
The obvious first step is lowering stressors and improving water parameters (not necessarily just "clean water") as outlined in these sections of this article.
If you have jumped to treatment and not read these other sections; STOP now and please read these sections too!
* Parameters to Consider for Prevention and Treatment of Columnaris
This includes mineral Cations and lowering oxidative stress.
This also includes lowering water temperature to 75F (24C).
This article is A MUST READ before moving on to treatment too:
Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish
Failure to follow step one and just treating with medications is akin to asking someone for burn relief medications while still standing in a fire!
STEP TWO:
Additional salt is helpful at a dose of 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons OR HIGHER (such as one teaspoon per gallon).
Please keep in mind that this amount of salt is NOT
meant for long term use, rather just the duration of time it takes to
reach a cure for the Columnaris infection.
This amount of salt is most simply used in a 30 minute bath, however as
per this study it can be used in the main display aquarium/tank.
As
an alternative to medications; a study at the Alabama Agricultural
Experimental Station, Auburn University has shown increasing salt
concentrations used with Channel catfish (along with heat reduction to 75 F)
can treat Columnaris (Flexibacter) infections. This study flies in the
face of anecdotal advice about not using salt with catfish.
See the chart to the above/right for the mortality
rate of Catfish with Edwardsiella ictaluri (which is a similar gram
negative rod bacteria to Columnaris) treated with salt at different
levels, please click to enlarge.
References:
*Alabama Agricultural Experimental Station, Auburn University
You can see from the diagram that the best results were achieved at a dose of 3000 milligrams per liter; based on the weight of salt this converts .67 teaspoons per liter or 2.54 teaspoons per gallon. This is Much more salt than many aquarists commonly believe a Catfish can tolerate.
Readers should also note that fish losses were still higher than medications combined with swabs/baths based on my own experience with 100s of Columnaris treatments for clients. Fish farms generally cannot use antibiotics for fish being raised for human consumption, thus this alternative treatment..
If added to the main aquarium, I recommend building up to high level suggested by this study over a 2 day period AND done in a hospital tank ONLY AND NOT combined with medications as 2.5 teaspoons per gallon salt mixed with therapeutic levels of medications may be lethal to the fish too.
STEP THREE:
A Fish bath or swab in Merbromin (FIRST CHOICE), Methylene Blue (not to be confused with malachite green), or Potassium Permanganate has also helped speed cure in most instances for my clients fish (or my personal fish) and SHOULD BE part of most Columnaris Treatment regimens!
IN FACT a direct swab of "AAP Wound Control" (Merbromin)
has been very helpful from my experience for Columnaris external
lesions of all kinds, except for those within the gills. The
effectiveness of Merbromin lies in the fact Merbromin is an
organomercuric disodium salt compound and a fluorescein that is
effective on external infections because of its permanence, and
lethality to bacteria, IN PARTICULAR COLUMNARIS!
Reference:
Aquarium Fish Merbromin External Columnaris-Bacterial Treatment
Caution, do not use Potassium Permanganate with open sores present or directly on gills, it should also be diluted 50/50 with water before direct application (AAP Merbromin/Wound Control is still your best choice for Columnaris followed by MethyBlu).
Product References:
*Merbromin (Wound Control); from AAP
*Potassium Permanganate; from AAP
*AAP MethyBlu Premium Concentrated Methylene Blue (recommended over standard MB))
*Kordon Methylene Blue 4 oz, from AAP
In fact with many instances of Columnaris the Methylene Blue Bath (or the even more strong, but more carefully administered Potassium Permanganate bath) was the main factor of treatment that affected a cure as per many tests.
See the picture above/left for a Betta also displaying secondary
Fin Rot that literally was on "deaths door" (laying on the bottom with
little response) that recovered with a treatment regimen of Spectrogram
& Salt as well as regular fish baths which included Methylene Blue,
Salt, and Spectrogram (synergistic Kanamycin/Nitrofurazone).
Please click to enlarge.
The Bottom line is a Fish Bath and often Merbromin (AAP Wound Control) a swab too is a MUST part of any moderate to serious Columnaris infection treatment!
With Methylene Blue OR Potassium Permanganate I prepare a double
strength bath and place the fish in this solution for 30 minutes).
I strongly recommend this bath as a FIRST course of action.
AAP Spectrogram (1st choice) OR AAP Bettamax (2nd choice) OR Furan Two
AND Kanamycin (3rd choice) SHOULD be added to this 20-30 minute bath for
more serious or stubborn cases, HOWEVER do not combine these medications or any others with Potassium Permanganate, ONLY Methylene Blue can be combined.
