Quick question about using Kanaplex for more than one round of treatment for Columnaris

[Phaewryn]

I have a newish guppy I got from a store that developed what looks like saddleback columnaris. I didn't have any Furan-2 on hand, so I have been treating it with good success with Kanaplex (it's looking way way better, all the "fuzzy tendrils" are gone and now it's just a flat pale spot again), but I've finished the recommended treatment routine and she still has a way to go before she can go into the main tank, so I need to do a second round... of something. I've followed the instructions exactly, which say: "Use 1 level measure (included) to every 20 L (5 gallons). Repeat every 2 days until symptoms disappear or up to a maximum of 3 doses."

My Question: I gave her the last dose of Kanaplex (maximum of 3 doses) 2 days ago: NOW WHAT? Do I just leave her in that dirty water with the maximum dose until she looks 100% healed? Do I change the water, do another round of Kanaplex? I also have API Melafix on hand, should I do a round of that instead? I do not have any Furan-2 on hand, and she is responding great to the Kanaplex anyway. I assume that I can just change the water (pulling it out of the cycled tank again) and do another round of Kanaplex. The fish does not seem stressed. She is eating great and looking much much better. Water change and another round of Kanaplex (which has worked wonderfully so far) or switch to Melafix and see what happens? What have you done?


Details copied from another forum I posted in with no replies so far:
1. Size of tank? 1 gallon treatment bowl (main tank is 15 gallons)

2. Water parameters: Don't know, don't test, have always had great success with my guppies and haven't needed to test.

e. Test kit? None.

3. Temperature? Treatment bowl is unheated in a 62-65 degree room (warm water makes columnaris worse). When I first saw her white spot, I decided to home diagnose via temperature trial. The tank normally is heated to about 67-70 degrees. I knew that ick improved with high temps and columnaris got worse, and I was pretty sure it was one of those two issues, so I cranked the heat up to 89 (raising it over a 2 day period). Result: her bad patch got REALLY BAD overnight, so thus making it most likely columnaris. I turned the heat back down to 67 in the main tank (slowly throughout the day), and removed the now very furry fish from the tank and put her in a treatment bowl with no heater (cold water) and started treatment.

4. FW (fresh water) or BW (brackish)? Fresh water (hard town water - I live in the mountains and town water is very hard).

5. How long has the aquarium has been set up? The treatment bowl she is in has been set up since I pulled her from the tank - about 2 weeks ago, using cycled tank water. The big tank has been set up since 2015 and doing great until I electrocuted all my fish and had to start over a couple of months ago.

NEXT QUESTIONS ONLY APPLY TO BIG TANK, NOT THE TREATMENT BOWL SHE IS IN, WHICH HAS NOTHING IN IT BUT HER, AIR LINE, AND MEDICATION.

Treatment bowl gets morning sun for about half an hour. Water has not been changed yet. It has no filtration, no heater, no lighting. She is eating daily/normally.

6. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them? Guppies, new stock (all my old stock died when the light fell into the tank so I am starting over with pet store stock) 2 females, 1 male, and all the new babies (probably at least 20 so far).

7. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)? It is a whole new re-stock, so no QT since there was nothing to contaminate - all the old fish died via electrocution.

8. a. Any live plants? Fake plants? One live plant, tiny, struggling a bit (it was also electrocuted but is hanging in there).
b. Sand, gravel, bare bottom? CaribSea Eco‑Complete/lava rock as substrate.
c. Rocks, woods, fancy decors? Any hollow decors? Tumbled rocks (jasper/agate), dead bleached coral, sea shells.

9. a. Filtration? HOB with mechanical filtration plus carbon, Purigen, and bio-media.
b. Heater? Yes.

10. a. Lighting schedule? What lights are used? On when I wake up, off when I think about it after dark. LED "reef" lighting.
b. Any sunlight exposure? How long? No direct sun, but it gets the general daylight/dark cycle from being in a room with a window with no curtains.

11. a. Water change schedule? As needed to clean gravel, vac bottom, remove about 3-6 gallons, never change more than half the volume at any time.
b. Volume of water changed? less than half, usually only a few gallons.
c. Well water, tap water, RO water? Tap water.
d. Water conditioner used? Seachem Prime, Acurel BodyGuard-RX, Seachem Stability.
e. Frequency of gravel/sand (if any) vacuumed? Maybe monthly. Usually less.

