Koi Fish Information Centre

In a message dated 4/26/2008 6:52:42 P.M. Central Daylight Time, leoassoc@rnsmte.com writes:
I have a 16″ rescue Koi that I got late last fall. He immediately went into hiding and I never saw him again until about a month ago. He ventured out a few times when the water temps were up to the 65º range but then the water started to get green so I have never had a real close look at the fish.
Today we drained about 2/3 of the pond and netted all the fish. I put the koi in a kiddie pool with a pump.
As I was returning the fish to the pond I noted the dorsal fin of this fish looks like the front 1/3 is injured. It looks pinkish where the fin should be. He looks good otherwise but is keeping the fin close to his body. He had been swimming about with the others just before I netted him. I am almost certain I did not damage his fin netting him and he wasn’t hard to capture so I don’t think he would have hurt himself today.
I have put 1/2 cup salt and two teaspoons of Melafix in the water and he is in the kiddy pool by himself. I have a sheet of plywood over the pool and a fountain pump running in the pool. The outside temps should go down to the 40 tonight and back to mid 70s tomorrow.
Any suggestions or treatment ideas?
Judith in AZ

Judith, whatever caused it, who knows, but the fact remains that this sounds very much like a possible injury that has started to be infected with a bacteria. Since you have him/her isolated and it would be easy to catch and treat, if you have some ordinary iodine around, you can treat the fish topically a few times over the next several days to see if that helps with the redness. It’s easy to do if you sedate the fish using clove oil. 10 drops to a gallon of water should safely put the fish asleep enough for you to treat the sore. This is basically a bacterial infection that is presenting itself on the fin. To use the clove oil you need to remember that oil and water don’t mix well. So take the measured amount of clove oil (# of drops) and put into a small container with a lid and water from the kiddie pool. Shake the heck out of it, then add to a larger container with the estimated gallons of water FROM THE KIDDIE POOL and mix with your hand. Add an air stone to ensure the fish has enough 02 in the water as well. Place the fish in the clove oil water and wait for several minutes. The fish will slowly roll over. Once you can place both hands under the fish and gently lift the fish out of the water without him struggling, the fish is safe to work on. Remove fish to a work area covered with plastic then treat the area with a Q-tip and iodine rubbing on all sides of the dorsal where you see redness. Once this is done, place the fish gently back into the kiddie pool holding the fish upright until it begins to try to swim away….then release. Also koi don’t do very well all alone. You might want to add another fish for company and be sure to keep an eye on the water quality. Ammonia can build up and cause burning and death as well. Do water changes to keep those levels in check along with a good binder (Amquil or a like product). I would stay away from the Melafix. Smells nice, but does very little. Sue

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