Me and my big mouth

[Merlin]

What was I saying theother day about not having any problems with the pond.:sad: , Just checked up on the koi when I got in this evenning, only to spot one of my favourtites with what looks like popeye :sad: . The scales are not raised and he seems to be swimming ok. I checked the water paramentors yesterday and apart from the ph being a little high ( did a partial water change, to bring it down) the rest of the tests were fine.

Here is an old pic, I will take another tomorow.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/Chateauwizard/Picture404.jpg

[Jackie Ramo]

Lovely fish Merlin. With the temps outside, even there where there is no snow, you'll have to bring it in a warm it up. Nothing will work unless the immune system can kick in.

Start out with water from the pond since its good and let it warm up to room temperature, enough salt for stress and let's see how he is.

[ozzyrockman]

Merlin, follow what Jackie has said so far. It is not too late and it does have a very good chance that it will be ok especially since it does not have a bunch of raised scales and living in poor water quality. Do you have a way to qt it? Allen

[Terri]

It's possible that this is not a prelude to an infection, it's that time of year Merlin and with temps going up and down as spring tries to sneak up some individual fish may show signs of swollen eyes.. it's temporary... stable water parameters along with warmer water helps.

There are parasites that can effect the eye, usually you will see a cloudiness in the pupil. Salt addition(above 0.3%) can cause the eyes to 'pop' in some individuals. Fluid retention due to internal parasites or bacterial infections(again cloudiness of the eye is an indicator). Injury to the eye may cause swelling.

Is it just one eye or both? Is the swelling minor or quite noticable?

Sorry, not much help....

[Merlin]

Ok just got in from work 19.31, three hours later than I should have been home :( so no photo tonight.

It is in both eyes, no raised scales and he is swimming ok. My qt is outside and was emptied and cleaned prior to the cold weather ( did not think I would need it for a while), so might try and rig up something in my conservertorty to keep him in for a few days, I also have an extra air pump that I can rig up. I will post a photo am tomorrow, and would be greatful for any opinions.

Jackie sorry for the delay on the other item, I should have it all edited by monday, ready to post.

thank you all for the advice.:-)

[Jackie Ramo]

No worries, Merlin. Look after yourself and your fish a few days here or there will make no difference.

Post a pic when you can. but as you can see the vote says, bring him in.

[Merlin]

Hi all well the salt seems to have done some good, his eye's have gone down quite a bit. I have made up a temp home in my conservatory for him, so he is in 200 gallons, I have left the heating on in there and the water temp is a comfortable 67 Deg. Salt at 3%.

What do you think http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/Chateauwizard/Closeup.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/Chateauwizard/050312084518.jpg

Even while neted he could not resit the morsel of food that I had in my hand ( might have something to do with the fact it had a the smell of garlic on it :-) ) I placed a small amount of pellets in a jar with a clove of garlic and gave it a good shake .

[Terri]

Well Merlin, that's good news :grin:

He(she) looks quite healthy, nice clean white, no streaking in the fins, obviously a healthy appetite! With that quick of a turn around, I don't think you have an infection going on there.

(I hate to say this but I don't see swelling in the eyes?)

[Ron C]

She is looking really good Merlin. Who did the suture job on her pec fin? They done good...

[Jackie Ramo]

I agree,I think he looks great, just wanted some special treatment !rofl What is the temp of the outside pond? BTW it is much easier and cheaper to heat the water than to heat the air. An aquarium heater 300 watt will heat that tank.

Ron I think that is the edge of the net, at first I thought it was stitches as well.

[BonnieIN]

Merlin so glad to hear that he is improving.
He's a beaut!

Bonnie

[Merlin]

Hi Ron , Jackie is correct it is a bit of net that you can see, even I am not that good :D . Anyway when I got home on Thursday, The Koi in question ( Snowplough as I call him) I was sure that his eyes were quite puffy, the first thing I did was raise the salt level.

Ok I must admit I did not manage to net him at the time, so maybe they were not as bad as I first thought. The second thing that made me panic a little was that he had taken to staying behind the reed tub, this is something Lucky used to do. ( will tell you about her shortly). I have this feeling that when a fish is ill, it likes to be left alone, and will hide out of the way of the others.

