Help! Beautiful Koi presenting with curved tail and sinking, nose down

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A couple of days ago I found one of my two Koi (Maximus), that live in my 1500 gallon pond (the fish are nearly 20 years old), in the skimmer basket. I have never found either of them in there before. Upon gently settling him back in the pond, he immediately sank to the bottom with his tail curled to the right. Upon testing my water, I found that there were trace amounts of ammonia. I am currently running through a 50% water change.

I have given Maxi two salt baths so far. The first at 1% saline concentration for about 15 minutes and the second two days later at 2% concentration for about 7 minutes. There is little improvement. He does move around some (though he stays at the bottom, arched on his side for long periods) and he eats both algae and some fish food that I have hand-fed him. He was not, however, a huge fan of the mashed peas I offered him. His nose, tail and right fin are starting to look a little beat up from spending so much time on the bottom.

Maxi's pond-mate, Leo, seems just fine. I am feeling more and more helpless, I have read so much on the internet now that I've gone a little crazy. Has anyone ran into these symptoms before and is there ANYTHING I can do to help Maxi? Thank you in advance for your time, advice, and expertise.
 
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Hi, I'm not the one that should answer your question, I just want to welcome you to the Forum!
I'm sure someone will step forward to help you with Max...I'm sure they're gonna ask you if you ran all the tests and what filtration you have etc
 
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Not an expert on Koi, but so far it sounds like it is having a balance issue. Usual suspects is water quality (unlikely in your case), internal infection, or a tumor. You can scrap the koi and look under the microscope to see if you catch something. Medicated food if you got that available. Otherwise it's time to take the fish to the vet.

Which state are you in?

Here is a list of some.

http://www.koivet.com/a_fishvets.html
 

Mmathis

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Just curious, but have you recently had thunder storms with a lot of lightening? I see you are in zone 8B, as am I, and we've had a lot in the past few weeks. There is a theory regarding electrical current causing curved spines.
 

mrsclem

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Have there been any storms in your area with lightning at the time the koi developed this problem? There have been several posts regarding lightning strikes or electrical shorts in pond equipment that result in curved spines.
 

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