Koi pond fish bacterial diseases or body disorders 

• Pond fish body sores or ulcers
• Koi fish with "pine cone" raised scales "dropsy"
• Pondfish, Koi with red blotches on body 
• Worms protruding under scales "Anchor Worms"
• Round "bugs" on skin are greenish and active "Fish Lice" 
• Tiny white pinheads in skin "Ich"
• White waxy globules in fins and skin "Carp Pox"
• White patches (slime) on skin
• Scales coming off
• Body is rough, no slime coat (Sandpaper disease)

Koi, pond fish body sores or ulcers

Koi Ulcer Disease is almost always caused by Aeromonas bacteria or more rarely Pseudomonas bacteria in your pond water. Clinically, I wouldn't know which because I rarely culture the pathogen. Why not? Because the results could take a week to return, and by that time, all the affected koi fish would be dead. I have treated pond fish ulcer disease with the following drugs: Baytril, Amikacin. I inject these drugs.

Can't inject your koi fish?

Here's the next best treatment for bacterial infections of koi and pond fish, if you cannot inject your pond fish. You can spray the antibiotics on your fish or dip them. The koi bacterial treatment is Ulcer Aid Rx.   

No discussion of this problem would be complete without reference to swabbing techniques, Medicated fish food, injection technique, and prognosis.

Suffice it to say, that to save your koi fish, my core recommendations would be to get the pond fish into a heated environment, provide impeccable pond water quality by regular testing, swab the wounds with Hydro Peroxide or Mercurachrome, Feed Medi-Koi, inject with antibiotics or treat with Ulcer Aid Rx bath and/or spray.

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Koi fish with "pine coned" raised scales "dropsy"

 Dropsy in Koi & Goldfish

           
           "Dropsy" is the condition in which the body is diffusely infected with bacteria and the scales generally stand out from the body. In some cases, this is also caused by Costial infection (see parasites) but usually it's a terminal result of the bacteria attacking the KIDNEY of the fish. Many treatments have been tried with only a one-to-five percent favorable outcome.

  Dropsy, also known as Bloater or Pinecone disease, is usually caused by bacterial invasion of the fishes' kidney. There IS a sporozooan parasite that can damage the Kidney this way, called Mitraspora cyprini, but I have yet to see this on a necropsy. Dropsy is, for all intents and purposes, untreatable, based on 7 years experience, using the following drugs: Azactam, Baytril, Chloramphenicol, Gentamicin, and Amikacin. I have tried a Sulfa drug, brand name Albon, and that did not resolve the problem either.

  Bacterial dropsy is usually caused by Aeromonas or Pseudomonas bacteria. By the time the fish "blows up" and the scales protrude form the body, the damage to the kidney is so profound that recovery is impossible. If you must try to save the fish, Isolate the specimen, elevate temps while elevating oxygenation, and begin injecting antibiotics intraperitoneally. You could also feed the antibiotics in a medicated feed.

 You read alot about people using Epsom Salts and Peas and a variety of other medications, even Erythromycin with almost 100% success. They're unable to present a SINGLE BIT of documentation on their regimen or dosing, and most notably, a SINGLE before and after photo. People overstate things. They're not liars necessarily. But some are.

   Dropsy is characterised by the raising of 100% of the scales on the body and BULGING EYES - without ALL scales being raised, and if the eyes don't bulge, I have my doubts that true Dropsy is present.          

The following picture is NOT Dropsy. Note, all scale laying down. This fish is more likely to be egg bound.

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Pond fish, koi with red blotches on body

This fish is generally on it's way to Ulcer Disease

I'd endeavor to test my water for all parameters pertaining to nitrogen and pH. We don't generally "dress" red blotches with any medication, In these cases I recommend water testing, a major water change with dechlorinator, then feeding medicated fish food while applying salt.

Those red areas with a couple raised scales will often "blow out" to reveal full blown ulcers. Sometimes, parasites have chewed those holes, and also very often, the owner will have rocks around the edge of the pond, at the water line. The fish, in their eagerness to eat will bash their heads and napes on the rocks and develop these lesions.

