Hi

So after five months into koi keeping i lost my first fish, my smaller yellow ogon to what i believe is dropsy. (can see the pics below and maybe confirm)

I treated it with salt at .5 and it has hung in their for the last 5 weeks but it just keep getting worse so yesterday i euthanized it with clove oil too put it out of its suffering.

The water parameters all read fine and all the other fish are eating and happy.

What i want too know is whether i should treat the pond with anything and how can i prevent this from happening again ?? , i did disinfected the net and tub with PP just in case.





Cheers
Lee

This can happen, I lost two fish like that ... from what I know it is not really contagious and just a sad ailment that can strike a fish.

Hi Lee

Sorry for your loss. With dropsy there is usually 90% of the time nothing that you can do. It is caused by internal problems.

What happens is that the fish has a internal problem, sometimes a bacterial problem that affects the kidneys. So the fish is taking water in but cant expell the water via its kidneys...

What then happens is the fluid builds up and up, the eyes start to pop out and the scales start to lift as the kois body swells up due to the internal water pressure than he cant release.

Its like me and you dinking coffee, tea and water and not being able to go to the loo...

The reason people say add salt is cause it decreases the amount of water intake of the koi as it raises the osmosis level of the koi and decreases the amount of water it reteains. It thus extends the life of the koi for a few weeks in the hope that it sorts itself out.

If its caused by bacteria then injections is the only thing that can sort it out and even with that it does not have much of a chance of receovery either.

Thanks for the feedback guys, so if i understand that all correctly there is no need for any further treatment to the pond ?

No need but keep an eye on the rest. The first signs are usually the eyes popping out.

In most cases dropsy affects smaller koi. I came across it on 2 occassions and managed to save the last koi after reading up on it and starting treatment early. I used a strong dose of acriflavine and 4 Amikacin shots spaced out every 3 days.

This should help you in future:

Quote :

Acriflavine and Acriflavine derivatives.
Great non-aggressive treatment for bacterial disease, and like potassium and chloramine, cleans up external wounds very well, and can be used with salt. One of the only recognised cures for dropsy when used in conjunction with salt. May be safely overdosed, and whilst at high strengths it will affect your filter, it will not harm your fish. Super one hit treatment for all Protozoa, Costia, Trichodena, Chilodonella and Whitespot when used in conjunction with salt.
Dose – Liquid form use as per manufacturers' recommendations. For Dropsy use at 10 x strength with Salt at 1 ounce per gallon. As powder use at 5gm per ton.
Proflavine Hemisulphate.
Excellent bactericide can be used with salt and, like Acriflavine non-aggressive. Acts systemically, (internally) unlike the drugs above, and can therefore be effective against septicaemia and internal infections, including dropsy. Ideal treatment therefore where antibiotics cannot be used. Like Acriflavine can be overdosed without harming your koi. It’s only drawback is it’s cost and it is therefore ideal for hospital tanks and quarantine systems.
Dose – 4.5gm per 1000 gallons. Use with Salt at ¾ ounce (0,50%) for best results and at temperatures over 16 Deg. C. Repeat treatment every seven days or until symptoms improve. Complete 25% water changes between treatments.

Don't know where to get Proflavine but it should work nicely for dropsy as it acts internally.