Urgent Help Needed!

[xFlx]

This morning I found my smallest koi sort of drifting and looking listless, and when i brought him in for a closer look, i saw he had a horrible ulcer and what looked like fin rot on his fin. Does anyone know what this is, and how to treat it?? any help is appreciated ASAP

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

It does seem that it has a full blown bacterial infection (the finrot is also most likely bacterial finrot), is it possible for you to separate the fish and treat it separately (if you have a large tub of 5gallons+ and a filter that would be excellent)?

 

[xFlx]

hm..he wouldn't actually fit in a 5 gallon..i have him right now in a 30-40 gallon tub with an airstone...I added some salt and pondcare melafix, but now he's gasping and floating on his side. can i save him??

 

[saltynay]

Its dangerous but if he is in a truly dire situation you can do a 1.5 dose of melafix and leave him to be, If he is gasping I would cover the tub just incase it jumps with something perforated.

 

[saph.st24]

hi
whats caused it water quality ,injury or parasites ?

rightly done salt to the quarantine system and melafix should be ok it helps to back up the salt to fight bacteria.

clean the infected area with iodine then apply a topical treatment directly on to the ulcer and a waterproof ointment on to the wound
you can mix the melafix into a water proof ointment and apply
do this every other day be carefull not to disturb the healing skin and raise the tank temp to around 20-25 degress c and loads of air

you may need to sedate your fish to treat

oh is the tank filtered?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

hm..he wouldn't actually fit in a 5 gallon..i have him right now in a 30-40 gallon tub with an airstone...I added some salt and pondcare melafix, but now he's gasping and floating on his side. can i save him??

Ah sorry i didn't realize how large he was. Anyways, this is what i would do in your situation;

1. The carp will be producing a lot of ammonia in its waste on a daily basis and this will be doing nothing good to help his condition, so i would advise doing at least a 50% water change per day to try and keep ammonia levels down. Make sure that when you fill the tub back up, you try and match the temperature of the new water as close as possible to the existing water in the tub- if you are finding it a little difficult to match the water temps, its better to have the water a little colder rather than a little warmer. Fresh clean water is often the key to recovery in fish .

2. The airstone will be helping a little bit when it comes to oxygenating the water but they are not that great for oxygenating water- a proper stronger filter would be better for helping improve oxygen levels (the carp is most likely gasping right now due to a lack of oxygen in the water).

3. Melafix is so-so for bacterial infections, Pimafix is a bit better though- personally i have used "Anti internal bacteria" by Interpet coupled with Pimafix with a lot of success when it comes to treating external/internal bacterial infections in general .

4. Try and cut back on the amount of dried foods the fish is being fed as these make the fish poop more waste (you want to avoid ammonia levels increasing as much as possible)- frozen foods like bloodworms, krill, artemecia etc (except tubifex) are more nutritious to feed fish and don't create quite as much waste. Just thaw a cube of food out and give the fish a pinch of it first to see how much it eats of it (you don't want to have any excess food lying around in the tub and sick fish don't always have that much appetite etc).

5. Make sure the tub is in a quiet dark area- putting a damp towel or board over part of the tub to make it darker will help calm the fish and make it feel more secure (its fine to deprive fish of light if its only for a few weeks or so). Putting a plant or large stone in the tub will help give it something to focus on and help make it feel more at home etc- basically by reducing its stress levels as much as possible you'll help improve its chances of recovery .

 

[black angel]

using potassium permanganate over the wound will help it heal over..ulcer disease is a fast spreading bacterial disease, please check other fish and your water stats and maybe do a large water change.

how big is the pond and how many fish? whats the filtration?

 

[xFlx]

My pond is 1200 gallons, with I believe a powerflo max filter and a UV filter. there are about 11 Koi in it ranging from 10-20ish inches.The koi didn't make it, and I combed through and inspected the remaining fish... My largest koi has the beginnings of an ulcer and the vet has given him a course of injections...we also painted over the small ulcer with a little iodine, so hopefully it will be okay. Did a massive water change and added salt to the pond..but I'm still worried about the other fish...

 

[saph.st24]

hi
is it the external biofilter or the under water one and what size is it?