Help?! My first sick fish. I believe Dropsy?

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Hello all!

Please help, I don’t have any antibiotics on hand, and am afraid I am going to lose this guy.

My wife and I just got back from a 4 day trip to Vegas, before we left, everything was fine, all the fish looked great. We are here in Seattle (Zone 8), and have a 2200 gallon pond with 10 fish (4 goldfish, 6 koi).

We noticed this guy was not very social when we returned, hanging by himself in the corner, then sitting on the bottom. We removed him, and saw his scales are sticking almost straight out, and had some “cotton” on his top fin, he looks absolutely miserable. It almost looks like his front fin is bloodied, but I think it is because his scales are up.

We tried do do a salt batch for 8 minutes at .25% in a 10 gallon bucket. He has no balance, and constantly goes on his side or belly up but is still breathing. We have called around tonight, and no place is open that would have the koi antibiotic (is there a different name to ask for?)

All other water is fine, tested PH and alkalinity, and all of our other fish are doing great, eating, flying around the pond as normal.

Please help, as we are hoping we can save this guy’s life and bring him back to good health, but we need some remedy to hold us over until tomorrow.

Do we continue to do high potency salt baths for 5 minutes, then move to a pond water separate quarantine? Leave in salt water?

Ahh, any help is great.

He has since moved to his side and will start swimming again once coaxed. Here are some photos. Please!!
 

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I’m desperate here, I think he/she is on their last leg. Still breathing, but now heavily on its side and even with touching it he/she will not stay upright. Gills and mouth, still breathing.
 
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Currently in 10 gallon bucket of pond water with minor salt level, just put in, has been in 2 minutes so far.
 

mrsclem

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Check with local pet store for tetracycline for aquarium. Not sure if you will be able to find it . Dropsy is almost always fatal. You need to test your pond water as dropsy is usually caused by water quality issues. How do the other fish look?
 
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All the other fish look perfectly fine. We test our water religiously including before we left, and when we returned (Thursday night). Have tested a couple of times again today, all perfect. Can share if needed.

UPDATE: He is still surviving, and has gained a bit of energy as of the last hour. Figured I need to try all I can before just letting him pass.
 
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Looks like Dropsy but coming on in less than 4 days is pretty fast. As the other fish are all healthy I would assume it is not the water. the salt bath you are using at the moment is a good idea. I would just hope that the sick one gets over it himself and keep him away from the others. sometimes fish recover on their own. the fact that it is a bit better is a good sign as that does not usually happen with dropsy.
 
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Dropsy can sometimes be an issue of genetics so there's nothing you can do.
Good water quality testing is important so you can rule out poor water quality as a possible cause.
Water quality is never "perfect" because water quality fluctuates throughout every 24 hour period..
Post the water test numerical test results, including what time the tests were taken and the method used. :)
 

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