Pleco turned all white and died!!!!!

[CichlidKeeper01]

Kanaplex has been my only success against columnaris.

I cannot guarantee you have this, but it appears that way.

I had NO success with changing ph or temps. I tried Triple Sulfa drugs, Furan, Furan2, Malachite green+salt (NoxIch), Erythromycin, PraziPro, Paraguard, Metroplex, almond leaves, & blackwater additive. Probably other things I cannot recall, and struggled with this for 6 mos in my tetra tank

I had never had or seen columnaris before, but when Kanaplex knocked it out, it was confirmed in my mind.

I believe that the Melafix may provide some topical relief to the fish (as do some other things) but I have been told that enough of that stuff to kill an established disease is fatal to most fish, and I doubt it can prevent re-infection.

One other thing to mention (If this is columnaris) is that one or two rounds of treatment plus repeated water changes can get it under control; but it is likely that four 6-day treatments may be necessary. This is expensive in a big tank.

The good news is, though I lost 4 of ten fish, 3 of the remaining who had nasty skin and crippling internal problems (presenting as spinal deformities!) all cleared up and the remaining 6 are healthy now for one year.

The bad news is that I literally spent HUNDREDS of dollars and dozens of hours treating $50 worth of fish in a 33g system.

Cost is based on how much water your tank holds. A 100g would cost 3x as much to treat.

I would have saved so much $$$ had I known what I had and what to do.

I had success with paraguard treating colmunaris in my cichlids. But good to know about the Kanaplex.

 

[Ulu]

Sometimes the biggest factor is constant clean water. I dunno. If I wake up with an itch, I start changing water.

I use a dose of Paraguard on any new fish in the QT, because worms are so common. Paraguard treats the worms, fungus and some parasites, but AFAIK not this bacteria.

Given enough clean water, healthy fish can recover from a lot.

If they suffer two conditions at once (like flukes+colmunaris) killing the fluke parasites off strengthens the fish, making it more likely to recover from columnaris or whatever else afflicts it.