Common Koi or Goldfish Health Concerns | Dropsy or Pine Cone Disease
Dropsy Can Eradicate Whole Koi Collections
Dropsy is a term used to describe the swelling of a fish's body. This causes the scales to stand away from the body like a pine cone in the forest, ... this is why it is also called pine cone disease. Once your fish has this disease it normally always kills the koi or goldfish.
Pine cone disease or dropsy is perhaps most common in ornamental Goldfish and Koi carp. If the koi or gold fish fish has a sore, and the scales around the sore, or even on the whole side of the fish, stand up, it doesn't necessarily mean Dropsy is present. These fish may respond well to injections of antibiotics. However if a fish does have fully developed Dropsy then the chances of survival are slim.
In
most case Dropsy is an infection caused by two bacteria strains:
Aeromonas hydrophila and Mycobacteriosis. The former bacteria
(Aeromonas) enters the fishes body through it's intestines during spring
and winter and also through ulcers and bite wounds of parasites like
Gyrodactyliid flukes. The latter bacteria, (Mycobacteriosis) is not
treatable with anything we can commercially utilize. The disease
progresses despite your best efforts, and unfortunately there is no
known way to stop it in ornamental fish".
Dropsy is a serious, and usually lethal condition brought on by stress inducing factors like sudden water temperature changes and poor water quality.
It is far easier to describe the symptoms of dropsy than to identify the specific cause of it. Fish suffering from dropsy exhibit the classic pine-cone appearance where the scales become raised and protrude from the smooth body surface and the eyes may even protrude from the head. In extreme cases, the scales may become reddened through localized hemorrhaging when fluid accumulates within the body cavity.
There is no apparent single cause of dropsy and it usually only affects individual fish. As there are uncertain causes of dropsy, precise treatment can be difficult and affected fish are best isolated to reduce the likelihood of any infection to other fish.
In the UK Interpet Anti Ulcer Treatment treats fish ulcers, bacterial gill disease, dropsy (swollen body), hollow belly and pop eye (swollen eyes) | USA visitors click Pond Care Melafix for the treatment of Open Wounds & Ulcers.
What Do I Do if I suspect disease problems including dropsy.
Test for Ammonia, Nitrite, and pH at a minimum, and preferably also test for Total Alkalinity and possibly Hardness. USA visitors click Tetra Pond Laborett Test Kit | UK visitors click UK Supplies for a selection of online pond water treatments.
Ammonia is lethal in it's own right and even deadlier at a higher pH. The existence of dead fish in your pond will also create further ammonia problems. The pH level of pond water can change overnight if the system loses its buffering capacity (this would show on a test of Total Alkalinity).
If you believe that the pond water is the cause then take the following preventative action immediately. Systematically change 20 to 40% of the total volume in the system but beware of major temperature changes to the system. A small addition of salt at .1% level will also help.