Minor Koi Cosmetic Surgery, part II: carp pox removal
I know, I know - carp pox will go away as soon as the water temps warm up. You don't have to do anything! Good as new, right?
This just isn't always true. Most of my cases have been where the carp pox area might diminish, shrink, but NOT GO AWAY. I've had carp pox still remain in 85 deg water - middle of the summer. Go ahead, debate it - I know what I see though.
See part I (Shimi removal) for preparation and anesthetization of the fish. You must anesthetize when doing surgery, otherwise the fish can flop out of your grasp, get injured, go air borne back into pond, or the surgery will be imprecise.
Here are step by step photos of carp pox removal with accompaning comments:
#1-4 - fish being anesthetized.
#5-11 - carp pox lesions to be removed.
#12,13 - sharp surgical-type tools for precise scraping
#14-17 - scraping of the lesions with precise tool using "finger rests"
#18,19 - scraped-off carp pox lesion on finger
#20-22 - lesions after surgery
#23 - Potassium permanganate paste (PP) - fine granules with a couple drops of pond water to be applied with a Q-tip to "cauterize" the scraped carp pox site. Do not make it runny. You don't want it to get on the eyes, gills, inside the mouth, etc. Must place precisely.
#24-28 - carp pox removal sites after cosmetic surgery done and PP past has been applied.
#29 - fish in recovery water
Next are the before and afters that I have so far. I will add more. As most of you know, carp pox often returns, and definitly will if you don't get it all, kind of like a cancer. Carp pox are most prevalent in colder water and many will fade away completely when the water warms. And many will come right back when the water cools. They grow larger and can attach tenaciously, mostly to fins and mouth-nose areas. New small ones can sometimes be scraped off completely with your fingernail; you can injure the fish trying to do that with a larger lesion. Some of the established larger carp pox lesions have been observed to have invaded the fish's blood supply: while carefully scraping carp pox I have seen slight bleeding with in the carp pox itself.
I find carp pox to be annoying, ugly, and deforming - ruining the appearance of otherwise nice looking, healthy fish. Despite not wanting to put any of my fish thru unnecessary stress, I removed then anyway because everytime I looked at the fish who had them, thats all I could see - the **** pox!
I had one fish that died in the storm that had pox very badly. Even during our hot summers, the spots were smaller but they definitely did not go away.
Thanks for posting this. It helps those of us that have never tried anything like this before.
I'd like to see some pics 1 year post treatment. Carp pox is a non life threatening condition. Fo ar show Koi, attempting the removal could destroy that Koi as a show contender if scarring occurs. For a simple pond Koi the choice becomes which is better, living with the view of the lession or a scar from lesion removal? I think in most cases living with a small "node" that decreases in size or totally recedes in warm water is typically the better choice (just my opinion).
On the flip side, I can also see cases for at least "trying". Also keep in mind that there are multiple causes for "nodes" on Koi, Carp pox being but one. Waxy nodes sometimes can be flicked off with a finger nail, Puss pockets lanced and drained and treated, or the harder nodes that require the "cutting as described.
A koi's heart will continue beating for "typivally" over an hour. That is not to say you should knock a Koi out for that length of time either. The key is to knock it out good, do your thing, but do NOT rush. Yes, minimize the time without compromising the effectiveness of why you knocked it out to begin with. Its not uncommon to knock a Koi out for 15 minutes...without flowing water through the gills.
Karl, I've taken off probably twenty of these lesions over the years - maybe 40% returned, usually in the exact same spot but not as large. The larger ones are the ones I find do not go away in warmer water, although they may diminish.
Steve, how experienced are you with removal of the larger lesions? If you use your "fingernail" to remove them, its like using a spoon to remove a wart. The larger ones are well-attached. With the limited experience I have using the sharp, precise tools shown, I haven't had any scarring. If you are very exacting in your removal technique, I don't think scarring should be a worry.
What I'm more concerned with, however, is the ethics issue that I brought up in the "minor koi cosmetic surgery, part I" thread. Part of the reason I did these threads was to get a discussion going about whether cosmetic surgery, even minor procedures like I showed, are ethical among those who show koi. Is it ok to improve the appearance of your koi surgically so it will compete better against koi without defects ( and you can bet there are procedures being done by owners and maybe breeders that go beyond what has been shown) ?
I got exactly zero responses to that question. Maybe the silence out there should tell me something.
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