Dropsy, or overfeeding? Help!

[Timw7419]

I've got a 11x16x24" pond with 16 fish ranging from 4" to 14". Until yesterday, they were all very healthy (at least I think). All of my pond parameters seem correct (8.0 PH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 3ppm nitrates), and I test regularly, and do water changes on a regular basis. I left for the weekend (3 days) and left a neighbor in charge of feeding the dogs. He took it upon himself to feed my fish also. From what I can tell by the amount of food gone from the container, and excess food in teh filter, he grossly overfed them. When I got back last night, I noticed one of my butterfly koi was severly bloated (down to the scales sticking out). This fish was perfectly fine when we left Friday. The fish seems to be swimming normally, and does not "act" sick. This is the only fish that seems to have a problem. I also see that a lot of my larger sized food is gone too (I feed these as treats to the bigger fish)

It really looks like this fish has eaten a lot of food and cannot get rid of it. Please tell me what, if anything, I can do. Thanks!

 

[fishin4cars]

Pics? If it overfed, stop feeding for a few days, it should return to normal, if it's internal, best bet is try and treat in a seperate tank if your water is that good. You would be better off treating the single fish and if it dies lose one than treat the whole pond, the pond get out of balance, stress the fish, and more things start happening. If it is dropsy the best thing you can do is remove the fish while it's alive, very little chance you will heal it and that may keeep it from spreading to others.

 

[addy1]

Darn sorry to hear, with the scales sticking out it sounds like dropsy. Post a picture if you can. Next time lock away all of the food, they think they are helping.

 

[Waterbug]

Constipation can be a problem, but bloating to the point of scales sticking out seems a bit much for constipation. I don't think it would hurt to feed cooked peas to all the fish on the off chance constipation is the problem.

BTW, Dropsy is more of a symptom than a sickness. Finding the cause is really the only way to come up with a fix. Difficult. I'd be interested in the water test results for KH & GH.

 

[don't ask]

welcome
Timw7419

welcome and sorry to hear about your fish, hopefully everything will work out

 

[Timw7419]

I will get some pictures tonight, and take measurements for the pond too. Just checked with my wife, and no change in appearance, or "activity".

 

[Timw7419]

Here are a couple pics that I think show what it looks like. Sorry for the quality, but I have taken him out of the pond yet, as I don't want to stress him out any more. He was sitting on the bottom when I got home tonight, not moving much, but when the other fish went into the "feeding frenzy" when they saw me, he joined in with them. His condition does not seem to have changed any.

The pond measurements are:
PH: 8.2
Nitrates :15
Nitrites: 0
Hardness: 170
Alkalinity: 180
Amonia:

 

[HARO]

From what I can tell by the pictures, it looks more like a tumour of some kind. Isn't there more of a lump on the fish's right side?
John

 

[Waterbug]

Three days is pretty fast growth for a tumor.

 

[Timw7419]

I don't think it's a tumor. It's a little hard to see in the pics, but both sides are equally swollen. The fish's right side has a red marking, and where the marking is, it is not nearly swollen as much.