[695pfk]

Hi All,

Can anyone help me please ?

I have an unheated 3,000 gallon pond which is 5ft deep and partially covered during the winter. I have today lost a 6 inch fish with what looks like the "pine-cone" disease - the fish is swollen and all the scales standing up. This is the third fish I have lost since November with the same signs. A couple of other fish seem to have "cotton wool" bits over them. I have seen the occasional fish "flash" during the winter when the weather has been a bit warmer and the fish have been slightly active.

Is it too cold to treat the pond now, and when I am able to treat the pond what would anyone recommend ?

Many thanks for your help.

Paul.

[brettkoi]

hi paul, the first thing you need to do is test your water,it definately sounds like you may have a water quality problem.When you,ve tested the water post the results on this site it will be easier for people to answer your question.the pine cone disease is dropsy or popeye.it is caused by bacteria and is very hard to treat i would remove any fish showing signs of this and quarantine them..if other fish are showing different symptoms it will be down to your water,please let us know the results of your test for nitrite, nitrate,ph,amonia and im sure we can sort out your problem,Also what filter and other equipment are you using? ???

[extremekoi]

Koi rub or flash for various reasons, if the Koi is flashing alot it could be for several reasons including water changes, added salt, blanket weed chemicals, basically any change to a Kois enviroment can make a Koi rub against a bottom drain for example. Other reasons could well be Bad water parameters, ie high nitrie or ammonia, it could also mean the koi is being troubled by parasites such as flukes.

I would check your water parameters first, if all is ok I would take one of your Koi for a skin scrape and treat as necessary. You cant treat your pond if the temperature is below 10 degrees but you can still treat the koi individually by means of a bath. You really need to find the problem before you start treating.

As for the dropsy, it affects the Kois internal organs and has probably already damaged the Kois Liver beyongd repair. Dropsy can be cured, antibotic injection is probably the best method though the survival rate of an infected Koi is probably less than 5%.

The cotton wool is probably carp pox, if it is, its harmless, does it look like a white waxy lump or does it look like fungus ?