subject: Proper Koi Treatment [print this page] Proper Koi Treatment
It is always possible that koi fish will catch a disease in the pond. Koi owners must be ready to care for them and apply appropriate treatment. An unattended fish afflicted with disease can easily infect others. Fish diseases spread easily if not properly addressed.
Ways of Treating Koi Fish
There are many ways to treat your koi fish depending on the nature of the disease. Some of these forms of treatment are:
Adding chemicals to the pond, which is the easiest way to treat since it does not require too many complicated actions;
Topical treatment with anesthesia is required when the koi fish has an open wound;
If there are systemic bacterial infections, it is best to administer and apply antibiotics.
Factors to consider when treating koi fish
Koi owners are advised that before applying treatment, they must take due effort to evaluate the symptoms exhibited by the fish and conduct a water pH test. This is important because some symptoms displayed in poor water conditions are the same symptoms for other diseases. Also, there is a need to consider the effects of adding chemicals on the biological filter. All these must be factored into the determination of appropriate treatment.
The most accepted procedure is not to feed the koi while the treatment is in the water. Doing so might result to damage on the biological filter. And depending on the kind of chemical introduced, this can also cause ammonia levels to shoot up.
Owners treating their fish must understand that if they put medication in the pond, they are in effect treating all koi even if others do not require it. In this case, it is necessary to do pH water testing and change the water as often as required.
A lot of chemicals cause deoxygenation of the water. This fact alone may require putting in additional aeration. Doing this can also kill free swimming parasites in the pond. Additional treatment may be required to be administered a couple of days apart to ensure that successive hatches are caught.
An ailing koi can also be placed in a small bowl which contains chemical treatment. This kind of treatment is known as a "dip". This can be done for a short period of time and is effective in dealing with a new koi with health problems. You can put it on a "dip" before placing it in the pond.
The isolation box
An isolation box is a quarantine area used to isolate koi with poor health conditions. Isolating unhealthy koi is necessary in order to avoid infecting the others. It is best to administer the treatment when the koi is alone in the isolation box.
Isolation box treatment requires:
An isolation box like a fish bowl or a separate aquarium;
Cleaning and disinfecting the box to avoid aggravating the ailment;
Applying the chemicals needed to treat the koi;
Oxygenating the water in order to retain relative comfort;
Not feeding the fish
Not to add the fish to the pond until you are sure that it is fully healed
Lastly, when the afflicted fish is already isolated, you have to treat the pond and observe symptoms in the remaining fish. When symptoms are still present, isolate the fish immediately in order to prevent the spread of the disease.
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