+ How to warm a fish up for any treatment

+ Setting on the bottom lethargically
Normally this would be a symptom of a mild parasitism or more likely, poor water quality. Make sure you examine the pond with our PondCrisis programme to see if there's anything amiss in your pond.

Setting on the bottom normally occurs when nitrogen is accumulating in the system, in the form of Ammonia, Nitrite or Nitrate. (Test for it)

If water changes are too infrequent (less than twice per month) the water may be foamy and yellowish, which all by itself, sends the fish to the bottom in misery. Water tests recommended first.

If the fish are without any other symptom, a major water change should perk them up. If not, and if water quality is impeccable, fish on the bottom are suffering with a parasitism.

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+ Laying over
Laying over is nothing but severe fish stress. There are hardly any exceptions. Normally when fish are laying over, something is TERRIBLY wrong in terms of water quality or a parasitism is working them over too. I've seen quite the most of the Laying Over in icey winter water. But the most memorable case of "laying over" I ever saw was with Trichodina. If the fish weren't flashing and scratching they were laying on their sides. When you'd disturb the fish they would pretend everything was okay and swim around for a time. If I had fish laying over, I'd make sure my water got into the low seventies as fast as safely possible, and then I'd use a combination of Salt and Supaverm to put most of the ciliates and the Flukes out of their misery. If I could, I'd use a scope instead and determine what the fish actually HAD before shotgunning.

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Warming a fish up:

Fish in winter ice water sometimes need to be warmed up for various treatments or to rescue them from genuine cold water illnesses such as Laying Over. To avoid shock, the fish should be put in a very large vat of this icy pond water in your garage. I repeat, you're going to use the icy pond water from your pond, that the fish is used to. This vat should be at least 75 gallons in size or the temperature will equalize too rapidly and kill the fish. They cannot climb up more than 10 degrees F per 18 hours without serious stress or death. Let the vat slowly warm to garage temperature using the ambient room air. USE NO HEATER. Do nothing to accelerate the warming process. It's meant to be slow! As the fish warm up, they will become more active. Make sure the vat is covered. Once they have been in the mid sixties for 24 hours, you can raise the temperature with a commercial aquarium heater or a paint-bucket warmer, by five degrees per day til in the low seventies.

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+ Hanging at the surface

Fish which hang at the surface are usually showing a stress response, often to a too-low pH. You can easily test your pH with a commerically available test kit. Be sure to choose a Wide Range test kit because readings above or below a narrow range will be meaningless. If the fish are hanging at the surface, one should consider some decline in water quality, a decline in dissolved oxygen, a decline in pH, or a harmful parasitism which is reducing oxygen transfer at the gill - causing the fish to hang near the better-oxygenated surface.

If I had fish hanging at the surface, I would recommend a major water change with dechlorinator to both refresh and cool the pond down. Cooler water carries more oxygen. The water change can decrease a bacterial or parasitic burden. Then I would consider salt and supaverm as a reasonable shotgun therapy if parasites were suspected. Better still, use a microscope and know what is wrong with the fish.

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+ Gasping at the surface.
Most of the fish you actually see GASPING at the water's surface are having an oxygen transfer issue. Most folks ASSUME that there is not enough oxygen in the water, and of course this would be the first thing to rule out. If the pond is warm (78 DF or higher) and there's no major splashing or water movement (water fall is ideal) then a low dissolved oxygen is a reasonable thought.

Past that, oxygen transfer can be impeded by poor water quality, Ammonia accumulations, a low pH (cure) causing excessive sliming of the gills, or a parasitism that damages gills and impedes oxygen transfer.
If I had fish gasping at the surface I would check the pond temperature and make sure it was below eighty degrees F as soon as possible. I would test my water for any accumulated toxin that might hamper gill function. I would seriously consider a massive water change and then a low level salting regimen.

Any case of fish illness can be simplified by KNOWING what parasites might be present. You would need a microscope for this.

