sick koi - bloated belly - please help!

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Sorry it was not my intention to hijack this thread. I just though that the discussion was opened and wasting space for another one was not necessary. I'll avoid that in the future. So i have reopened the discussion in another thread so the mods can delete theses last messages i`ve posted on this topic. Again sorry.
 
Don't sweat it, nothing to worry about. I and everyone else knows your intention was not to hijack the thread. You will probably get more assistance with your own thread anyway.
 
Hyrules - no worries - I don't mind your posts in this thread.

Sunday night update: I was out during the day, and when I got back at ~8pm I checked this thread. I wrote down the prescription and headed for the LFS, only to discover they close early on Sunday.... :x :x :x My fish is still hanging in there, but not looking good. I hope that the antibiotics will work and won't come too late...
 
Monday a.m.

Fish still lying on bottom of tank, lopsided. I won't be able to get to the LFS until after work. I'm afraid it doesn't look good.
 
Monday night:

Couldn't find Nalagram at the LFS, so I got Maracyn II. The first dose is in - now to see if it works. I'm really impressed with the stamina of my fish - still hanging in there after a week.

Zagz - thank you so much for your help. If he makes it through, we'll have a little celebration in your honor :D
 
No problem, God knows I have been here and the people here at AA have been my rocks when I thought I was losing it. LOL the jury is still out on whether or not I have indeed lost it but they people here are the best and have taught me all that I know. I am terribly empathic towards all creatures, I can't stand any animal,fish, bird etc in any distress.
 
I finally bought a nitrate test kit because I read that high nitrate may help contribute to this kind of problem. Nitrates tested at ~40ppm. I changed out 75% of the water to get it down to ~10ppm, which I understand is acceptable. I am continuing to treat with epsom salt and the meds I bought Monday. Fish seems stable (i.e. not getting worse), but there hasn't been much improvement, either. Hopefully the lower nitrates will help.

One last question: when dosing those little medicine tablets, do you just toss them in, or do you crush them up and dissolve them in water first? The instructions don't really say. Thanks.
 
You just throw the meds into the water, they dissolve on their own. Glad to hear that he hasn't gotten any worse, that is a good sign. I'm still praying for him. :D
 
Update, Friday evening:

The "sick" koi has not shown much if any improvement, and is still not eating. I am really starting to worry. He may just quietly pass away from hunger if he doesn't improve soon. On top of that the "healthy" koi now has some white spotty growth on his tail fin. It initially looked like ick, so I salted the tank. But now its starting to look too big for ick. I think it may be fungus of some kind. This is horrible! My fish have never had any diseases before this. I tried to take some picutres of the white spots, but they aren't the best, sorry. Does anyone know what this is or what else I need to do to treat it?


http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6dc36b3127cce98548a76623600000017100ActmLJszZsWJA

http://shim1.shutterfly.com/procgserv/47b6dc36b3127cce98548a77e30700000017100ActmLJszZsWJA
 
It sounds like fungus for the second koi. You can use the maracyn II for him as well. How big are the koi? As for the first guy, if you are going to treat the bigger tank with maracyn II you can put him in the big tank as well. Do a water change on the big tank to remove some of the salt, remove any active carbon from the filter before adding the maracyn II. With the "sick" koi, depending on size, you can grab him and gently move him back and forth in the tank to get some water moving through his gills. Now if he is really small this would not be a good idea. LOL my koi are 7" so with them it is quite easy to do.

BTW very pretty koi. Are those spots on his fins growing or sticking out in a cottony sort of fashion? My koi have similar spots that they acquired with age. I rather have thought of them as age spots or natural colorizations. My stepmom has fancy oranda's that also have similar spots. On both of our fish they are not raised or cottony though. Just sort of inside the fin if you get my meaning.
 
It started out like a spot of ick, then it became cottony. After I put in the salt, it sort of smoothed over just a little bit and the color became off white, a little creamy. It is definitely not a part of his fin - it is a growth on the outside, and it sticks out from the surface. It is probably sticks out about 1.0-1.25 mm from the fin.

Can you treat fungus with maracyn II? I thought it was an antibiotic, and the instructions/label say nothing about fungus - only fin rot, dropsy, pop eye, and a couple other (bacterial?) diseases.

Thanks for the complements on the koi! Both are fan tails, and the really sick one is orange, but is developing black patterning on his head.

I also received some bad news about the koi's parents, who live in Michigan. Apparently, the pond heater malfunctioned or shorted out, the pond froze over, and the parents died :cry: Now the only survivors are my two guys and about 8 of their siblings in Michigan who were taken indoors for the winter.
 
Actually Maracyn is recommended for body fungus, but I believe Maracyn II will work too,perhaps not as well as maracyn would but it will help. If you want put some melafix into the tank with the "healthy" koi and leave the sick one where he is. How big are they?

I'm sorry to hear about the koi's parents.
 
Approximately 4 to 4.5 inches, but they have pretty long tails. The healthy one is slightly bigger.
 
Tuesday AM update:

I added Melafix to the 75 gallon, and the white stuff on the tail of the "healthy" silver koi is clearing up. Good news!

Bad news: the orange koi is still not eating, and the Maracyn II doesn't appear to be doing anything. I don't know what to do next! I don't think he's going to make it :cry:
 
Glad to hear about the silver koi. Wish I could give you more advice on the other koi. Keep doing what you are doing, if you haven't done a pwc on that tank recently, probably would be a good idea. Sometimes no matter how hard we try, we can't save them. :(
 
Try switching to a different antibiotic. Sometimes, we encounter bacterial strains that are unaffected by certain antibiotics. Tetracycline ( Mardel makes a Tetracycline table that is readuly available, the same company that makes Maracyn II) would be a good choice. It is good against systemic/internal infections.

My only other guess is that you are suffering from a tumor, which is growing on the inside of your fish, and that is untreatable. The symptoms of growth on only one side of the fish would suggest either that, or an internal bacterial infection.

As soon as (hoping so, anyways) you see your fish show an interest in food, try and feed an anti-bacterial medicated food. This will drastically help your fish fight whatever is inside of it.

You can also try raising your tank temperature slightly, into the 70's, and see if it helps boost your fish's metabolism any.

I've got my fingers crossed.
 
Thanks for sticking this one out with me. I've tried putting melafix in simply because I had it on-hand - so far no effect. Next time I'm at the store, I'll get some tetracycline.
 
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