Urgent: Need Advice For Treating Dropsy

mark4785

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This topic relates to my other thread conerning a white Ogon (Koi) that I thought had perished in the cold temperatures out in the pond: Thread URL: http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/317537-koi-low-temperatures/ .

Since what was discussed in the previous topic I have taken the sick fish out of the pond and placed it in a 'hospital tank' which holds about 30 litres of water. In the pond it was unable to balance and looked like it has swimbladder disease. After being in the tank it has regained its balance and is more alert. I have treated the tank water with 'Interpet Anti-internal bacteria' solution which acts against dropsy and swelling as when inspecting the fish the upper body just above the gills was inflamed and the scales of this inflamed area showed signs of dropsy.

The filter running in the tank is named 'Fluval 1 Plus Under water filter' and the already established biological filter media within it has been taken from the pond filter box.

Is there anything else that I need to do in order to ensure the fish stays healthy; here is how it looks at the moment:

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Should I feed the fish? Should I put a water feature in there to influence the oxygen levels? Should I watch the other 11 fish in the pond for signs of the same disease (I am lead to believe it is contagious) I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Edit: I have since turned on an external water pump with a fitted water feature. I have wrapped the pump in bubble wrap and placed it on a pillow to stop it vibrating and scaring the fish.
Thank you!
 
Hi mark, Dropsy is actually uncureable, only if caught early it stands a little chance of sorting itself out.
Epsom salt could help, as thats thought to help i've saved a fish from dyign from it, with just the salt.
As for feeding, don't feed much maybe just a few pellets every few days.
ALso that tank is very small, the fish could get stressed and that will build to the sickness.
I recommond a big storage box 40-60L?
Oxygen levels should be quite good :)
Also, you shouldn't of treated the tanka s you cannot be sure what is wrong witht he fish, the fish may have got its balance back when in the small tank because it can' move much anyway because the water spacwe isn't much.
I would say don't add anything else to the water until you see symptoms.
 
Hi mark, Dropsy is actually uncureable, only if caught early it stands a little chance of sorting itself out.
Epsom salt could help, as thats thought to help i've saved a fish from dyign from it, with just the salt.
As for feeding, don't feed much maybe just a few pellets every few days.
ALso that tank is very small, the fish could get stressed and that will build to the sickness.
I recommond a big storage box 40-60L?
Oxygen levels should be quite good :)
Also, you shouldn't of treated the tanka s you cannot be sure what is wrong witht he fish, the fish may have got its balance back when in the small tank because it can' move much anyway because the water spacwe isn't much.
I would say don't add anything else to the water until you see symptoms.

Thanks for the reply.

Well I treated the water because the fish has swelling and the swelled area showed pinecone scales (dropsy). I thought it wouldn't hurt to treat for these symptoms given that I have a remedy that treates these particular symptoms.


I have looked around the internet about swimbladder and it seems to suggest that one treatment is to somehow release trapped air from the fish by use of sticking a pin in the part of the fish that is inflamed. Is this a normal procedure? If so, I'd appreciate it if anybody could forward a veterinary contact number as I may need expert intervention here.

I agree the tank is too small, but no part of the house can facilitate for anything bigger. There is plenty of beneficial bacteria on the pre-established filter media and I am replacing 75% of the water each day with fresh to help keep ammonia/nitrite to a minimum.

I have treated the tank with 'Waterlife Tonic Salt' already to combat stress. If I do a 75% water change after applying such salt is it safe to add another dose that treats the entire water volume or will traces of salt still be within the tank?
 
The swimbladder and dropsy-like symptoms seem to have cleared up, however, the fish has a swelled head. What is this and how do I help the swelling go down? Also, is it common for a fish to have no appetite after being moved to living space? (i.e. from a cold pond to a warm cramped fish tank). The fish will seek pellets at the surface, put them in his mouse but then spit it out immediately. I'd appreciate someones input on this. I don't even know if the fish will survive if I put it bank into the pond as it seems to only get swimbladder/buyouncy problems while in cold water.
 
Well, the white ogon has been within this small 25 litre tank for 2 weeks now. I have been doing daily 60-70% water changes and adding remedies to the water to bump down the nitrite and ammonia levels. I have also continued the treatment for swimbladder during this period with additional salt and the result is that the inflamed area above the head is starting to go down; my guess is that this area of the head had internal bacteria near the fish's ear and this has caused the buoyancy issue. Hopefully the fact that the inflamation is going down will mean the swimbladder issue is also going. Initially the faecies were long strands of white which is further evidence of some kind of internal infection.

During the 2 weeks he has been in the tank he has started taking food from my hand which I'm really surprised to see. Just 2 weeks ago this fish looked like it was on it's way out!

I have ordered an electronic salt tester to test the water for it's salt concentration level. If it is low I am going to put some Nt Labs 'ultrazorb' in the tank (providing there is enough room!) to absorb the phosphate, ammonia and other toxins.
 
Hi, glad to hear your fish is improving :good: you have done a good job looking after him whilst he has been indoors, from your photos I see no evidence of dropsy, as far as I have had experience with dropsy I have found it to be incurable but not contagious, luckily your fish does not have this but I can see the fish has a buoyancy issue, swim bladder problems can be caused by all sorts of things such as injury, over feeding, bad water quality, internal parasites to name a few, I would continue to do what you are doing if you can and wait for the warmer weather to arrive before relocating him back into the pond.
 
The fish is still alive and kicking. The dropsy symptoms have gone and the water parameters are now excellent.

The fish has been in a 25 litre quarantine tank for about 3 months now and i've managed to evade 'new tank syndrome and its related complications and while keeping it in the tank it has become very tame. From my experience, the bigger the Koi is, the more tame it becomes. This is only a juevenile fish so I'm really happy and surprised at how it interacts with people.

Pictures at feeding time:

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Hopefully in the next week or so I can return it to it's 1400 litre pond with his other 12 fishy friends :)

The initial problem I experience with the fish (as described in the initial post) was swimbladder problems, yellow markings on the fish (from the ice being in contact with the fish I presume) and dropsy symptoms. Somebody told me that swimbladder problems cannot be cured and that the only reason the fish can maintain its balance is due to the small tank it is in. What kind of future does the fish have if I cannot get it to maintain its balance in a large pond? In the next few weeks I'm going to be purchasing two very large tanks; will these be sufficient to keep him in?
 

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