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+ Flashing, jumping and scratching:
Normally a fish "scratches" once or twice per day. So if you saw one of your fish scratching every hour you would know something was irritating its skin. That "something" can be as simple as a change in the pH (test), or alkalinity (test), of the water. Temperature changes are sometimes associated with flashing behaviors. Finally, parasitic infestations can cause flashing behavior, including Trichodina (cure), Flukes (cure) and Anchor Worm. (cure)

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+ Swimming head down
I've never seen a fish exhibiting this behavior that did not end up manifesting a bacterial infection. I believe the head down posture is an accurate early warning sign that bacteria are assailing the fishes' system. I would highly recommend the fastest, earliest possible injection of antibiotics and the institution of a medicated food feeding regimen. Tricide Neo really changed everything in 2003 as it replaces injections for those who are afraid to do them. Salting the pond is also a good idea.

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+ Just won't eat
A fish that just won't eat is probably in suboptimal water conditions. Ammonia may be accumulating, pH could be sagging, or both. Other parameters may be out of line. I would recommend a test of all water parameters, as soon as you can. If a major water change has not been done in recent history, I would execute a major 70% water change immediately. Make sure that if you're using municipal water for replacement that you dechlorinate the water. If the fish still will not eat, consider salting the pond. Or, perform a biopsy on the fish to know what parasites might be present. This will refine your treatment strategies..

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+ Fish is isolating itself from the rest.
This is just the worst thing you can ever see when you look in a pond that was once healthy. Probably, you added some fish without quarantine. Now, you look in the pond and one or more fish may be isolating themselves away from the rest. These are the sick fish. No fish, not even small fish, will normally isolate themselves from the rest of the pond. If you see a little guy hovering behind the skimmer, the only good news is that the fish is giving you a warning sign that it's sick. Haul out the fish and examine it closely, including, if not especially the gills! Perform all water tests on the pond and then perform a major water change if one has not been done in the last four weeks. Make sure that if you're using municipal water for replacement that you dechlorinate the water. If water quality checks out fine, and the fish are still isolating, you should either diagnose the problem with a microscope or perhaps consider a lightweight salting regimen.

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Kinked Back - Spastic Swimming.
If this has shown up suddenly, there are several possible causes, but usually this is caused by a lightning strike or electrical discharge into the water from a damaged electrical appliance. Sometimes you get lucky and the appliance causing the trouble identifies itself by "kicking the breaker" and is off when you simultaneously discover the fish with this symptom. When you see a fish with a kinked back swimming spastically, don't dispair. If they have been electrically shocked, here's their prognostic information (chances): 

• Big fish, kinked, right side up, normal buoyancy: Kinking may worsen and curvature can become more severe over time. These fish have more mature musculature and are growing more slowly. They recover more slowly.
• Small fish, right side up, normal buoyancy: Kinking almost always resolves to 95% of normal, swimming will probably return to normal. Recovery times are normally six to eight weeks. You can see improvements within a week, but it's gradual.
• Big fish, laying over, sinking: Prognosis is extremely poor. These fish do not equillibrate and they end up being unable to support their body mass nutritionally and they end up beating the "downside" eyeball out of the socket as they try to swim.
• Small fish laying over, sinking: Still a poor prognosis. These fish may be able to eat enough to survive for a time, and perhaps equillibrate.
• Big fish, right side up, on the bottom: These fish will sometimes have a swim bladder full of water. There is a procedure with these "right side up" sinkers wherein the bladder can be tapped, guided by Ultrasound, and the water removed from the air bladder and a mixture of air and antibiotics inserted. Repeated several times it is possible that these fish can be remedied.
• Small fish, right side up, sinkers: 25% of these fish will die or disappear from the pond. 75% will scurry across the bottom and find sufficient food to survive long enough to recover from the condition on their own. Smaller fish are probably easier to 'swimbladder tap' but they are also somewhat more fragile.

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