Hello, I’ve been working to rehab one of my dad’s koi that we found swimming on its side in our pond. About three days ago, I took to r/koi on Reddit and got a lot of advice, some great, some questionable, and now I’m hoping to hear from the more experienced folks here on Koiphen.
I’m not a koi hobbyist myself. This is my dad’s fish, and he’s had it for about eight years. We moved all the koi into this pond around three years ago after he built it.
My dad is older and has only surface-level knowledge of the internet, so when he told me about the fish, I did the digging. That led me down the rabbit hole of koi care, and I’ve gotten much more invested in this fish than I ever expected to be. I’ve barely interacted with these fish over the years, but now I find myself checking on this one constantly. I know the odds of recovery may be slim, but I want to give it every chance possible.
Initially, I moved it to a 27-gallon plastic tote leftover from our move, thinking it might be something contagious. I made the mistake of not having aeration at first, something I now know was a serious error. Since then, I’ve added a bubbler and reduced its time in the tote to just a few hours each evening when the temperature is cooler. I've learned a lot, but I’m still terrified I’m missing something important.
I don’t believe the issue is contagious. There are no signs of parasites or ulcers like the ones I’ve seen in examples online. Because of that, and because we don’t have a proper hospital tank setup, the fish now spends most of its time back in the pond.
It gets food, pond salt, and starting tonight, antibacterial treatment. A Reddit user recommended an antibiotic I couldn’t source in my country, so I went with a local fish store employee’s suggestion: methylene blue. They were out of it in-store, but I’ve ordered some that should arrive today.
Another Reddit commenter suggested a laundry basket on a shelf, but in absence of materials, I fashioned together a cage made from two milk crates tied to a small plastic box and weighed down with rocks to stay in place. It keeps the fish isolated but still in pond water. I know it’s not a true quarantine, but again, I really don’t think it’s something transmissible. At the very least it keeps it from getting stuck or hurting itself.
A different Reddit commenter also suggested the using a net to help keep the fish upright. I tried a few times with a loose net from an old laundry hamper, but stopped because I wasn’t confident in how to secure the fish without causing more harm. It required applying just enough pressure to keep it from flipping, but not so much that it would affect breathing. Should I try that again?
The fish is eating (with some assistance) and passing waste normally. It hasn’t improved yet, but it hasn’t declined either. It moves less in the cage than it did in the tote, which I’m hoping is a sign of reduced stress or better conditions, but I’m not sure.
One new development is a damaged left eye, which I didn’t notice at first because the fish was constantly floating on its right side. I suspect this was caused by a heron. We lost another koi to one last year and have since put up deterrents, including a makeshift scarecrow.
At the moment, the fish circles the cage counterclockwise while lying on its side. I’ve considered neurological trauma as a possibility due to the injury’s location, but I’m not ready to draw that conclusion yet. My goal for now is to rule out more treatable causes like infection or water quality issues.
Yesterday, my dad, a more experienced friend of his, and I did a water change and cleaned up the filter setup. This morning’s water test looked fine. The pH is a little on the high side, but I’ve read that this is generally acceptable for pond koi.
If anyone here has insight or ideas, I’d be very grateful to hear them.
Below are some relevant images and a video of the pond and fish that may help. (one of them is inverted and I tried flipping it in a photo editor but it didnt fix it so im sorry for that)
VIDEO of Behaviour, taken 4 days ago https://packaged-media.redd.it/ymffw...17200&2b5cb757
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