What should you do if your Koi fish seems to have problems on its skin?

Treatment and Diagnosis

• Diagnostic

If you're new to this, you might think it's a parasitic problem and risk treating your fish with various chemicals, which will only make the external wounds worse. This is why it is better to get information from a fish veterinarian, a specialized veterinarian, before committing to expensive and dangerous treatments for fish. This kind of behavior can indeed lead to their death.

To start, take some water in a clean, sterilized container or jar. The next step here is to go to the nearest aquatic shop to carry out tests on this water with a qualified and sufficiently equipped professional. You will get comprehensive analyzes that will lead to fish recovery.

• Treatment

Depending on the breeding activity, there may be fish that lack a couple of scales. They appear to be dislodged and may have a superficial bacterial infection.

So we need to fix this issue by removing any infected material and treating it topically. As an anesthetic we will use only FACS and as a topical antiseptic we will use an anaphylaxis combination which will be diluted with a little water.

Also, the fish bandage will just add the anesthetic into the water; the latter should be semi-permeable. Solid sides help retain water. This is what we call a koi suck. This helps to transfer fish from one pond to another without damaging them because without strong sides and fins they will come out through the holes in the net.

We can also transport them with a little water so that they can maintain moisture on the skin and gills at all times. Arrived at this stage, we must take the time to check if the anesthesia has had an effect. For example, we can do a small pinch test on the fins of the fish. If he doesn't react to that, he's properly anesthetized for this procedure.

In the absence of light, we can see that there are ulcers on both sides. But what we need to do is remove all the scales associated with the ulcer, which would probably be around four for each of the ulcers. We have to clean it with a topical product and also give it an injection of antibiotics, because at first it looks like something that can get quite unpleasant.

And as we can see, the skin will be completely gone. Only the bony part of the scale will remain. Being a bone-like material, expect healing should not be expected.

We can see where the first scale was removed and what we need to remove those scales as well.

We're just going to use rat-tooth pliers. The clamp offers a good grip. We somehow lift the scale on the front, and there we will come across a pocket below. This is where bacteria can enter. If we don't remove the scales properly and clean this wound, the bacteria will start to invade the part below, safe from any attempt to repair.

This can then lead to more severe ulceration and sepsis which can lead to the death of the fish. When we have sick fish in the pond, it can promote the growth of more harmful bacteria or increase their numbers. So it's important to consider these things early on.

Once we've removed all of the affected scales and cleaned the wound up a bit, that's the perfect time to take a bacterial swab. This swab is from the leading edge of the ulcer which indicates where bacteria are actively proliferating rather than dead and damaged areas where environmental contaminants could grow.

We will put the cotton swab in a sleeve. This one will contain Amy's Charcoal Carrier. This is what we will use for sampling aquatic bacteria. Now that we have taken a swab, we will be able to clean the wound a little more. Skin tags will need to be removed with scissors.

As mentioned above, there are pockets that bacteria could move into, through and under. So we are going to remove all the places where the bacteria can hide. We're also going to use the Fish Bandage, which is this white powder. It is important to be careful while bandaging as there is a risk for whoever is bandaging to absorb the topical medication applied to the fish.

In this case we will use it as an injectable where we spray it topically. The combination of these two products means that the antibacterial will remain on the fish's skin for much longer, preventing secondary bacteria from taking hold.

From now on, each time we are going to resuscitate the patients (fish) after anesthesia , we are going to keep them in a controlled manner, in a trickle of water in an aerated position. This position allows them to have a lot of oxygen to the gills and a good recovery. We shouldn't release them prematurely because they are disoriented and might get pumped and hurt a little.

The most interesting is when we are going to resuscitate the fish after anesthesia or some other procedure. It's always interesting to know which patient is approaching the other fish, then to monitor them. Sometimes they can nudge the fish to help it revive much faster. Some fish take off and spend as little time as possible nearby because they don't want to be the next to be caught. But very often, especially with koi and goldfish, we can notice that there are some of their companions who really approach. You have to inspect them, nudge them and move them forward.

Prevention

Poor quality food can lead to a drop in pH. This creates irritation on the skin of the fish. This is something to be careful of; especially when the PH dropped below five, then it damages the organisms or bacteria in the filter. In these cases, there may be peaks of ammonia or nitrite. Under these circumstances, nitrite and ammonia levels should be monitored for the next 3-4 weeks, at least every other day.

Reducing pond fish feed is important, as this should not be treated as a new tack syndrome or DuPont syndrome, where the biofilter is essential in some way. So we have to watch the ammonia.