I have two Ogans in the pond, and their eyes are totally different, where Snowplough has the raised area above the eyes with the yellow marking, the other one as I have just realised does not. So maybe I panicked, OK yes I probably did panic. I have just checked Snowplough again and he seems quite happy, so will leave him in the temp qt for a few days to make sure.

When Lucky was brought to me I was unaware of how ill she was, and was upset that I lost her, I suppose now I am just a bit jumpy, and the slightest thing that does not look right in the pond is making me edgy.

Anyway Hopefully it was just me over reacting. I am working on a post about lucky for those that do not know her story, and will post it soon.

Merlin now feeling a bit foolish. :uhoh:

[Ron C]

Merlin,
Don't feel embarrassed. What you did was the correct thing. You saw something that didn't look right and you took action and posted. Kudos to you!!!!

[Busy B]

I agree with Ron! Your a good daddy! :grin:

[Terri]

I think so too :-)

[Jackie Ramo]

Merlin, whether Snowplough's eyes were protruding or not, hiding behind anything or isolating is definately a sign that a fish isn't up to par. You noticed this and that is good. Observation is key to keeping fish healthy.

[Merlin]

Jackie it is one of the things that did sink in since I joined the Koi forums, the question " did you notice anything different in their behaviour " was asked in the majority of posts where someone had a problem with their fish. :-|.

My feeling is if I can spot anything different with my fish, I stand a better chance of doing something to help them if there is a problem. It took my work with Lucky to teach me that if I can identify a problem at the start, then I stand a better chance of getting the treatment right. I screwed up with Lucky, I thought I had all the answers, when I had none. I took her to a vet that was totaly useless, I did not check on how much he knew about treating fish, I was just trying to pass the problem on to someone else. A lot of the replies I received on KP were way above my head, and I was drowning so the easy way out was to take her to a vet.

I have learnt a lot since then, ok in Snowploughs case I think I panicked, but I still have one hell of a lot to learn, and that is my excuse and I am sticking to it.

[Busy B]

One thing about you is you don't give up...gotta hand that to you..I'd be a happy fish in your pond.

[Jackie Ramo]

Merlin, what is wrong wth taking the fish to a vet. I've and many others have done so. It is not your fault the vet had no clue and wasn't honest enough to say so. Also, there was never a happy ending going to happen for that fish.

[Ron C]

Hey Merlin let's make a deal, if I reply to a post you do about a koi in trouble, and there is something that you don't understand, send me a pm. I hope I didn't answer you on KP and you felt it was over your head. I don't remember the thread, but I am going to go and search for it to see it. :sad:

[Jackie Ramo]

Actually rather than a PM question it on the board, after all there are probably others who don't understand as well. Sometime terms are used that are new to folks.

[Ron C]

Merlin I read the thread over on KP and that situation would have made most people feel in over thier heads. It was a very sad situation.

[Merlin]

Sory I am late in answering this one, as I mentioned in Luckys thread I did not ask the questions I should have, I knew I was over my head but I let my pride get in the way. That is something as you may now be aware will not happen again.

[Jackie Ramo]

I hope everyone on this board feels comfortable enough to ask a question if they don't understand what is being said. Sometimes misunderstandings can cause a lot of grief for the fish and the owner. Also there is probably more than one person who needs an explanation from time to time so remember to ask for those too shy to post.

[Merlin]

Merlin, whether Snowplough's eyes were protruding or not, hiding behind anything or isolating is definately a sign that a fish isn't up to par. You noticed this and that is good. Observation is key to keeping fish healthy.

Ok now he is starting to bug me :( , stays around the botom at meal times harldley ever see him unless I move a net round the deep part of the pond.

I managed to net him, and scrape him, not a sign of any problem whatsoever :???: . Gonna QT him for a few days just to make sure he is eating ok.

[Jackie Ramo]

Good move. Seems that whatever was bothering him may be getting worse. Any pics?

[Merlin]

Hi Jackie the pics would be the same as the previous one at the begining of the post, he looks and feels fine. Scraped him and felt him all over no admoralities, scales are fine. I just gotta accept that he likes his own company, he is eating ok, comes straight up for food when he see's me nearing the QT. I have purchased some sinking pellets today, just to make sure when he goes back in to the pond there will be food for him, although by his size I am sure he is getting adequate food as it is.

As I did a large water change today ( needed to make it easier to remove some of the fry to the boat) I also did a random scrape on some of the other Koi, all came up clean :) :) :) .

