Treating external infections and wounds on your Koi & Goldfish
Fish live in an environment where bacteria are always
present. Healthy fish living in healthy water conditions have a special slime
coat designed to protect them against infections. Bacterial infections are
almost never a primary cause of disease. When parasites, physical
injury, or poor water quality damages a fishes skin, fins, or gills you can bet
that external bacteria infections will eventually show up. An additional
important consideration is water temperature. At water temperature below 65
degrees a fish’s immune system is greatly reduced and below 50 degrees it is
almost nil. To successfully treat an external infection you must have water
temperature above 65 degrees at minimum and 75 degrees would be much better.
This is another reason to have a quarantine tank that can have it’s water
temperature maintained at 75 degrees at all times. If you are continually
treating external infections you must find and eliminate the primary cause/s. In
order of probable primary cause look for:
1)
Poor water quality could be due to high ammonia, nitrites,
D.O.C.’s., dirty filters or
pond with lots of decaying material,
or low oxygen levels. Larger filter system and or
better maintence.
2) Skin or gill parasites – must be identified and treated
specifically
3)
Rough or sharp objects in the pond that fish can rub against
– eliminate.
4)
Immune deficient fish due to liver or kidney damage or
internal infection.
Once you have checked for fish parasites and tested your
water and everything is fine. Then you should be able to treat you fish’s fin
or skin infection easily. If external infections are detected early, prompt
wound care and topical disinfectants work very well. Here is an effective method
to administer effective first aid for skin or fin infections.
1)
Use surgical gloves.
2)
Gently catch the infected fish and use an anesthetic to put
it under so you can work on it.
3)
Gently place the fish (wound side up) on a plastic bag molded
to hold the fish in place and keep it’s skin and gills moist and not damage
the slime coat on the rest of the body. Your fish will be just fine for at least
ten minutes under these conditions.
4)
Use a paper towel to gently clean and dry the affected fin or
wound area.
5)
If there is a lot of infection material present thoroughly
clean area with hydrogen peroxide but be sure it does not get into fish’s
gills or eyes. Clean entire infected area including under each affected scale
with a disinfected fingernail cleaner to remove any pockets of infection.
6)
Use topical disinfectant such as iodine on a cue tip to
drench the affected areas and allow to dry briefly. You may want to use a hair
dryer set on cool to speed up the process.
7)
Move the fish into a clean container with aerated pond water
until it revives and starts swimming. Then return the fish to a heated
quarantine tank or pond if temperature is warm enough.
8)
Closely observe daily to be sure the wound is not getting
worse. Feeding is a good way to get a closer look at the treated area. Healing
should be visible in 3-7 days depending on the water temperature. Do not reapply
disinfectant or re-clean wound unless healing is not apparent after one week.
Fish heal by having a thin clear fragile membrane like layer of skin grow over
the affected area. Try not to net or otherwise damage the healing area. Slowly
the affected area will turn white, which means it is healing - leave it alone.
If after one week the area looks worse or shows indication of bleeding you will
need to repeat the wound treatment process but this time be sure you do a really
good job of cleaning and disinfecting the affect areas.
NOTE: A new product has recently become available that is a potentated anti-bacteria dip. It is called TriCide-Neo. It is purchased as a packet of powder that you mix with distilled water. You place the infected fish into this aerated mixture for about 5-10 minutes or less if it becomes highly agitated. You are directed to redip the fish every other day in the same mixture until healed. An additional bonus is you can use this same mixture to dip multiple fish if necessary and it also claims to treat gill infections that cannot be treated topically with a disinfectant. It also would seem to hold promise for dipping new fish and fish returning from a show. TriCide-Neo is available from several larger pond & koi dealers. I definitely plan to try it myself. Here is a link to some additional information about this product.