Potential cottonmouth outbreak?

[fuzzydunlop]

Hi folks -

I have a planted freshwater 36 gallon tank and have developed some issues the last 24-48 hours or so. About 2 weeks ago, I bought 3 odessa barbs to add to the 2 we currently had.

Last night, I noticed a small white speck on the mouth of the Odessa barb. Behaviorally, it was hanging out close to the heater and tends to twitch in place a bit. Research on here and other sites led me to believe it was columnaris.

I set up a 5 gallon QT tank (as it was all I had available), and started medicating with Maracyn and Maracyn 2 this morning. Changed 20% of the 36 gallon

Felt better about things until just now when I realized the Bala shark we got has a patch of white on his dorsal fin. Pics of both are enclosed...

Water test revealed nothing out of the ordinary other than hardness

Nitrate - 20 - safe
Nitrite - 0 - safe
Hardness - 150 - hard
Chlorine - 0 - safe
Alkalinity - 80 - moderate
pH - 7.2 - neutral

Tank currently constitutes:
-5 odessa barbs
-bala shark
-angel fish
-balloon molly
-platy
-clown loach
-algae eater
-catfish cory
-hatchet fish
-dwarf gourami

This tank has been running for 2 months now, but about half of the fish came over from a 10 gallon tank that had no problems.

As of now, I have the odessa barb quarantined and am thinking about quarantining the shark there as well.

Alternately, I'm thinking that I need to do medication to the main tank, so should I just put the barb back and medicate it all?

My girlfriend thinks it might be saprolegnia instead, but whatever it is it pops up quickly and I want to tackle this without losing more fish.

Thoughts?

 

[fuzzydunlop]

More great news --

The angelfish has blood in its stool, and may be developing white spots as well. Not sure yet...

double secret edit:

the clown loach in there is also acting a bit erratically (lethargic, swaying to one side) but doesn't have any physical marks on it

 

[mel_20_20]

I wonder if you could get a couple of better photos? It's really hard to see clearly the lesions. Please describe a bit more about the "blood" in the stool of the Angel. More photos and a video would be helpful, if at all possible.

I tend to lean towards Columnaris from your description, but it's hard to know with out more photos to help us see more clearly. I would assume that you need to treat the whole tank, since you have several occupants that are exhibiting symptoms of illness. I would bring the temperature down to about 76 degrees; Columnaris moves faster in warmer water.

Please update with more photos and more info re the blood in the Angel's stool.

 

[msjinkzd]

If you are suspicious about columnaris, take a gander at this thread and the links inside. Its for goldies, but the information is all relevant. Its hard to tell from your pictures exactly what is going on, so maybe this link will help you rule things out:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...Flavobacerium-Columnaris-treatment-in-goldies

 

[fuzzydunlop]

I think the recent developments in the tank have made me a little paranoid. The loach upon further review has been fine, but the stool of the angel fish has been a light red. Some quick googling revealed that it may just be a dietary thing, so I probably hit the panic button a little prematurely.

As far as additional photos are concerned, here's a couple more. I am terrible with the camera, and it's exponentially worse because the shark and barb are so fast I can't get a decent shot...



The shark picture doesn't necessarily do it justice. On that side it just looks like a dot, but on the other side it's a lot more widespread and looks like a patch.



I dosed the main tank with Maracyn and Marcyn 2. I now understand the need for a 10g established QT because the price tag for this is going to be a pain. Also, I turned the heater down, as previously the temperature was 78-79.

msjinkzd, I did find that article, and have been trying to follow it (disinfecting of nets and the like). I'm going to petsmart to grab aquarium salt in the AM.

I see that columnaris spreads quicker in stagnant tanks, is there something cheap I can use to aerate the tank without having to buy another pump/stone?

 

[msjinkzd]

What is the filtration? If using a HOB or canister, drop the water line a bit to increase teh "splash" which will be noisy, but increase the oxygen content as well. Otherwise, its never a bad idea to have a spare powerhead on hand.

 

[fuzzydunlop]

The 5G has a Tetra Whisper Pump
The 36G has an Aqueon Pump

I removed the carbon from both, as both filters were less than a week old.

As of this morning the barb still looks exactly the same, the bala shark seems around the same, maybe a little worse.

I was thinking of just putting the Odessa barb back in the 36G, since I'm medicating the main tank anyway, and then I don't have to worry about air since the 36g one has a stone in it.

 

[fuzzydunlop]

I purchased aquarium salt today. I do have some live plants in there, any thoughts on how much to put in to help the fish without damaging the plants?

 

[dbosman]

Cotton mouth is generally a bacterial infection.
The simplest thing it to take the fish out of the tank and wipe it away with a cotton swab. You can dab a clean swab that has been dipped in a antibacterial solution, to the affected area.

If you insist on using salt, make a saline dip. Dip the fish into the saline solution for a few minutes then return them to the tank.

If you add salt to the tank, your bala shark, clown loach, and corys will hate you.

 

[fuzzydunlop]

Well after a week of Maracyn/Maracyn 2, not much has changed. The Odessa barb still has the mark on his lip and is still erratic. The Bala Shark spot on the dorsal fin has cleared up a bit, but there's still a mark.

We lost the balloon molly, but no one else