# Will salt KILL columnaris?



## Tomatoandegg (Nov 8, 2016)

All my fish died. If i dump salt in will it kill the bacteria completely? 

I cant get nitrofuran etc. All i can get is salt and bleach/ pottasium permanganate. 

I dont want to lose my plants!



Tomatoandegg said:


> All my fish died. If i dump salt in will it kill the bacteria completely?
> 
> I cant get nitrofuran etc. All i can get is salt and bleach/ pottasium permanganate.
> 
> I dont want to lose my plants!


Also can shrimp carry columnaris? Do i have to ditch my shrimp?


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## Robin Conor Sallade (Jan 26, 2017)

So truth is you cant get rid of it, just treat it as you would Ich but in reverse, lower the temp and dirty up you tank let it go fallow for a while and take out oxygen supply in you tank for a bit. When you get new fish I suggest a salt dip to treat them, when I got my fish for my 29g they had columnaris, after i dipped just once they were fine (stilled dipped 3x as the article I read sugguested). All tanks have columnaris its just inevitable and the dip will save your plants, ultimately you can just look for the signs when you buy fish otherwise they more than likely dont have it unless you buy the same fish again wit the same batch in the tank. Ask the store about die offs and just be attentive of the fish, sounding like a jerk to a store salesperson is no biggie theyll get over it.


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## Tomatoandegg (Nov 8, 2016)

i understand its hard to keep it out when you add things to your tank bought from the lfs but i'm pretty sure you can kill it off.

if i bleach the tank it will be clean from all bacteria until i add plants or fish. The question is will a high salt % kill the columnaris bacteria or do i have to nuke it with bleach?


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## Robin Conor Sallade (Jan 26, 2017)

You can kind of get rid of it really depends, and chances are it is only a brief stay my advice is find cause fix that then wait then try some fish (or microscopy if you have one) ultimately a tear down if not likely to help if your fish source is infected or has carriers its super common in petstores (loves clean tanks) and in places with hard water (especially with Ca and K). Stress is most common causation so just figure out what stressed your fish: temp flux, water parameters, overstocking, pH, dissolved O2/CO2 levels, KH/GH, etc. I know you feel like nuking it to fix it but there is a fair chance it wont prevent it, just lower your aquarium temp to 75 or lower, add a more normal level of aquarium salt (not good for plants though), and monitor the tank for a week or two if nothing is in there I think a month is its 'max' survival but chances are its still gonna be in there which doesnt mean it'll come back, Ive had it before didnt nuke my tank just took time to research and prepared better in case it came back (in my case i just made my tank super dirty letting algae go crazy and stopped my O2 for a week then when fish who survived didnt reinfect after 3 salt dips I assumed it was fine and those fish are still around now). 

This article can be helpful but dont let the strains scare you into tear downs just take your time and decide what you think is best, I think a tear down is rash and a waste of time but you could think the clinical approach is best in which case I suggest peroxide spray but itll wreck your cycle probably. Antibiotics are a waste unless you desperately want to save a fish it can readily becomes resistant. 

https://www.myaquariumclub.com/colu...out-the-types-causes-and-treatments-1689.html


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## Tomatoandegg (Nov 8, 2016)

Thanks for the post. Makes sense.

But if i pottasium permanganate bath fish and plants then quarantine tank them for a month then a second PP bath before going in my main tank they could be clean going in? 


What about my ahrimps. Are they carriers?

Also just to note the question remains unanswered anywhere online.

Does salt kill columnaris?


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## Robin Conor Sallade (Jan 26, 2017)

Yes 1% concentration will kill but thats lethal to plants in many cases. The amount of water changes to drop your salt concentration is gonna be allot though you can do it. Using potassium on the plants is fine you could even bleach dip them, on the fish I'd be more careful it will stress them so maybe just QT them then decide the point of dips/baths is high concentration high yield its super stressful on the fish could actually trigger columnaris not prevent it honestly. And tank wise yes 1% tends to be lethal some strands just need 0.5% (its in that article towards the bottom). Invert wise I think they are not carriers but i could be wrong salt I think is okay for them (I know nerite snails and amano shrimp need it to breed) but research before that.


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## Tomatoandegg (Nov 8, 2016)

thank you mate


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