[Sena Hansler]

Apparently what I was thinking was rot, or extreme mysterious rot (Sarah and now my 4 female sorority) was actually a "bacterial columnaris" which unlike cotton mouth one, you don't get the "blisters" or cottony look. I think when I had raised the temperature a little more to reach 80 (now it's at 78) it made it go faster -.-

Now I feel bad. And guilty. Because I'm the cause of my sorority dying -.- Because I thought it was rot. It looked and acted (sorta) like rot. I've seen columnaris, so I ruled it out - there's no cottony substance on them at all and they act fine. Well they did act fine now I have them sulking in a bare 10 gallon with only a heater :| Best yet I don't know when or where I can get copper sulfate or antibacterial food.

 

[Laki]

Don't beat yourself up about this. Everybody learns. I hope they can pull through. All the best.

 

[Oldfishlady]

Another thing to know about this bacteria....is that it is ever present in the water and you have two types-1-fast moving and 1-slow moving.......its the fish immune response that keeps it from infecting them-along with water changes to help keep the bacteria numbers low.....you are correct that raising the temp helped the bacteria colonize and why it is important to keep temps in the low normal with a stressed fish....

Stress is the number one thing that can compromise the immune response.....
Many things can cause stress....poor water quality, overcrowding, aggression, excessive netting, illness, injury, poor nutrition...etc....

I have found that making the environment hostile for the bacteria to work best in treating this along with limited stress on the fish.....

I use high doses of aquarium salt 3-4 tsp/gal, low water temp 75F, high tannins, dim lit and adding airstone with 50% daily water changes for about 10-14 days-if caught early enough usually the fish will survive if it was the slow moving type...the fast moving type the fish is usually dead within 12-24h.....

Good luck and like Laki posted...don't beat yourself up over this.....stuff happens and all we can do is our best and sadly fish can be really hard to diagnosis and treat.....

 

[Sena Hansler]

Thanks OFL! It might have been the move from downstairs to upstairs. It took me a day to set everything up so they were in a bucket of plants lol! Water was pretty good and tank WAS cycled however I may end up using the guppies to cycle accidentally lol. Otherwise they'll pester my males in their 20 gallons!

It is slow moving, I've noticed. Very, very slow. Just now it sped up... so I removed my gals to the 10 where it will only be 76 f because of the preset" heater. So I made sure to actually use most of what was in the 29 into the 10 (crammed!) and I didn;t think 7 guppies and 4 female bettas would be too crowded in a long 29 with tons of hiding spots, plants and rocks. They've never had lihgt in the 29, except daylight here and there. I'll do the AQ salt... It's the only thing I have right now, other than Maracyn 2 (wherever it went....) which I don't know if it treats columnaris anyways.