Flexibacter - I am worried!

[bumblebee]

I hate to have to post here, but I am now very concerned. I have had my 90 gal tank up and running now for almost four months, and it cycled in less than a month. My ammonia/nitrite are both zero, and my nitrates are never over 5. I have been doing bi-weekly water changes since I increased my lighting. The only disease I have had to fight since any of my tanks have been running (2 years) was two gourami's that I lost to flexibacter. Well two days ago, I noticed a female platy (that I thought was pregnant) had white sides and clamped fins. The white sides on the sides is a tell-tale sign of a flexibaciter infection. I immediately quarentined my platy, and began medicating with triple-sulfa. Tonight when I came home, my other pregnant platy was stricken with the disease. Her sides looked like the skin was falling off. Again, tell-tale signs of flex. So I just took her out of the main tank and into the quarentine tank. One website (written by an actual doctor, I checked her credentials) that was very informational was http://www.aquamaniacs.net/flex.html . But, this site also says that copper sulfate has positive effects and the 90 gallon tank has been treated with coppersafe for 2 weeks now. This wasn't due to an intense disease, but I noticed 3-4 fish flashing, so decided to take precautionary measures. Sorry for the long post, but now I am worried. Any ideas of how this can be stopped? I have some pretty rare fish in this tank including a violet goby and rose line torpedo barb. Hope somebody has something for me,
JC

 

[bumblebee]

Well, my worst fears have materialized. I now have a pleco, and rainbowfish with body fungus. I believe that this is the same bacteria, just on different parts of the body. I read that the bacteria thrive over 77 degrees, so I am going to lower my temps slowly down to 76. This may have been part of my problem. My temp was set to around 80 in order to avoid "chills" in the corners of the tank. Has anybody ever tried lowering the temp for a bacterial infection? Any other suggestions besides water changes?
JC

 

[Lotus]

Whenever I've had something "fungusy" in one of the tanks, I have treated with a fungicide/bactericide, and it has generally worked. It's often hard to tell if it's a bacteria or a fungus, and many meds treat for both, so that's what I usually do. This link has some good pictures of fish with various diseases http://www.2cah.com/pandora/Disease.html

One thing to note if it is flexobacter columnaris is that it's a gram positive bacteria, so you need to check if your antibiotics treat gram positive bacteria, as most fish infections are gram negative. Incidentally, the nitrobacter/nitrosomas bacteria are gram positive, so using a gram positive antibiotic will likely destroy your biological filter in whatever tank you're treating.

 

[bumblebee]

eh, that doesn't sound good, what treatments would you suggest lotus? I am thinking that this is a bacterial "body fungus." If so, is that still gram positive? I really don't want to deal with another cycle in my 90 gallon The two fish in quarentine definetely have flex, as their skin is "peeling" off. But the other two that are now sick only appear to have "body fungus." I am assuming that this is bacterial infection since I do two water changes a week, and nitrates never get above 5. Also, do you think that lowering the temp to about 76 would be beneficial? Thanks for the help,
JC

 

[Lotus]

Body fungus is a fungal infection. So you need a fungicide. Methyline blue is the usual one in most fungal meds. I would keep the temperature normal. I have usually used Jungle Fungus Clear fizzy tabs, as they seem to be cheap and effective. They treat both bacterial (gram negative) and fungal infections. They shouldn't affect your biological filter.

If you're sure of the diagnosis on the platies in your Q tank, I would try a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Most things I have read say it's almost impossible to tell what kind of bacteria it is without making a culture, so I think broad-spectrum is your best bet.

 

[bumblebee]

Well I am happy to say that the fish in my 90 seem to be doing well, the pleco has returned to normal, and I will continue with a full 10 day treatment. However, the use of neomycin from aquatronics has yielded no results in the q-tank with the platies. It appears that it def is flex . the "peeling" skin has progresses to a red ulcer, although it isn't bright red yet. This is the same disease that got both my dwarf gouramis a while ago. So any suggestions as to what will work? I don't seem to be able to find a medicine for gram positive bacteria? Also, how will I control the ammonia/nitrite spike that it will cause? If I don't try to treat with gram positive, I think I will most definetely lose these two fish. Hope you can help,
JC

 

[Lotus]

You can try Maracyn or Maracyn 2, both are broad-spectrum antibiotics.

 

[bumblebee]

Just thought I would let you know, that maracyn is for gram-positive, and maracyn-2 is for gram-negative. I'll let you know how it works with my platies, I hope it isn't too late.
JC