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A fish that pokes its nose into uncleaned muck in the bottom of your pond can get a bacteria infection that can lead to Dropsy. Koi often probe the bottom for food.
A week ago, I found a 2 year old Sanke that was in my upper pond to have Dropsy. I immediatley removed him and placed him into a hospital tank.
I began treatment with Melafix even though it is not the recommended medication. It is what I had on hand. As it turns out, Melafix is good for mild bacterial infections. I think it bought me some time.
After discovering that none of the local suppliers had all the recommended medications I made and inquirey to an expert and found out that Tetracycline, an antibiotic, is good for this.
Pet stores make a fortune out of selling this medication. I went to a local feed an grainstore that sells to people with livestock and bought a 100 capsule bottle for $18.00. this was 1/5th of what the fish stores get for the same product.
I digress; I began treatment with Tetracyclyine as the Sanke was upside down and on the bottom of the hospital tank. He looked like he was about to explode, his body was so large.
2 hours later, he was swimming upright, one day later the swelling was gone and his eyes were back to normal. Two days later, he was swimming normal and eating.
I treated him with the antibiotic for 3 days, doing 50% water changes every day. I also cleaned the filter and gravel.
Today is day 7 and he is doing very well, eating and gaining weight.
What I didn't tell you is that I lost 3 before seeing this one. Unfortunatley, I had so many water plants in that pond that I had lost my daily inspection of the koi.
Lessons learned
Plants are good, but don't lose sight of your koi.
Muck on the bottom can be deadly even though your water chemistry looks good above it.
Clean your ponds bottom and find a cheap source of Tetracycline because you only have a few hours after discovering dropsy before it is too late.