[Jackie Ramo]

As I said in the other thread time for him to return to his buds in the pond. Fish, they can drive you crazy sometimes !rofl

[Merlin]

As I said in the other thread time for him to return to his buds in the pond. Fish, they can drive you crazy sometimes !rofl

!rofl Your right on that score Jackie, I recon they do it just to wind us up :frisbee: well he is back in the main pond, I will leave him be and see how things change when we get the warmer weather.

[Jackie Ramo]

Tweet my spoiled monster doesn't take the cold well. He's outside now and not very happy as the temps dropped dramatically 3 days after he moved to the big pond.... well honestly none of the fish are happy, but he least of all.

[Merlin]

Well he has been back in the pond for nearly a week now ( well I know he is there cos I put him there ) but can I find him :( . Ok panic over he has a new place to hide . The last few days I have seen an excess growth in string algea ( warm weathers coming), and he is now in the shallower part of the pond hiding under the algea. Ok I gota admit I netted him again and did yet another scrape, not a thing to be found, he looks and feels like one healthy Koi. The fact that he does not want to play with the other guys is bothering me though, so I have made an appointment for the vet that came out for lucky, to come out this weekend to give him the once over. There are three fish in my pond that I would realy hate to lose and he is one of them, so I am keeping my fingers crossed .

[Jackie Ramo]

Merlin, I hate to say this but it sound like you may have a Tweet on yur hands, the fish you love to hate. Tweet for no reason is lying on the bottom with his fins clamped until food shows up... or unless he feels like nudging one of the girls... Drives me crazy because he doesn't act like a normal koi is supposed to act. Mind he's been doing this for years and at 15, has managed to get lots of attention for it :)

[Merlin]

You are probably right Jackie, but as I said he is one of my favourites and I would rather be safe than sorry. :) . My darling wife said to me the other night
" I think you worry more about those fish than you do about our children " :frisbee:.

My reply was " our children have all grown up and should be able to take care of themselves , Snowplough is only three years old and he needs his daddy to look after him ". !strut When she stopped laughing she called me a daft bugger and told me to go check and make sure he is OK :grin: . Tracey is not really interested in my pond or my fish, (apart from the fact the pond looks nice in the garden), but she understands how I feel about my little hobby, and realises I will not dig in to the bank account unless I feel I need to, to me that is true love.
( plus the fact I know that if she See's I am worried about one of my fish, then she is worried too ).

[Jackie Ramo]

My dear hubby is much the same. As long as I do the work he is quite willing to enjoy the pond. If something heavy or two will do a better job he will help. He helps catch the fish and cart the tub :grin:

I will admit he doesn't like me to go to the fish store alone!! not because he looks at the fish, he's only watching the wallet !rofl

[Merlin]

Hmmm ! first of all I think I need to get my books back out :sad: I missed a vent on Snowplough, he is not a he , she is a she :frisbee:. Ok it is easy to make a mistake :grin: . Apart from a case of mistaken identity, the vet can not find anything wrond with her either , well apart from the fact she may be pregnant :-).

He recons the best thing I can do is get hold of some spawing material as it would seem she is looking for somewhere to lay her eggs .

[Jackie Ramo]

:lol: Well at least you can know that she's is fine. I've heard of people just using cedar boughs for spawning but I guess it depends on whether you want to keep the spawn or not. New mop heads work well or so I'm told.

[Merlin]

Jackie when I fist got Snowplough she came with a few other friends from my mates pond, I did the initial check when they arrived as he was unsure to what sex they were, how I missed the second vent I do not know :wink: .

It seems the vet was spot on with his diagnosis though, I have seen a large growth of string algae round the front of the pond over the last couple of weeks, and decided to thin it out a bit. only to find snowplough quite comfortable swimming in and out of it. Maybe I will not have to look for some spawning mat, as nature has already given me one. :). The other Koi seemed quite happy with the reeds in the pond to spawn, obviously Snowplough was not. I have been out in the garden all day today pottering about and she has been up and about most of the day, she even came and took some food off of me, so I am one happy bunny again.

[Jackie Ramo]

Sounds like Snowplough is her own fish and is independant. I have a soragoi like that, She is interested in food. and only food, if I have food it is good if I don't have food don't bother her. At first this concerned me but I realize now she is just doing her own thing.