UPDATE: Because the abuse of the overuse of salt, we now have many "salt resistant" parasites such as: ich, costia and others. The product TERMINATE will treat "salt resistant" parasites.

Here's what you do:

• Check your pond water quality, first. Pay special attention to nitrates in your koi pond. If they are over 100 then there's something wrong and this can make the fish more vulnerable to bacterial and other attacks.
• Then you haul up the affected fish and scour their wounds with hydrogen peroxide, regular strength from the drug store.
• Inject any fish which is of particular value, either sentimentally or economically. The details of injection are beyond the scope of this web page and are described here.
• Salt the pond up to 0.3% and treat for koi flukes with Praziquantel
• Observe and remove any ornament or stones which might be contributing to the lesions.

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            Worms protruding under scales

Lernaea elegans, the most common type of Anchor worm affecting Koi, is a real threat. They attach ventrally, they hold on for about 14 days, and they reproduce copiously. The wounds they create almost always infect with Ulcer disease bacteria, Aeromonas, and then you have two problems.

Treatment can be undertaken with Trichlorfon.

Dimilin is great if you can get it. EPA and FDA will trounce you for having and using the agricultural version.

Caring for the fish: I do recommend removing any adults you see attached and swabbing the wounds with Iodine or mercurachrome.

I do recommend also feeding an antibiotic fish food when you see Lernea to head off problems.

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Round "bugs" on skin are greenish and active
Argulus is a crustacean or branchiurian parasite most commonly encountered in ponds, but they are also found in aquaria. They are easily detected when they strike. They are greenish disc shaped organisms with suckers and small legs. They even have a pair of eye spots on the anterior end. They spend their time darting around in the water away from, and also directly on the fish. They lay their eggs in tubular structures on the glass and ornaments.

They can be very destructive to fish stocks.

They carry Aeromonas and other bacteria on their feeding stilletto and thus infect each fish they bite.

Treatment is by the application of the insect growth regulator, Dimilin, or Diflubenzuron.

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Tiny white pinheads in skin
  Ich (white spot disease) rapidly kills smaller tropicals and goldfish, while sometimes sparing the larger varieties (fish such as Oscars and Koi). Damage to the gills is the primary way it kills, but damage to the skin with secondary bacterial infection may also figure prominently.

Its life cycle is roughly 2-5 days, but can be longer (5+ weeks!) if the water is cool, much shorter if the water is warmer. There is the old rumor that warm water eradicates it. This is substantially true when temperatures exceed 85 degrees, however; there are strains coming out of Florida and detailed by researchers at University of Florida that can survive and thrive up to NINETY degrees or more! Recall that many of our bread and butter species of tropicals come from Florida, and so may harbor this heat tolerant strain.

The parasite has a phase that encysts in the epidermis of the fish as previously stated (called a theront). It matures under the skin and finally drops off, falling to the bottom (becoming a trophont) to divide into numerous (hundreds) of tiny swarmers (tomites) that actively seek out a host on which to encyst and renew the cycle of infection. Because an important phase of its life cycle occurs on the bottom of the aquarium, it is for this reason that you can help limit infections with water changes made by siphoning the gravel, removing those dividing Ich packets.

Interestingly, some research at Oklahoma has revealed a strain of Ich that does not have to leave the fish and whose Ich packet (trophozoite) remains under the epidermis (safe from medications) and the tomites swarm out under the epidermis. The lesions look much like Carp Pox lesions, being large, flattened, and waxy looking. This parasite is harder to clear because it is the free swimming tomite that we can kill with medicaments.

See...Salt Treatment

UPDATE: Because the abuse of the overuse of salt, we now have many "salt resistant" parasites such as: ich, costia ,Trichodina and others. The product TERMINATE will treat "salt resistant" parasites.

