Simply Koi and More Koi

Hi All
My poor old ghost(22 yrs old) is showing signs of dropsy.She never spawned again this year so was bit on the large size.No uclers or redness but her scales then started to cone out around her backside.The old girl has been like this for a few weeks now,not sulking still eating plenty.Just having trouble going back down after coming up for food.
Last weekend decided to knock her out and have a look.As i lifted her out she seemed to have sacks of water near scales which burst when pressed and as i was holding her it seemed like the pressure was pushing out urine(colour brownish)and as it hit the floor it would produce a foam .Few minutes of holding her no squeezing she lost alot of her size so i put her back in pond.
Coming round and she was back to normal swimming eating,and the burst bubbles never turned to ulcers or infected..
Maybe i should have treated earlier but now she has blown up again and more scales sticking out.Im going to stick her in a q-tank,salt it up but what else.Duncs book says use PHS but the vet only has it in cream form which they use on horses.Dont think that will dissolve.He had a look on web and he has Baytril if i wanna try that?
Will an injection of this,together with heat and salt work?
Should i ask the vet for something different?

Any help would be great.I know she is only a ghost and getting old but if i can help her great
Cheers Darren

Darren

PHS is now banned, i realise some folks were getting it recently but i believe that source has dried up maybe the vet police have caught up with the supplier

i have some a can share if you stilll want to go that route, ( free of course as its my own supply) PM me for this

three things to consider

either your fish is egg impacted and you need to induce in which case you need some CPE (carp pituitary extract ) and induce her

The fish has dropsy in which case you need to get the salainity up to 1oz per gallon preferably 1.5 oz per gallon in two or three equal stints 12 hours apart

last both of the above in which case you need to do both the above

your running out of time as the temps are starting to drop dramatically now. i do sell a spawning kit at £55 again pm me

dunc

Hi Dunc
Think i need to sort out the dropsy first.
Temperature not really a problem ,im setting up a tank in a nice warm boiler house.
So shall i go for just a salt bath.no injections of anything ?
12 hours apart are you saying 12 hrs in salt 12 out and back in salt?
Cheers Darren

Duncan is saying 1/2 oZ /Gall then wait 12hrs add another 1/2 oZ/gall wait 12 Hrs and add final 1/2 oZ per gallon until you have reached 11/2 oz/ gall. Keep fish in this while problem occurs and treat accordingly. Too much salt in one gi may lead to osmotic shock.

Stuart

Hi
Cheers Stu,now i see reading duncs post again
Will get it going tommorrow and put her in afternoon.
Darren

StuW wrote:Duncan is saying 1/2 oZ /Gall then wait 12hrs add another 1/2 oZ/gall wait 12 Hrs and add final 1/2 oZ per gallon until you have reached 11/2 oz/ gall. Keep fish in this while problem occurs and treat accordingly. Too much salt in one gi may lead to osmotic shock.

Stuart

correct its about climatizing the fish nice and slow

Hi;

How are things going? It always amuses me when the wet has to look on the net for advice on the choice of antibiotic.

Baytril is a good antibiotic but over use/abuse has led to a high level of bugs, particularly those likely to cause systemic (total body e.g. dropsy) as distinct from localised infections, becoming resistant to it.

A better choice in my opinion would be Amikacin given intra peritoneal, three doses one given every other day. You can get away with alternate day treatment because Amikacin hangs around in the body for a long time. So next time you have the vet round suggest this as an alternative! The other advantage of Amikacin or its cousin Gentamycin is the injection volume is small so if the vet is not happy giving IP injections (because they haven't been to Duncan's much lamented, wet class) they can be given into any large muscle without causing local problems.

Peter

Hi
Thanks for advice peter.She didnt make it.Lasted for 3 days in just a salt tank.Didnt even up the doses of salt like dunc suggested.She seemed settled.The one concern was the amount of bubbles that were being produced just like a bubble bath.
Its a shame she has gone but being around 26'' and only being a ghost i was thinking of retiring her to a small lake(no fishing)so i could lower the stock level and give more space to the better quality koi.

Darren