white blisters that I don't think are ick?

[topofthehill1]

PH: my test kit only goes up to 7.5 and thats what it reads. I guess it might go higher but I don't know.
Temp: 62 F Central New Jersey.
Amonia 0
Nitrate NO3: 10ppm
Gallons 900 very rough estimate.
Filtration homemade bioballs, and mechanical. UV light which I just plugged back in today. yes its probably underfiltered but I was postponing until next summer.
Fish load: I have 2 koi about 10 inches long and 2 koi about 6 Inches long. I also have about 14 assorted goldfish average 5 inches. I have kept aquarium fish for well over a decade but this is my second year with the pond. I actually haven't seen a fish with ick in years and I don't think this is what I remember ick looking like.

So today I noticed my favorite of the goldfish had some kind of bump on his head so I netted him out put him in a goldfish bowl and took these pictures. I then drove him two minutes down the road to the local pet store. Luckily the only guy whose knowledge of fish might be close to mine was working and he said add salt and see if he gets better on his own, do 10 percent water change. He said he had no idea what it was. Well at least he is honest and didn't try to sell me stuff I didn't need. I put the fish back in the pond and added 8 cups of pond salt. I do not have a hydrometer. Attached are the photos. I took in the fish bowl. I could quarantine him if people think that is advisable. Thanks for any help.

 

[Dave 54]

Sadly uopur goldfish bowl doesnt really allow for a total look at the fish in Question it looks to be slimed up possible due to the salt are there anymore small white bumps on the fish ?
I'd go with whitespot as my first guess ickl or ich as we call it ?
Your gong to have to treat the pond as well if it is ich but need better shots of the fish to acctually say yeah or nay

rgrds

Dave

 

[topofthehill1]

Dave,

Thank you for your reply. I was unable to locate a clear bowl at the time. That bowl distorted the fish a little. The fish is back in the pond right now. I will try to take a couple more photos.

The rest of the fish looked normal to me. The photo was taken before the salt was added so it may be a little slimy. The bumps that I'm concerned about is the bump above its left eye in the photos. Its still eating normally. I do have a hurricane due to hit tomorrow or Tuesday so I would like to start some kind of treatment.

A couple of other small and possibly related thoughts I had since my initial post. I did find a leach about an inch long in the filter when I rinsed it out. I don't know how it got there but I don't see any leaches on the fish. I have a bullfrog who resides in my pond and the other day I noticed the bullfrogs eyes looked cloudy. I dont know if they can bring in disease or not. One of my butterfly koi looks like his fins are frayed more than they should be. I doubt any of this is related but thought I would mention it.

Thanks,

Travis

 

[fishin4cars]

Travis, It appears to be a skin infection, could be fungal, could be baterial, could be stress due to a water condition, The salt treatment can't hurt. Water change, Can't hurt either. Warming the water If that is possible caould possibly help as well. But it would need to be held steady at 70 degrees or higher to do much good.
I can see some growth on the forehead, The primary growth appears to be head growth similar to an oranda, The white seems to be attacking that. If that is the case the best treatment I have ever seen is salt dosing. BUT, now you say a fish has frayed fins, This throws up a red flag to me, You don't have what your GH, KH, nitrite, readings. Also you have a PH reading but is this steady or does it fluctuate from morning to evening? With heavy rain on it's awy in I would be checking KH and make sure it's 100ppm or higher. This will help slow any PH swings due to the rain coming in. Also if it is PH fluctuation that is just starting to show up causing all this it will help eleminate that some. I would not traet the pond with medication at this time unless you can get a skin scape and get a microscope and 100% identify what is going on. Your Petshop sales person may have actually given you the best recommendation even though he didn't know the answer.

 

[topofthehill1]

Thanks for the reply. Its still eating normally today. I don't have a way to warm the water that high. Yes it does look like a growth to me. You are correct that I don't know my GH, KH or nitraite readings. I also just bought the ph kit when I saw the frayed fins thinking maybe my ph was too low as I had seen this happen before in old tanks with low ph and high ammonia. When I saw the ph was at least 7.5 I figured that probably was not the cause. Now that you mention these things I think I have some test kits to go buy. I will test for ph fluctuation now. Thanks for giving me a direction to start in.

 

[topofthehill1]

Just wanted to follow back up that I tested today with API individually package test strips. I could not find the individual tests bottles. All the fish have stopped eating after the hurricane blew through despite the water temp only dropping a couple of degrees. The ph does drop at night by about .5 The general harness is 180 ppm. The test strip does not go higher. The KH is 40 ppm. Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate is still about 20ppm. The growth is not getting any bigger and I will start adding some baking soda to raise the KH. I appreciate your help. I think your hunch was correct.