Product Resources:
*AAP Spectrogram (Nitrofurazone/Kanamycin Sulfate Combo)
*AAP Bettamax Combination
of Nitrofurazone, Methylene Blue, PVP, Vitamins, NaCl, Sulfas:
methazine, diazine, and merazine (pharmaceutical grade)
*Furan 2, Nitrofurazone; from AAP
*Kanamycin,; Kanaplex from AAP
Please see this article for more about Baths:
“Fish Baths, Dips, Direct Treatment Applications”
As well as the above noted baths, direct applications (swabs) of
Methylene Blue for mild cases of Columnaris applied to external areas of
infection can help with recovery.
Methylene Blue can be improved as a swab by adding sulfa drugs or more
simply by mixing equal parts of Maracyn Plus (Sulfamethazine and
Trimethoprim) & MB and applying this swab. A similar combination
using a now discontinued "Aquatronics" product worked well to check
infection spread directly on some fish.
For more serious cases, Hydrogen Peroxide or Diluted Potassium
Permanganate applied as a swab may be your only chance to check the
spread of a more serious infection of Columnaris.
Make sure NO Potassium Permanganate gets into the gills,
if this happens, a 2-3 normal dose of SeaChem Prime or similar product
added to a fish bath and used immediately for this fish is suggested.
Product Resources:
*Maracyn Plus from AAP
Reference for use of Hydrogen Peroxide: Aquarium Medications 3, Hydrogen Peroxide
STEP FOUR:
In tank or hospital tank treatment:
Many fish diseases, it should be noted, are caused by different
bacterial or fungal pathogens that often exhibit similar symptoms, so
identification of a specific bacterial or fungal pathogen is not often
possible from mere visual inspection of the symptoms on the fish.
By using broad-spectrum treatments such as a Furan Two &
Kanamycin COMBINATION against diseases with similar symptoms affecting
fish, precise identification of specific bacterial or fungal pathogens
causing the disease that often display similar symptoms may not be
absolutely necessary.
AAP has finally been able to bring back this combination of already
blended pharmaceutical grade Nitrofurazone/Kanamycin in the product
Spectrogram! This is easier to use than previously combining (which
included slightly different use instructions for Kanaplex & Furan 2)
Besides the synergistic combination found exclusively in Spectrogram,
the other reason to use this over separate dosing of Nitrofurazone and
Kanamycin is that the aquarium keeper can readily perform a 10-20% water
change before each treatment (to improve effectiveness), which is not
really possible without affecting therapeutic levels with the separate
combination due to different treatment schedules.
Resource:
AAP Spectrogram (Nitrofurazone/Kanamycin Sulfate Combo)
Please
note that the combination of BOTH Kanamycin AND Nitrofurazone MUST be
used for effect against true flavobacterium columnare infections,
otherwise the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of these
medications individually is too low.
I have also noted reports that while I have enjoyed good success with
the above treatment method, assuming water parameters were spot on
(including Redox and water temperature), that the failure rate is
increasing.
This can be and likely has a lot to do with over breeding of certain fish such as many Bettas, resulting in weak genetics.
However antibiotic resistance is also likely on the increase, which is
why this antibiotic combination should not be used on a regular basis
every time your fish "burps".
Since the use of Nitrofurazone/Kanamycin is a synergistic combination
(when used 100% at the same time), improving synergistic combinations
via new research into human antibiotics resistance is yielding some
interesting results with Oregon Grape Root which aids in antibiotic
effectiveness as it contains a specific multi drug resistance pump
inhibitor (MDR Inhibitor).
Resistant bacteria work by utilizing a pumping mechanism in its cell
that when antibiotics enter that cell the pump immediately pumps out the
antibiotics so it can have no effect on the MRSA cell. Oregon Grape
Root works by blocking the bacteria's ability to pump out antibiotics.
Currently the best suggestion for use is opening a 400 mg Oregon Grape
Root Capsule into 10 gallons of water along with the antibiotics, but
keep in mind, aquarium use is still in its infancy!!!
Reference: Oregon Grape Root - It could save the world
With severe quick moving Columnaris infections that have entered the bloodstream via a gill infection (as noted earlier in this article), combining Kanamycin, Nitrofurazone and Medicated Wonder Shells is a strong option that address mineral Cations and also helps with osmoregulation and blood issues. Unfortunately once this infection goes systemic, the odds are bad, but this is one of the few viable options at this point (assuming all stressor corrective issues have already been addressed).
Resource:
Medicated Wonder Shells (patent pending)