We will  discuss this and other reasons one by one and in detail. With these treatments, your goal is to eliminate all parasites, as well as treat for bacterial infections by feeding medicated antibiotic food. The shallowness of the water is important, in that it will force the fish to stay at the surface and not encourage further stress in them trying to swim down. Parasitic, fungal, bacterial, and viral infections quite often result in flashing behavior, as koi try to alleviate some of their discomfort and pain. I use shots infrequently as it is not practical in my situation. Without the use of a microscope to positively identify the culprit, you are forced to guess the cause. These colonies create lesions on the fish’s skim coat, gills, fins, skin, and organs as they eat away at the fish’s flesh. So this first case of Dropsy was caused by parasites and/or poor water quality, followed by a secondary bacterial infection that caused the ulcerations, and thus these ulcerations caused the Dropsy. NOTHING! When you see your Koi jump into the air, they are not playing or trying to catch bugs in most cases. It would be best if each fish could be captured and examined closely, but many folks find this to be difficult. More than that, they will just jump for no reason at all. The first thing you must do is prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is good, and HAS been good. So for now just know that when Koi exhibit some sort of symptom it is most likely one of the above culprits. The slime coat being minimal was the first problem, then the treatments weaken the slime layer further and irritate the skin to a degree as well, but the sun was the primary factor that caused the rash.

There is another tutorial on this site that addresses ulcer treatment in great detail. Fish are doing the same thing by flashing and jumping. Ulcers are usually caused by a bacterial infection invading an area that has been previously degraded or attacked by parasites, physical injuries, or by poor water quality degrading the fishes protective slime coat. The existence of this chemical also hinders the absorption of carbon dioxide from the plants. Well or spring water can also contain some agents that can harm fish as well.

I did have some thoughts as to something in the water parameters, especially pH (because of the afternoon flashing) but I had checked everything and all was well. At this point you may think all is well and pat yourself on the back for a job well done! The key here is not to panic if you do see residual losses. Note that the yellow-white fuzzy colonies may or may not be visible, and when seen by the naked eye are easily confused with fungal disease like Saprolegnia. If you feed a sinking food, as the fish pick it off the bottom, any debris, algae or muck on the bottom can get into the gills as well and cause irritation. However, most likely you will not be able to return the fish to the cold water and will be forced to keep it indoors for the rest of the season until the weather outside warms. (Especially at night and/or warm water above 80 degrees) Another big clue (and little known fact) is if any fish die with their mouth open after death. What I eventually discovered has led me to look at diagnosing fish ailments from a whole other perspective. Another reason for the specific temperature is because in many cases this disease is bacterial in nature and caused by Aeromonas Salmonicida. We won’t get into the exact details of all of this, but you do need to understand how and why this happens. In these cases I would start with low salt ar .1% to help them build more slime.

To locate the exact point for insertion of the syringe, simply draw an imaginary line straight down from the first spine of the dorsal fin to a point just below the lateral line. Depending on the type of food you use, sometimes fish will flash after feeding. Mouth rot is usually caused by a bacteria called Columnaris.

If there is too much of it, it can also lessen the oxygen in your pond. It is most prevalent when acclimating new fish from the shipping bags to the pond or quarantine tank. Let's face it, we are not going to be able to fix the fish unless we know FOR SURE that the water is good. Many times when a fish lies on its side in the cold water, this is the first sign of hypothermia.

Flukes would be top on the list of parasites. Some can be more resistant to disease for many reasons, like genetics and their environment, to name a few. You can see this more clearly in the video here! It makes perfect sense. So knowing the Koi history and what they looked like prior to the current health issue is again important as you can see. In other words, the addition of the baking soda can at times cause flashing.

I will say this: " Gill "scrapes" are far inferior to gill "snips" and many things can be missed in a scrape. How long can fish survive without a filter? Some people, myself included, have success by surgically removing or scraping the pox. Notice the slightly raised area as shown by the arrows.

As discussed above, I knew these fish had little slime coat when going into quarantine, but by the next morning they did have some. If this is the case, they will show the signs when the water gets the warmest. You can see in the photos below what I mean. I hope, however, that you have found this page simply to learn more about Koi health and not because you are in the middle of a fish emergency. The BEST way to prevent an outbreak is to MINIMIZE the amount of organics in your pond.

This way you can say for sure that the water is, and HAS BEEN good for quite some time.

The fish normally expels excess air from the bladder when it swims down below the surface. This is especially true of non metallic white or mostly white fish. When you see a fish at the surface, not sitting perfectly horizontal in the water, with its head pointing down, and its tail pointing up, and very lethargic and unresponsive, this is usually a sign of a serious bacterial infection. It doesn't matter where you live either! There are others for sure, but in most cases you will find the culprit in the above list. When this happens it irritates the fish as these bugs crawl or swim or whatever to relocate. Below we have listed quite a few of both categories of symptoms. For a hobbyist, I would recommend isolating the infected fish if possible, and heating the water to eighty degrees for two to four weeks to see if any remission is noted. In turn, they will keep on jumping in their pond in order to prevent distress. Refer to “Water Changes” in the treatments section. Many folks don't realize just how common wild mink are in many states. For example, sometimes fish with Costia have little to no slime coat. First of all you have to understand that a healthy fish is watertight.

It is also amazing what a jumping Koi can bust through, so use strong materials to cover them!

Butterfly koi are especially susceptible to injury like this to their fins. Usually the only evidence is maybe a few scales on the ground pond-side, and maybe the tail of the fish. However, if a given gill fluke is making its home in the gills during summer, it will move to the body of the fish or some other locale that is more conducive to protecting from the cold. Have you added anything to the pond like water conditioners, algae treatments, multiple doses of baking soda, salt, or anything? "Pineconing" (scales standing out only) (no bulging eyes, resembles and open pine cone). You really do not have much to worry about as the causes of this behavior can be a good thing and a bad thing (even if it is a bad thing, it is not the worst-case scenario) So why do koi fishes jump? Treating these types of fish is hit or miss, and in most cases it is not commonly cured. At times I have even maintained as high as .8% salt in the system in the most advanced cases. Excluding true sudden death cases, the fish will ALWAYS exhibit symptoms anywhere from a few days to a week in advance of death. Some gill issues are subtler than others. If you don't know what these are then you need to first read the article 'The Science of Water" before proceeding any further. It is a little known scientific fact, that the strain Salmonocida are the only strain of aeromonas to actually CAUSE the ulcers to form on Koi. If only one or a small percentage of fish show symptoms, and these symptoms appeared over a period of weeks, (one fish at a time), and the water tests ok then the culprit is more likely to be pathogens like bacteria or parasites, especially the latter. This of course is not the ideal way of doing things, as it is much better to know exactly what we are trying to kill. These are just some of the most common, but there are many more depending on what part of the country you are from. If no ammonia was present then check the nitrite (with an "i" not nitrate with an "a").