I have recovered several fish over the years with duck lips by simply lowering or turning off the heater and doing water changes.
Just lost a Briedhori to DuckLips. What now?
- Thread starter decoy50
- Start date
I think I'm going to turn the temps on my tanks down from 85 to about 78 ish. I'd rather treat a case of Ich than have to deal with Duck Lips.
Damn, sorry to hear about your breidohri. I lost 4 of my growouts while I was on vacation for an unknown reason and I'm quite pissed.
columnaris is an extremely deadly but treatable disease.
Keep Kanaplex (SeaChem Brand, there are others out there) and Furan-2 (API brand is what I use) on hand at all times. Using the two together creates some kind of chemical bond that seperately neither have and is extremely effective in treating the disease. The meds are supposedly absorbed by fish so treating food isn't neccessary, just the tank.
If you notice any other fish with the same symptoms, cutting down the temp and the oxygen flow in your tank all help combating the disease as well. I know its taboo to stem oxygen flow in an aquarium but in this case it is beneficial in stopping the bacteria from gaining a stronger hold in the tank.
Peroxide, vinegar, and bleach are all effective measures of sterilizing tanks/equipment of the disease. You can use peroxide with fish present as long as you keep dosing precise and watch the fish closely. I even read where people have used peroxide by applying it to the affected areas on fish to help reduce the bacteria present on the scales or open lesions the disease can produce.
I thought for a while my pickerel had columnaris (long stringy patches of white fuzz and bruises or lesions on his head and back) and I treated with this combo, and the only reason I know a little bit about the disease itself. The symptoms would disappear but re-surface after a few days. Turns out it was just a nasty case of fungus and I knocked it completely out with copper sulfate but the meds definitely kept the stuff from spreading terribly bad.
Keep Kanaplex (SeaChem Brand, there are others out there) and Furan-2 (API brand is what I use) on hand at all times. Using the two together creates some kind of chemical bond that seperately neither have and is extremely effective in treating the disease. The meds are supposedly absorbed by fish so treating food isn't neccessary, just the tank.
If you notice any other fish with the same symptoms, cutting down the temp and the oxygen flow in your tank all help combating the disease as well. I know its taboo to stem oxygen flow in an aquarium but in this case it is beneficial in stopping the bacteria from gaining a stronger hold in the tank.
Peroxide, vinegar, and bleach are all effective measures of sterilizing tanks/equipment of the disease. You can use peroxide with fish present as long as you keep dosing precise and watch the fish closely. I even read where people have used peroxide by applying it to the affected areas on fish to help reduce the bacteria present on the scales or open lesions the disease can produce.
I thought for a while my pickerel had columnaris (long stringy patches of white fuzz and bruises or lesions on his head and back) and I treated with this combo, and the only reason I know a little bit about the disease itself. The symptoms would disappear but re-surface after a few days. Turns out it was just a nasty case of fungus and I knocked it completely out with copper sulfate but the meds definitely kept the stuff from spreading terribly bad.
Keeping antibiotic or any medication on hand or at all time may not be a good idea because many medication has expiration date. Once I used my handy Malachite Green to treat a simple ick outbreak, and ended up losing all the fish and later realized that my MG is 10 year old.
Duck lip is a virulent bacterial infection, the same bacteria can manefest itself in swollen eyes, tumor or ulcers on the head, and kill quickly.
It's a myth that ick or columnaris exist in every tank waiting to attack when the condition is right. Parasites that cause bloat are, not ick or duck lip.
Duck lip is a virulent bacterial infection, the same bacteria can manefest itself in swollen eyes, tumor or ulcers on the head, and kill quickly.
It's a myth that ick or columnaris exist in every tank waiting to attack when the condition is right. Parasites that cause bloat are, not ick or duck lip.
+1 on exp dates but I meant within reason. Most medications have an exp. date several years out. It comes to responsibility of the keeper to check meds before using.
Well don't I have the worst of luck, last night I noticed my Trimac not coming up for food and noticed his mouth protruding, even worse today. He is now is a hospital tank with no heater. Well update on what happens to him. 
Sure don't, haven't bought any fish in a while. He is in a 35 right now, still doing ok as of this morning. Any other time I would leave the fish in the tank it was in but I don't want to risk losing him.
I know this may fall on deaf ears, but it is my theory, sorry if it seems to be a derail.
Back in the 60s, columnaris was nick named "live bearer" disease, and most commonly presented with a very fungus like appearance.
Back then, live bearers were a very hybrid/line bred group of fish.
In my opinion, it has only been in the last decade that cichlids seem to have become infected in large numbers, with the acute ducklips form of the disease, and I believe this coincides with the preponderance of flowerhorns and other hybrids.
And may also coincide with FH "factories" over use of antibiotics.
When a fish (or anything else) is hybridized, beyond the anticipated positive attributes, the micro flora and fauna inside the fish may also be altered.
Random breeding of a certain species of fish that have built resistance to certain bacteria, with other species that have (due to specific environmental conditions lost resistance to other types of bacteria may have created natural immune system resistant, and antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria (columnaris among them) seen today.
Back in the 60s, columnaris was nick named "live bearer" disease, and most commonly presented with a very fungus like appearance.
Back then, live bearers were a very hybrid/line bred group of fish.
In my opinion, it has only been in the last decade that cichlids seem to have become infected in large numbers, with the acute ducklips form of the disease, and I believe this coincides with the preponderance of flowerhorns and other hybrids.
And may also coincide with FH "factories" over use of antibiotics.
When a fish (or anything else) is hybridized, beyond the anticipated positive attributes, the micro flora and fauna inside the fish may also be altered.
Random breeding of a certain species of fish that have built resistance to certain bacteria, with other species that have (due to specific environmental conditions lost resistance to other types of bacteria may have created natural immune system resistant, and antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria (columnaris among them) seen today.
