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  1. #1

    Suspected swim bladder problem - any advice?

    Hi All,
    Can anyone help with some advice please?
    I think one of my Koi has a swim bladder problem. It stays down near the bottom of the pond all day and only seems to come up to feed. When it does come up to the surface it is swimming in a way I can only describe as looking like it's a lot of effort. The head moves from side to side, and I'm not certain but it does appear that when it stops swimming it starts to sink. It isn't a major difference and if you weren't familiar with the fish you might not notice, but it just swims differently to how it used to, and to the other koi. It is still feeding. I suspect this is some kind of swim bladder issue? Koi has been behaving slightly oddly for 2-3 weeks. I have not scraped any koi recently.

    All other Koi seem fine - water params as normal (PH 8 - 8.2, Close to zero ammonia (between 0 and 0.25mg/l on API test - it never shows any less than this even when not feeding), reading zero Nitrate and Nitrite).

    Pond is ~ 2k gallons, aerated BD to home made pod style filter, then split between aerated K1 and mini-shower with pumice stone. Total of 80l air going in split between BD and K1 filter. Total of 13 koi between 20 and 50cm.
    Will check oxygen level when I'm home, but is normally close to saturation, but never seen it above. Pond is 1.6m deep. Water added through carbon filters and no chlorine present in pond water following dpd4 test. Change approx 10% per week. Very hard water area (West London). Pond is 5 years old. I feed about 150g food per day in summer.

    Now, things that have happened in the pond recently:
    New fish - this one in question was one of 3 added back in May - all Nisai, 40-45cm. Have not had any problems since, not seen flashing etc.
    Back in April one koi seemed to have a scrape on it's side which was a bit red, so I added actiflavine to the pond to try to remove any bacterial issues. All cleared up quickly.
    Blanket weed treatment - did a BWA treatment approximately a month ago at 85% recommended dose.
    Food: About 6 or 7 weeks ago I decided that the koi should probably get a more varied diet than just koi pellets, so started feeding silk worm pupae, meal worms and dried river shrimps. These probably made up 1/3 of their daily feed. Maybe this was too much? I have since cut down and now stopped this, and am currently feeding 1/2 summer food (JPD Shori & Saki Hikari colour mixed) and 1/2 wheatgerm, gradually switching to just wheatgerm by the end of the month.

    I think that's all the relevant information. Does anyone have any advice? On research it seems that the cause of swim bladder issues could be constipation, internal bacterial infection or swim bladder damage. I am planning on feeding some tinned cooked peas (apparently a laxative) and catching and scraping a couple of the other koi to see if I can find any parasites, Do you think I should try to catch and scrape the koi in question? Not sure if stressing it would do more harm than good.
    The other complication here is my UV bulb is old and no longer gets the water very clear. I haven't worried about this over summer, but it means I can't see the bottom of the pond to observe the koi unless it's feeding and comes towards the surface. It also makes catching koi difficult (I realise now this is more than just an aesthetic problem and new bulb should arrive this week so the pond should be clearer by next week).
    Should I add actiflavine to the pond to try and treat any bacterial issues?
    Has anyone got any other advice?
    Thanks for the help,
    Matt



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  3. #2
    Member Rank = Tosai Gomikie's Avatar
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    Hi Matt I had a goromo 6 weeks ago had the same symptoms for 2 weeks and then one day he was ok and has been since .
    mine to look at you would of thought he had swallowed a pebble and really struggled to get to the surface and when he did he was swamped by the rest lol, hopefully yours will do the same and recover , bit of a mine field swim bladder issues.

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  5. #3
    Thanks for the info Gomikie. Did you do anything differently that seemed to fix things or just keep everything the same?
    I've been watching the pond very closely since and have seen a couple of the koi flash... not much but it might be something. Caught and scraped one last night and I can't find anything, but I'm not very confident with the microscope and I'm not certain I'm checking correctly.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mattsville View Post
    Thanks for the info Gomikie. Did you do anything differently that seemed to fix things or just keep everything the same?
    I've been watching the pond very closely since and have seen a couple of the koi flash... not much but it might be something. Caught and scraped one last night and I can't find anything, but I'm not very confident with the microscope and I'm not certain I'm checking correctly.
    Mine had a knock i, but most are bacterial , so i would check nitrite and do a water change if needed mike

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    Also feed less , and keep temp stable,but you might get some else with more info on here.

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  9. #6
    Thanks. Pond isn't heated so there's not a lot I can do about the temperature. Close to zero nitrite and all other readings good as above. I have caught and scraped 3 koi including the one with the problem, and found nothing on it or on one of the others, however I did find 2 skin flukes on the 3rd one (which is the ones I'd seen flash). I don't think this is a major infestation (is it?) but it's 2 more than I'd like and I have some fluke solve, and I'm going to treat with that.
    The koi with the swim bladder problem (I'm fairly confident it is that now) doesn't appear swollen and doesn't have any marks on it, but it does seem to be happier this weekend and was chasing round the pond with the others for most of Sunday, although it did still drop to the bottom a bit and this morning was back on the bottom, I wonder if it's particularly sensitive to cold water, as Sunday was warmer and it seemed happier? It might also be that I bowled and scraped it yesterday which it didn't like much.
    Matt

  10. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion voodoo_15_uk's Avatar
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    Does the fish gulp a lot of air when feeding?

  11. #8
    Hi Laura,
    No, it doesn't gulp air. Does that tell you anything?
    Thanks,
    Matt

  12. #9
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    Hopefully be ok then if perked up

 

 

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