Another day, another decision. I watched it a bit today and it looks
both better and worse.

For better, the left side of the fish doesn't seem to show trauma any
more. The other side looks worse, but it's almost like how a bruise
looks worse a day or two later before it starts looking better. Not
sure if that's good or bad.

I also noticed that the eye that was a glazed isn't glazed as much
anymore but there's a little bit of blood in the area surrounding the
eye (maybe 1 cm going from 5 o'clock - 6 o'clock). I'm not sure what
that means.

There's also a visible trauma spot on the gill behind the right eye.
If you look at the original right side photo and zoom in, you can see
the start of that. Does that damage look indicative of anything in
particular? There's a small crack in the gill cover, so I'm thinking
(hoping) that maybe it was caused by external force rather than
something beneath the surface.

I've decided to bring the fish inside. I very nearly had it today but
I didn't have the inside tank ready, so I missed the chance. I'll try
once more tonight, but I'm not hopeful. I think I can get it tomorrow
though.

Also, my microscope came, so if I do manage to catch this fish, I'll
take some scrapings from it and see what shows up.

Dave

I have seen the kind of bruising you are talking about on spawning koi. It happens.
LEAVE IT ALONE. as long as you have a bit of salt in the water it will do better
outside than in. If you bring it in you will have to do a clean up as the parasites
will explode in the warmer water of the aquarium and
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/c...m%20the%20pond
frankly, the aquarium is not as clean as the pond water after a couple days. In my
experience the only good hospital tank is a 100 gallon rubbermaid stock tank with a
heavy duty gravity filter and webbing over the top to keep the fish in.

What you might need is an "in the pond" netted area for isolation of spawn damaged
fish to give them a break from being battered. Ingrid

On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 02:06:01 EDT, Pond Addict wrote:
The other side looks worse, but it's almost like how a bruise
looks worse a day or two later before it starts looking better. Not
sure if that's good or bad.

I also noticed that the eye that was a glazed isn't glazed as much
anymore but there's a little bit of blood in the area surrounding the
eye (maybe 1 cm going from 5 o'clock - 6 o'clock). I'm not sure what
that means.

There's also a visible trauma spot on the gill behind the right eye.
If you look at the original right side photo and zoom in, you can see
the start of that. Does that damage look indicative of anything in
particular? There's a small crack in the gill cover, so I'm thinking
(hoping) that maybe it was caused by external force rather than
something beneath the surface.

I've decided to bring the fish inside. I very nearly had it today but
I didn't have the inside tank ready, so I missed the chance. I'll try
once more tonight, but I'm not hopeful. I think I can get it tomorrow
though.

Also, my microscope came, so if I do manage to catch this fish, I'll
take some scrapings from it and see what shows up.

Dave

Ok, I'll leave it out there for now. Although I didn't manage to get
it last night, I did see it being pursued very aggressively. I think
it's continuing to get beaten up every night.

I started the bead filter and UV yesterday. Even though the water
chemistry is good, I'm pretty sure there's "something bad" living in
the water. I'll take some scrapings today to see if I can figure out
what needs to be treated.

If I can't see find anything to treat, I'm thinking of bringing the
salt up to .2% to aid with stress and healing. Good idea? Unnecessary?

Thanks for the input.

Dave

I took scrapings from 3 fish, but didn't see anything that even
closely resembled flukes or any other parasite activity I've read
about. The mucus all looked normal and there wasn't a lot of activity
on the slides.

I did see this thing:
http://homepage.mac.com/pondstuff/PhotoAlbum2.html

I'm not sure what it is. I saw a few of those. Are they just worms?

Also, is there a good source (book or online) for deciphering what I'm
looking at under the microscope? I'd like to learn more about what I'm
seeing.

The injured fish is still swimming around, but has started resting
(right side up) with its fins against the bottom of the pond. It looks
worn out, but it's still eating and still swimming. It's just taking
more breaks.

Dave

I believe that what you are looking at in the scope is just a string of
algae. They will show up in the slime quite frequently. If it doesn't
move, don't worry about it.

--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html
Zone 7A/B Virginia
"Pond Addict" wrote in message
...
I took scrapings from 3 fish, but didn't see anything that even
closely resembled flukes or any other parasite activity I've read
about. The mucus all looked normal and there wasn't a lot of activity
on the slides.

I did see this thing:
http://homepage.mac.com/pondstuff/PhotoAlbum2.html

I'm not sure what it is. I saw a few of those. Are they just worms?

Also, is there a good source (book or online) for deciphering what I'm
looking at under the microscope? I'd like to learn more about what I'm
seeing.

The injured fish is still swimming around, but has started resting
(right side up) with its fins against the bottom of the pond. It looks
worn out, but it's still eating and still swimming. It's just taking
more breaks.

Dave

On Wed, 9 Apr 2008 09:59:43 EDT, "RichToyBox"
wrote:

I believe that what you are looking at in the scope is just a string of
algae. They will show up in the slime quite frequently. If it doesn't
move, don't worry about it.

Movement is key, I don't find anything unless it is moving... ;-)

Some interesting websites I ran into while googling for parasite pictures:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/disease.html
http://www.akca.org/library/diease4.htm
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/inde...tro/index.html

This looks like a great source, found the 2 above from it, unfortunately a
lot of the links are broken, but worth further clicking if one is
interested:
http://www.koitime.com/Content/microscopy.htm ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

I posted a new picture of the damaged fish:
http://homepage.mac.com/pondstuff/PhotoAlbum1.html

The left side of the fish now appears to have healed. The blood by the
right eye is also gone, and the damaged area on the right gill looks
much better. The upper-right-center area continues to show a lot of
damage. Looking at the old and new pictures, does that area appear to
be healing OK on its own?

The fish is active again today.

Thanks for the feedback on my microscope observations & the links.

Dave