Columnaris Disease in Fish, Aquariums, Ponds

Aquarium Website/Blog/Search Engine Hall of Shame #6; Columnaris Disease

Updated 7/29/11

The treatment and prevention of the Aquarium (& pond) disease "Columnaris" seems to be one of the subjects of more inaccuracies than most diseases commonly confronted by aquarists.
Surprisingly about.com has an article that although basic without much information, is generally accurate in identification, but otherwise does not give very good information for treatment or prevention.
HOWEVER from Wikipedia to many other sites, blogs and forums this is a subject that is full of anecdotal inaccuracies.

One popular Betta site/forum (Ultimate) has an article that has a few inaccuracies in one article (often it is one inaccuracy here another there), and since it is a sad representation of what is commonly out on the internet, I will use it to make my points of inaccuracies about Columnaris

Here are some quotes followed by corrections/Refutations:

* "Maracyn is the most useful anti-biotic"

CORRECTION: WRONG! Columnaris is a strictly gram negative bacterium while Maracyn (which is Erythromycin) is a gram positive antibiotic.

If the author of this article or anyone had any success with Erythromycin, this is proof that the disease treated was NOT Columnaris, rather a gram positive pathogen. What antibiotic that has proven gram negative effectiveness will work best is more debatable, whether a combination of Furan 2/Kanaplex, Minocycline, Triple Sulfa or others, but you will not achieve success with a gram positive antibiotic!

* "Columnaris reproduces poorly in the presence of oxygen in the water, so keeping the water's oxygen content up by creating a current can help prevent Columnaris"

CORRECTION: This statement is also 100% false and has no basis in university level research or even simple reading of researched articles such as "Columnaris & Saprolegnia Disease"

Here is a quote from the above referenced article:
"In fact since Columnaris is strictly aerobic, the addition of more aeration/circulation will do nothing to stop Columnaris other than to possibly help the fish fight this disease pathogen."

I would also reference this university level article as well:
http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11112004-113024/unrestricted/Farmer_thesis.pdf

* "As mentioned above, Columnaris loves hard water and high pH." (a similar statement is found in Wikipedia and another incorrect article

CORRECTION: This statement is not as inaccurate as the other two statements, but it does show a lack of understanding of basic disease prevention water chemistry, in particular the Redox Balance and importance of positive mineral ions in the water.

As well there is no scientific data to show the statement that Columnaris "loves hard water and high pH" (although Columnaris certainly 'loves' warm water, especially over 75 F), if anything the opposite is true based on both observations and data.
The lack of KH, resulting in an unstable pH can be a major Columnaris causing stressor. Even more so the lack of positive mineral ions such as calcium is not only a stressor, but lowers the Redox Balance and the ability of the fish to fight infections via proper osmoregulation.

What ironic, is that this same article later recommends the use of Atison's Betta which includes calcium along with Indian Almond Leaf (& is a good product).
Personally I think the use of a mineral block such as a Wonder Shell which will keep a constant supply of positive calcium ions in the water column (unlike Atison's Spa), combined with a more pure source of Indian Almond Leaf such as Bio Lif is a better way to go.

SUMMARY;
The bottom line is if you are truly interested in treating and preventing Columnaris, I would ignore many of the inaccurate articles (sadly including Wikipedia) about Columnaris and read one of the few articles based on real world "hands on" experience (since 1978) and further research, and that article is: Columnaris