12. Foods? Omega One Color Mini Pellets, Hikari Fancy Guppy, Hikari First Bites, Invert Aquatics Mini Algae Discs.
How often are they fed? Daily when there are young stock in the tank that I want to grow up, every other day if not. Algae disks 1 per week to feed the snails and the guppies peck at it as well. Sick fish is being fed daily, only as much as she eats (eating good).

NOW BACK TO THE SICK FISH

13. a. Any abnormal signs/symptoms? Other than the one sick fish with pretty identifiable saddleback columnaris (pale spot that got fuzzy looking when the heat was turned up in the tank), none. Sick fish was hanging out near top of tank but showing no other symptoms.
b. Appearance of poop? Normal.
c. Appearance of gills? Normal.

14. a. Have you treated your fish? Yes.
b. What meds were used? Seachem Kanaplex.

 

[Stephen Noble]

Wow, you certainly have done your best for that little fish! Sometimes, it is a genetic or age thing. Even could be from bullying or stress. Here is my opinion for what it's worth: if it were my guppy, I would use (and have used) aquarium salt in this case.

 

[Phaewryn]

Wow, you certainly have done your best for that little fish! Sometimes, it is a genetic or age thing. Even could be from bullying or stress. Here is my opinion for what it's worth: if it were my guppy, I would use (and have used) aquarium salt in this case.

Salt works for columaris? At what ratio/dosage per gallon? I have to be careful with salt in the main tank as there are snails in the tank that I really need to keep the algae in check. I can add it to her QT bowl easily enough though!

It was bullying related. It started as a small pale spot, then the male began to peck at it, and that's when it got bad. I have an isolation net in the main tank now where the little bastard is spending his days in a 5x5 timeout. I'd give him away but I paid more for him than I should have and he's my only male at this point. New strain/pattern I'd not tried before: light body with nice bright orange spots. I bought bright yellow females with a orange edge on their tails thinking I might get bright yellow with white/orange spotting from the pairing, which would be very showy in the pond with its dark liner. But damn is he way more aggressive than my previous endler/cobra/mosaic dumbos! He might still get replaced with an endler if he doesn't chill out when there are more females of breeding age. I think he may have killed the other male (a beautiful cobra with white cobra markings over yellow) I bought at the same time too. At least he isn't eating the fry. Now he's in jail. I actually hate him and regret I paid as much as I did for the little piece of shit. I'm really hoping he chills out once more of the babies grow into breeding age: almost all the fry in the tank are sexing female as best I can tell at this point. Maybe he ate all the male fry? Not sure if guppies are that smart/conniving.

 

[Stephen Noble]

Yes, bullying, especially attacks as in your case can cause all sorts of ailments. I am not saying it for sure caused your situation but given the evidence you have, it is plausible. Yes, salt. No other medications. Your hospital tank is sort of small, a 2 1/2 gallon tank would be better. They are cheap at pet shops. Use aquarium salt only or if you are into saltwater tanks, use your marine salt which is what I use. The little fish sounds like it has been through quite an ordeal so start with a very small amount say, 1/4 teaspoon per gallon and see how that works. Sounds like you have been keeping guppies for quite some time so you are probably aware of their salt tolerance. They are amazing fish.

 

[Phaewryn]

It's actually a pickle jar! I do have a 5 gallon tank, but it is absolutely buried in the bottom of a cabinet, mice have been crapping in it for 2 years and it would be a nightmare to sanitize, and I figured short term just one fish would be OK in a gallon pickle jar. Thanks for the dosing recommendation, I'll switch her over to saltwater later today. I did used to add salt to the tank, but then I got snails and stopped because it seemed inhumane to make the snails suffer (even if they are "nuisance snails").

 

[Phaewryn]

Update: she completely recovered after two rounds of Kanaplex (I did add salt to the second round as well) and then back in the main tank after with the male in a breeding net to keep him from picking on her, now she's looking like she was never sick and the male is no longer picking on her.

 

[Stephen Noble]

Way to go! So happy for you and your fish.