Make a Complete First Aid Kit For Koi and goldfish.

[Dave 54]

Over the years we have put together what we think is a pretty good first aid kit for our koi.
I think you'll find this just about covers it but if we have missed anything please let us know.
The interesting thing is that we put this together prior to reading Duncan Griffiths book Step by Step Advanced Koi Diagnoses and Treatments (Everything you need to know to successfully treat your koi)
Even though he recomends up to five kits we found that we had mirrored some of them in our our own kit.
Some things have been adapted from other uses
Aluminium case with divders
Arm length QT gloves.
Magnifying glass,with LED lights. >>>
x20-x40 pocket microscope, x60 Jem mocroscope ***
Infrared Thermometer(can give you a false reading if kept in your pocket)..........
Floating bath thermometer/clock (negates the above problem)>>>
Pen (note taking)
Note pad (note taking)
Tooth brush. >>>
Tweezers.(straight).
Pipette.
Card for taking mucus scrapes.
Tweezers.(angled).
Syringes & needles for injecting antibiotics.
Sharps Box for disposal of used Syringes
5 ml babyspoon and measure.
Latex gloves.
Rubber gloves in case of Latex alergy (shoulder Length)>>>.
Purpose made koi gloves (Arm Length).
5 ml syringe.
Potasium Pernanganate.
Antiseptic hand gel.
Superverm (organo phosphates Please note this is deadly to goldfish and is only used on koi)!!!!!!.................
Acriflavin.
Iodine.
Fish vitamins ( NTLABS KOI VIT'S).
Cotton buds.
50 ml syringe.
Orabase.(human/fish treatment cross over)
MS222 Fish anesthetic.
Propolis spray.
Acclimitol fish de-stress.
Aqua gel (direct Antiseptic gel).
Malachite Green.#####
Formalin.~#####
Melafix #####
Special powder.
Test kits.(whole range of).
ph Pen
Koi health booster.
Algazin P.
Digital scales.
Hand held digital scales (for weighing fish, baggage variety)>>>.
Weighing net (from course fishing equipment)>>>
Timer (for short term dips)>>>.
Scissor's.
Treatments chart.
Scalpels.
Bone cutters.
Slides.
Bicarbonate of Soda
PH Pill (Medical grade only)
Acetone bottle
Flubenol Flubendazole 5%
Hydrogen Peroxide
Koi Clear Gel (keep refridgerated)
Saline eye wash pods 20 ml x 3 (wound wash)
Set of metal messuring spoons .63 ml, 1.25ml, 2.5ml, 3.75ml, 5 ml, 15ml (for precise messurement of clays etc)>>>
Stytic Pencil to close off small wounds during surgery
Solar Powered Calculator
Bresser Biolux NG x40 - x1024 incl PC Ocular ***
Oral syringe for administering food or antibiotics orally ***

>>> = Adapted from other uses.
*** = Note. recently added/evaluating.......
#### replace every year the trick is dont buy more than you need use smaller bottles
The kit is being updated periodically as we find things that are of use to the welfare of our koi,





rgrds

Dave

 

[DrCase]

If i ever have trouble I'm going to wish you were my neighbor

 

[fishin4cars]

Great list, BUT>>>WHAT IS HALF OF THAT STUFF? Propolis spray, special powder, MS222, Some of that is only going to be available in your particular area, Just my opinion, but, wouldn't it be better if some of this was broken down and told what they were needed for, or possibly what exactly they are and if there are options out there for substitution. What is most important to have on hand and what can be added as you grow your kit. I'm not saying I don't agree with the list, for someone that is advanced and serious this is a great list of supplies, but for the average person I doubt 1 person here but you has 1/10th of that on hand. I'm just starting to really get a little more serious about building a first aid kit and there are a lot of good pointers in that list. but some are very much optional until you get the basics first.

 

[Waterbug]

I was looking for my bone cutter just the other day.

 

[Dave 54]

Mant thanx again for your vote of confidence Dr Chase, Waterbug glad to see you have a set of bone cutters and perhaps other things ( your more than welcome to use this)...
Fishing4cars much of what is in the list is self explanetary
Propolis is a by product of a bees hive and is the reason their hives stay so health as it is a natural disinfectant.
It is used to disinfect wounds on the koi/goldfishes body available from health food stores.
You can use liquid Propolis mixed with pellets to feed your fish as a health tonic.
MS222 is aailable off the net and is one of the better anesthetics....
Things such as tooth brushes are used to gently scrub seious wounds on koi and goldfish back to clear skin you need to make the fish bleed slightly doing this .
Stytic Pencil to close off small wounds during surgery is used to corteriise wounds in much the sameway, as it does if we cut ourselves shaving......
Scales are used to mesure out clays etc.
The luggage scales and couse fishing net are used to give you an accurate body wieght.
Algaziin disinfects ponds and QT tanks and can safely be used in conjunctoin with Malachite Green and Formalin for treating your fish the Pipette is used to suck up water for test kits
The special powder is a mixture of 5 differnt clay and medicated clays used on your pond and give valuable trace eliments and a boost health wise.
Much like in the growing on mud ponds the Japanes use.
Orabase is a human/fish cross over treatment and is used as a barrier after cleaning and treating wounds (I wont say where we humans use it but you can guess)lol.
The scalples, scale lifters etc are use in minor operations on your koi parring away dead tissue etc.
Hydrogen Peroxide we use to negate Potassium Pernanganate after treatment in Pond.
Cotton buds are used to dry a wound prior to teatment after being flushed by saline solution.
There are various measuese for clays
Syringes for chemical treatments and are used as a more accurate measure than the little measuring cups you get on bottles of chemical treatments, not mentioned here are the insuline syringes for injecting antibiotics ( however I have a treatments chart for that now and will be evaluating that later after I have had supervision by our clubs Medical officer former Chair of the British koi keepers Societies Health Standards committee of which are bless as having himas a club member.
He in turn gives me chance to make my own mind up and will only point something out if I miss identify say a parasiteor bacterial infection something of which I'm eternally grateful to him as it allows me to make my own mind up.
However much of these items are the basic's that you will need, if you disagree with the list you are more than welome to say so and perhaps might have other ideas ( I'm open to suggestions as are you Waterbug and Dr Chase)it's just items weve found very useful over the years.
I've since broken down this list into three other aluminium cases one the same size as the one mentioned here, plus two smaller ones which I will go through in due course.
The
calculator is there because I am unable to see math in the same way as other people(its a form of dislexia) that has bugged me all my life.....
With the MS222 it gives you about a five or so minute window in which to treat your koi/goldfish before it starts to come round again, Homefer I have founda alternate way of anethetiziing our fish on a longer term basis which at some stage I'll be looking into.
It brings most fish keepers out of the so called Dark ages, however practise makes perfect, and I know I keep hammering on about health books but when read, everything from identification to treatments comes in especially useful to us all.
I suggest to everyone, build a first aid kit just like we use one on our selves ( but for fish instead ) even if its only basic they are god sends.
Fishing4cars does this all help in explaing things, try using lateral thinking over things you'll see things much more clearly as what is needed........

