OK... "dandruff" is the slime coat shedding
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/disease/technique/technique.html#Jo_Ann's_Fish_Physical
notice the part on slime coat. both parasites and toxins cause the slime coat to
thicken and slough off. If the gills of the fish are bright cherry red, then it is
more likely to be parasites best treated in cold water with PP. UNLESS the fish
appears "salted", then it is probably ich and use quick cure or the like. reddish
"rash" is how a koi with ich looks.
with dark gills a serious water change, salting to 0.1% is good for the first 24
hours. NO medications, and dont use melafix .. ever.
you will need to keep your pond netted to keep out the birds. no way around it.
It could be the heron in there fishing caused serious stress brought this on. Ingrid

"humBill" wrote:
Several weeks ago I asked for help on a fish problem. In short I tried to
describe SOME fish with dandruff type appearance, bloody backs, long tail
splitting then beginning fin rot symptoms and mentioned a heron hanging
around,

A pond group member, studying to become a koi advisor came by. Unable to
catch a fish the first time I only treated with 2 .1% salt applications and
one prescribed application of Melafix and draped a seine net over part of
pond for protection. By the time the friend returned in 3 days the 'bloody
backs' had dissappeared almost over night. I had wondered about my
description as the coloration was a very dark red and I actually had one
shubunkin who seemed much redder than the predominately blue it normally
was. The fish did seem a bit more active and no further deterioration
seemed to be happening. She did scrape the two fish and found nothing
except for a few paramecium, although she did disclaim her findings due to
1)not lots of experience and 2)40X scope. I pretty much decided things were
okay and it and it was probably just 'spring crud' which was now subsiding.

Since then several things have happened. One larger koi was apparently
jabbed by the heron as there was an obvious deep puncture (though not
completely through) and I had to put him down about 24 hours later. On two
consecutive days I also found 1 -5" comet floating with no obvious signs off
problems (other than the obvious. This may be totally unrelated to any
other problems I have been having. Though I was too lazy to get up at dawn
to verify, I suspect O2 deprivation, as the weather has recently turned very
warm, I am having some algae bloom and I HAD bunches of submerged plants. I
removed quite a few of the plants, but certainly far from all. Since then
everything seems to be improving. No more death, all 'dandruff' problems
have dissappeared and fins may be repairing already, definitely not getting
worse.

I would not be writing, except possibly to thank everyone for their help
were it not for one concern. And again I may be overreacting. One of the
two comets which I 'caught' had a small bump on it's back. At the top of
the bump but not in the middle was a dark brown 'thing'. It does not have
any particular shape and at least now is not on the surface. My friend said
it was not lice, but didn't want to poke and prode at it. It almost looks
like a small scrape which has a small brown covering over the scrap. I'm
not saying it is a scrap, it just reminds me of a very small scrab over a
scrape, except it is not on the surface and appears smooth. This fish is
still in the quarantine tank and I have seen no change in it. Perhaps I am
just now noticing them but one or two fish in the pond also have this. One
I have been able to see several times. Again using my scrap analogy it
appears the same (I have not captured it) although the 'scrap' would be one
1/2 inch abrasion follow by three or four progressively smaller ones. These
are much narrower than the 'spot' on the top of the quarantined comet.

So at long last - does this sound like something I should be concerned
about - or just watch and see. I am very sorry to be sooooooo long, but I
just never know what to include and omit. The water parameters are constant
and perfect and yes Carol I did do 1 25% water change before I added the
salt

Thanxx
Bill Brister - Austin, Texas




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