Sick Fish

11 years ago

My 12-14" shubunkin survived yet another winter under the ice but now has developed the "bends" where its head and tail bend toward one another on one side. It swims but that isn't a pleasant sight to see.

I know this isn't uncommon, but I have forgotten how to treat it. Please help me with that. Is it always fatal?

Any help appreciated--this is an old friend.
Mike

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Comments (4)

sleeplessinftwayne
11 years ago
Hey, Mike. Sorry about your fishie. There are probably several things that could be wrong if the water quality is good. Most of the time the results are not good but it is worth trying.

Some things that cause a bend are injury, swim bladder infections and vitamin deficiency. There is not much to be done with an injury but there are medicated foods that can supply vitamins and general medication for diseases or infections. There is a separate medicated food for certain parasites.

A friend suggested it might be a severe calcium deficiency and might be helped by addition of a POP slug to the pond. Like chicken soup, it couldn't hurt.
Mike56
11 years ago
Net the fish and inspect him closely for brown veining on its sides and tail. "Brown blood disease" from a bad liver kidneys. They swim like they have a broken back. If that is the case there is not much you can do. I had two koi that developed this one spring.
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First, I'll assume the date on your camera is not set because the photo says 1/17/2009. As far as the "white spot" I can point to several of my fish that look just as bad or worse than that and the source for my fish injuries is the mating season. I have had 4-5 die and a few that are just torn up but slowly starting to heal now since it stopped about a week ago. I'm not saying that this is your problem but it sure looks similar. Have you noticed your fish chasing others trying to trap them by pushing them into something? -Mike
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It looks like two totally different issues to me. Lets talk about the calico first. Goldfish commonly get fleshy tumors and that is exactly what this looks like to me. Fungus starts out as white fluffy looking tufts that quickly turn greeenish because of the algae in the pond. I do not believe that is what this (or the other fish) have. I believe this fish has a tumor of some sort....for which there is no treatment. Its also possible it is carp pox, although that is not very common in warmer summer water....so I am thinking tumor. Don't worry about it...there is nothing you can do for a tumor anyway. The other fish looks like it has slightly raised white patches. That spells out parasite infestation to me, probably colonys of a protozoa-type parasites. Please throw pimafix and melafix away. They do nothing more than smell good and clog up the gills of fish that are already sick. You should probably treat with a chemical such as ProformC....something that contains formalin and malachite green. That will kill the protozoa parasites. But since we don't know exactly what parasites we are without a microscope, we need to assume that it could be ich. Ich is very different from most parasites. It has 3 different phases of it's life and it is only susceptible to parasite killers during one brief period in it's lifecycle. So it is necessary to keep the parasite treatment in the pond for at least 7 days, repeating the dose according to the manufactures directions. Do you know the volume of your pond? And do you have salt in your pond? Salt is not compatible with some parasite treatments.
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What about the heat and the amount of dissolved oxygen in the pond? That was my problem last summer. There was nothing else apparent that could be causing problems. But it was hot hot hot at the time. My big koi was the first to show any signs of stress. After moving him in the house where it was much cooler and setting him up there, he recovered. Since, I have been VERY mindful of the heat, the little pond has a sun shade up over it plus floating plants now.
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I have a 12 year old koi that had a open sore/wound similar in size to the one on your fish. It was at the bottom of it's dorsal fin,on both sides of the fishes body. I removed him from the pond and put him into a container with just enough water to cover him completely. About ten gallons of water. I then dosed the water with Melafix, doubling the amount suggested in the instructions. The second of the two teaspoonfuls of Melafix, I squirted directly onto the sore, using an eye dropper. This did not disturb the fish in the slightest. I added two more teaspoonfuls of Melafix each day for three days. After the third day we could see a definate difference in the wound. It did not look as red and sore as it had originally and seemed to be healing over. Next day, I returned the fish to the pond and treated the pond for parasites. Two weeks later, there was no trace of the open sore/wound, it healed totally and the fish is as good as new. "Horton"
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Debbie Downer
11 years ago
Have you checked your water parameters - that is always the place to start - bad water conditions can be the direct cause of the symptoms or a contributing factor to stressing the fish making him more susceptible to disease. "Brown blood" mentioned above can be caused by nitrite poisoning and "the bends" by nitrate.

This post was edited by kashka_kat on Thu, Apr 25, 13 at 9:44
mgeca
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you for the insights and good advice. My water quality tests just fine. I have netted the fish and see no abnormalities, discoloration, swelling or sign of physical injury. The poor thing just floats on its side with head and tail pointing toward the bottom.

I am a little fuzzy on swim bladder and parasites. I have been on the forum for 8 years, but not recently, so I am trying to catch up.

I did solicit an opinion from a well-respected pond friend who used to be around here, and he added two more thought to the possibilities: spine injury/broken back from rocks and electric shock. He believes shock to be the causative factor.

He said that if it is electric shock the fish will straighten out as the water gets warmer and curl up again when it gets colder. Not much life quality. All I can do right now is try to provide nutrition and watch, if it ever does warm up.

The shock idea is not a bad one. Sleepless has posted stories about electric shock and ponds in the past.

We shall see. I will inform when something happens.
MikeG

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Sick Fish

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sleeplessinftwayne

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