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White waxy globules in fins and skin
CARP POX is another virus of a dermatological nature, that also has a low transmissibility from fish to fish, and is again, not fatal, merely disfiguring. The lesions are soft and waxy, not warty and rough. The lesions should not be scraped. They may be differentiated from Lymphocystis because they do NOT cause the cells to become huge (megaloblastic) in size. The way Lymph does. There is no treatment, and lesions do not resolve as well as Lympho lesions do. You should be aware that CARPPOX lesions are very, very rare in North America. Many people report that warming the fish up, and salting to 0.3% are sometimes sufficient to remedy these lesions. The belief is that the warmth stimulates the immune response and the lesions clear on their own.

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White patches (slime) on skin
Often, something is eating at the skin, such as a parasite like Costia. This is the most common slime-causing parasite. Still, many other parasites can ALSO cause the fish to appear slimy.

Just as often as parasites, slimy skin can be caused by a pH which is too low. The fish usually hang listlessly at the surface and develop strings of slime on them. A quick check of the pH will illustrate the point.

A soaring nitrate number as well as difficulties with other nitrogen numbers can cause the slime coat to become thick and plainly white. But usually this is not patches of slime. the fish are entirely slimy.

So, if I had a fish with patches of white slime, I would check my water for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH as well as carbonate alkalinity. Then I would salt the pond ot vat to 0.3% and if at all possible, get someone to do a scope biopsy on the fish. It is also possible to effect a remedy of the affected fish by swabbing the white slimy patches with regular drugstore strength hydrogen peroxide, one time. This is effective on the fish but not on the parasites or water quality issues facing the group.

UPDATE: Because the abuse of the overuse of salt, we now have many "salt resistant" parasites such as: ich, costia and others. The product TERMINATE will treat "salt resistant" parasites.

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Scales coming off
The fish are flashing for some reason, or they are suffering from some sort of pathogenic attack. I have seen scales knocked out by Herons, cats, or kids with sticks. Fish will also knock out their own scales by "flashing".

Flashing can be caused by several things, including temperature changes, parasites, water quality changes, high pH or low pH, nitrogen accumulation, or bacterial infections.

The most common cause of flashing is a pH which is not to their liking, or a parasite problem. Among the parasites, the most common causes of flashing are Flukes and Trichodina.

Stabilizing the pH is a good idea to relieve flashing behaviors caused by pH changes or a low pH.

Killing off Trichodina and other parasites can be accomplished with salt in many instances. Flukes can be controlled with Praziquantel. Follow all instructions for dosing as most fluke remedies are toxic of overdosed or left in too long.

UPDATE: Because the abuse of overuse of salt, we now have many "salt resistant" parasites such as: ich, costia ,Trichodina and others. The product TERMINATE will treat "salt resistant" parasites.
 

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Body is rough, no slime coat
Sandpaper skin is usually secondary to a bacterial infection and "rough skin" usually means the fish has pretty much "had it" and the body is shutting down. A reasonably healthy fish with imune system "on line" can generate a slime coat as fast as parasites can chew it off. When a fish is about to "check out" they lose this resilience and the sandpaper skin is the result.

Still, certain parasites can cause sandpaper skin, such as Costia and Chilodonella. These parasites are tough. Costia sometimes resists salt treatments. The problem is then that you might need potassium permanganate or Formalin for these parasites and then, those treatments are really tough on a fish who's already under the maximum US RDA of stress.

Also, crazy people who use Potassium or Formalin, or Salt as a stiff short term bath treatment can also burn off the slime coat. The fish has still basically "had it" but at least you can be satisfied that you did it yourself and that if you'd just leave the rest of the fish alone they'll be fine.

You can attempt to save such fish by injecting them with antibiotics. For some reason, saltless water with A LOT of live plant matter also seems very helpful if you're sure there's no need for salt. (Salt and plants don't generally mix) - What I usually will do, once I am sure there are no parasites, is remove the sandpaper fish to a clearwater vat with a lot of aeration and then put so much Parrots Feather in there that the fish pretty much has to wend it's way like a snake through the strands.

The other fish should be salted to no more than 0.3% and feed medicated food to stave off any infection they were about to succumb to.

Note:The product Armor will help replace and repair the "Slime Coat"

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