rgrds

Dave

Further not mentioned we find a baby mat ideal for plcing your fish on when under.
A Wet towel is used to wrap the fish apart from the affected area.
Remember always wet your hands when handling any fish, so as not to damage the mucus membrane.......

 

[Dave 54]

Sorry about the miss-spelling on that post Morphine tends to make me miss things that I normally would see dear me I'm embarased

rgrds

Dave

 

[addy1]

Is ok Dave, I miss-spell and I am not on anything. Try to re - read post before hitting send still miss things.............

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Hmmm. and to think I'm not even sure I have any band-aids in the house??? :redface:
I did however just recently take a first aid course, problem is we didn't cover how to administer CPR to fish should they have cardiac arrest.

 

[Dave 54]

Mucky in reply to this many moons later fish indeed can and do suffer cardiac arrest and die lol they tend to go stiff as a board apprently and that how you tell what they died from pre rigor mortis .

rgrds

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

As I have said before we are always on the lookout for new things to add to our first aid kit.
As you know Val has just had a gastric b-pass operaton which means from now on she has to have either liquid or soluable medication.
Well taking her paracetamol medication by oral syringe she had a brain wave .
The size and shape of the syringe would be perfect for administering medication in the form of antibiotics or in force feeding large koi or goldfish that are refusng through illness to eat.
I must say I have to agree 100% with her thinking on this.
So we'll put a spare one into the first aid kit for further evaluation if and when a situation arrises when we have need to use it.
As you know this kit has been put together over the years and this is the type of double useage of human to koi thatwe are talking about, so if anyone does go the whole hog in treating your fish on a more profesional level this is the type of sideways thinking you should use ask yourself Can I se it fr my fish , if your answer is yes then ut it in your first aid kit

Dave

 

[Lisak1]

Thanks for the list Dave - I'm glad you brought it back to the top with your addition!

I will admit I read through it and was a bit overwhelmed. What might be helpful for beginners (like me!) would be to have a list that was broken into "must haves", "should haves", "nice to haves" and "extras when you get the first three components". Like, do I really need three different pairs of gloves? Or what if the list were broken down into specific problems - "think you have a parasite problem - you'll need this". Or "fish has a scrape - you'll need this". We've been lucky in that our fish have been relatively problem free thus far in our ponding adventure, but I do like to be ready!

So, disregarding things like scissors and tweezers which most households probably already have access to, what would you say are the top five things that every pond keeper should have at their disposal? Or top ten maybe? What's a reasonable starting point?

Has anyone ever found a good fish keeping first aid kit pre-packaged on the market? I've looked - never come across anything like that. Hmmmm... maybe a business plan?

 

[Dave 54]

Well for starters this list has been along time beng put together , thingsare thought up kept or cast aside as we getto use them and a
each tool has its own use in the make-up of ou specific kit i;e for the job we want those tools for as such i woulnt know where to start but goinhng to your glove question why so many ?
One pair are heavy duty and as such are used to clean filteres with , other pairs are for handling our koi both op and pre-op
Your going to have to take alook at the list think it through and take from it what you feel applies to your specific needs i'm affraid
Break it down and see what you can come up with

Dave .

 

[bettasngoldfish]

A few items I like to have on hand at all time: Aquarium Salt, Quick Cure (antiparasitic), medicated food (medi-gold from goldfish connection)

 

[Dave 54]

add to that surgical scalple, a set of surgical sissors, cotton buds a microscope along with slides and you have the bare bones of a kit formed , it's now down to you to flesh your kit out for differing purposes like adding a tooth brush to scub away dead tissue.
Or Koi Clrear gell for ulcers, eye wash etc etc if you get where I'm conming from here you build on it .

Dave
PS Bone cutters , gloves hand wash the list just grows

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Yes, The list grows. Funny how that happens

The main problem I had in the past was I kept several medications on hand but most if not all expired before I had the need to use them.

I also have a salt meter and a rounded end pair of tweezers that I feel are important to have on hand.

An extra airpump, heater, thermometer and hospital/quarantine tank are also in my fish emergency kit. I have used rubbermaid totes to keep a fish in temporarily. Works great and doubles as a place to store all the fishy stuff when not in use.