Koi with injury & swim bladder injury

[Backyard koi]

Yikes! Found 1 of my Koi stuck in Savio skimmer, unsure for how long, ?up to a day, released into pond immediately & has obvious swim bladder problem & red/orange streaks, red spots on back (some of these are his normal markings I believe as they have been there and stable many years, but they look exacerbated), tail bent upward posteriorly, breathing actively, but ineffective swimming action near bottom of pond. Put in separate tank with pond water & good aeration/circulation & stress coat for a couple hours, then changed water to Epsom salt bath x10 min (1TBLS/5gal), then back to fresh pond water & stress coat + a few drops iodine for a few hours. Fish looks a bit better, actively breathing, still sideways, maybe looking for food, but could be gasping / detoxing. Put back in main pond to avoid ammonia toxicity in 15 gallon tank as I do not have filtering in the hospital tank - ammonia up to 1 (!), but 0 in main pond, pH 8.0 in both, recent GH 200, KH now =100 (all drop tests). Water temp 25C. Pond ~6000gal, 12 koi - aware that is at limit for pond size, running 10+ years, has lots of plants & large separate filter box with brushes, 5 filter panels + 7 double sponge filters.
So anything else I can do to help injured fish?? Plan to repeat an Epsom salt bath in 24 hours. Saw some videos online about relieving swim bladder problems with needle (I am a medical person) behind pectoral fin? But think handling may be more stress. Fish also with cloudy eye, but that was not there the day prior. I have Melafix & or antibiotic, Stress Coat, Epsom salt available. Haven’t fed yet, but wonder if small food at some point (after 24 -36hrs? Wheat germ or flakes instead of pellets?) would perhaps give energy for healing? It appears to be looking for food at pond bottom. Any help much appreciated!!
First 2 photos today, 3rd photo a few years back/healthy.

 

[Tula]

I don't have any medical advice, but I'm sorry this happened. I made a simple skimmer guard for my Savio skimmer by cutting a 1/2 inch piece of pvc and kind of jamming across the opening.

 

[Backyard koi]

I don't have any medical advice, but I'm sorry this happened. I made a simple skimmer guard for my Savio skimmer by cutting a 1/2 inch piece of pvc and kind of jamming across the opening.

Thank you.

 

[Laaf]

I am sorry. I am sure this is traumatic for you too. Your fish has a trauma, not an infection. So I would not give antibiotics.

Does it have a swim bladder issue or a spinal injury limiting it's movement and position? I would not put needles in it since that can introduce infection and it is not clear air is the problem.

Fish can recover from serious illness and injury. It may fully recover with a distinct crooked tail and be able to swim.

At this point I would leave it alone and give nature a chance to heal. I agree handling it may be unnecessary stress, and being in it's home pond with it's family is more humane than an isolation tank.

 

[Lisak1]

I agree with @Laaf - without any sign of infection, I wouldn't give an antibiotic. It does look like it injured it's tail, so that may explain the sideways swimming. Sometimes in these situations "less is more". Give it time to heal and see what happens.

 

[Backyard koi]

Thank you.

 

[Agleason]

So I very recently had the same thing happen to one of my koi. What happened with your koi? Did u figure out if it was a spine issue or a swim bladder issue?

 

[j.w]

@Agleason