I noticed that one of my 2yr old butterfly koi had a white blister on top of his tail this morning. When I looked closer, he had another blister on his head and it seemed like some of his scales on the right side were damaged. Does anyone know what this is? I included some photos of the koi! Thanks for your help everyone!
White blisters on my Butterfly Koi
- Thread starter Aypee
- Start date
Aypee said:
I did a search on this forum and copied this response from a former member.
"ok, if it's candle wax looking it's koi pox (carp pox). No cure. Viral. Fish will live and eat perfectly fine, but will be marred by this wax dripping look. Sometimes, when the temps cool, it might appear to go away, and the next spring when temps warm up, the waxy look returns.
ALL YOUR FISH ARE INFECTED, and ALL the fish in your pond are carriers. The others may never show the waxy candle look, but they are carriers. You should NEVER give any of these fish to anyone, as you will spread the virus. Any new fish you introduce into the pond, will be infected and become a carrier as well."
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Man thats a bad thing Sorry for you ! be sure to let use know if you had purchased any new fish latley & if so where from ? How many kois do you have ? where did you orignaly get them also ?
Coolwind
Coolwind
Aypee said:
A Koi keeper has 3 main problems apart from KHV:
Ammonia
Columnaris.
White Spot. and this one is linked to the previous two.
White Spot is a stress related infection - no stress no white spot. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to under stand that one.
This problem has a bacteria back up, these symbiotic bacteria live within the protozoan, alphaproteobacteria (rickettsiales), sphingobacteria, and flavobacterium columnare which enters the proazoan via the cilia. As you can see a cocktail of infection. This why white spot is such a killer. When fish have been infected to a high degree no treatment works - they just die.
White Spot is ichthyophtririus or ich as its sometimes known. It is a ciliated protozoan that encysts under the skin of the fish. These encysts gives the disease its name as they look like small white pin heads.
In Koi infection it mostly, but not always, takes place in the gills, and it's the gill mode that is the killer. White Spot on the gills cannot be seen unless it is tested for and so the wrong treatment is often used and the fish does not die with speed.
There is also a problem with this disease known as asymptomatic carriers, which can remain in a pond for an indefinite period until a new fish is added which are immunologically naive to White Spot will contract the disease immediately.
If a fish is introduced to pond containing an endemic ready infected but asymptomatic group of fish and it survives without treatment then it will have the same immunity as the other stock. However, if the new fish cannot resist infection then will show signs of the disease very soon and give the impression you have introduced an infected fish but in fact it's your stock that are at fault.
Damage to the gills is the main way it kills, but also damage to the skin with secondary infections. In fact, unless you have an epidemic, its mainly the secondary infection which kills a fish even though it may have been cured of White Spot..
Immunity will not show its self in quarantined fish. Fish look very ill with White Spot like us having the flu rather than a cold. Most White Spot infections are brought into a pond by new fish either netted poorly or transported in poor conditions.
An outbreak in a pond with no new fish added indicates the system is at fault and needs sorting immediately, before any treatment starts.
When buying fish, if there is one that looks like its was one number of the lottery win, then there's a good change it has white spot.
Do not believe the magazines and books -White Spot can infect in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. I know I've seen infections in mid winter. All the cold water does is slow down the time from encysts cysts to spores and re-infection.