# Columnaris-Should I Treat Everyone?



## berylcoronet (Feb 1, 2008)

My new guppy turned out to have columnaris, so I've isolated him and started him on treatment for it. My question is, should I treat the rest of my tank? Pet Store Guy said I didn't have to, but I'm thinking my fishies (a gourami, two cory, a loach) might have been exposed and I should give it to them as a preventative measure. Is there any reason not to give it to them if they might or might not have columnaris?

The active ingredients are Victoria Green B and Acriflavine. I'd really appreciate an answer if anyone's had experience or knows. Thanks so much!


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## Cichlidsrule (Nov 8, 2006)

Tip No. 1-- NEVER EVER listen to guys from CHAIN petstores-- e.g. Petsmart, Petco, etc. Local-- i.e., single-- stores are usually fairly reliable.
Tip No 2-- Tell us the name of the medicine you're using, becasue some brands are better than others.

Acriflavine is okay for treatment, but I've had better results with copper sulfate. It might stain your tank, though. And I'd only treat the other fish if any of the rest of them show symptoms of columnaris.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

If you have pulled him from the tank that is awesome. I put melafix in my main tank as a preventative when this happened and so far none of the other fish have shown a breakout (I can't take my little guy out, I don't have a hospital tank right now because it is full of fry). The research I did states this is pretty contagious, which is why I would recommend doing the melafix. It wont mess with your bacteria and it will help to prevent things. Once an outbreak has occurred the melafix won't do much to help the affected fish. 

I treated mine with a Furnase antibiotic, but it had little effect (again, the research told me this was the best antibiotic for the job). My fish still has it on his mouth. I am doing what a friend of mine told me to try, which is putting a q-tip with melafix on it directly on his lip. It seems to be helping some, but I am discouraged a lot by the lack of progress. I also fed antibiotic food for 4 days, with no effect. If the melafix does not work soon I will go with a maracyn product. The first bout wiped out my bacteria (everything tested 0, including my nitrAtes) so I am waiting to add the next one. I am sure some of the good bacteria survived, just not enough to test. So until I see nitrAtes again I will not do a second antibacterial for the whole tank. 

That is how I have been handling mine so far. I hope it helps.


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