To strip or not to strip eggs..?

[aquitori]

When a female fish gets very gravid with eggs should we strip the eggs? or is easier said than done? What are the health problems or if any if this is done?
I have heard that some female will reabsorbe their eggs, is this true?

[D@z]

Any eggs that arent spawned naturally are ingested or reabsorbed as you say. Happens to every mature female every year I guess. Are you suggesting that you are thinking of stripping eggs manually from every female you have?? I would recommend leaving nature to take its course unless you have a fish that runs into a problem but I think thats very very rare.

[aquitori]

Quote: Originally Posted by D@z Any eggs that arent spawned naturally are ingested or reabsorbed as you say. Happens to every mature female every year I guess. Are you suggesting that you are thinking of stripping eggs manually from every female you have?? I would recommend leaving nature to take its course unless you have a fish that runs into a problem but I think thats very very rare.

Me personnally, nope. I have a friend whose fish is very gravid and has problems swimming. Plus he thinks she is retaining eggs from the previous season...What do you think?

[koifishgirl]

I would be carefull with that because if she is not absorbing the eggs then she is more than likely egg impacted and if you try to strip her of the eggs you will kill her. If I am not mistaken which I dont think I am she need surgery to remove impacted eggs. If I were you I would look into this before I try stripping the female of the eggs.

[dick benbow]

For health reasons I think females should be monitored and bred if need be.

Unless you had someone who knew what they were doing to hand strip, I think I'd suggest allowing her to spawn naturally with a male.

you can loose females that are eggbound. I've always had my best luck at timing some 4 days before a full moon!

I think koi keepers have to be proactive with koi instead of hopeing the situation gets better. ( it usually doesn't) but like an Dr or person in charge of something's health you must first do no harm!

[MikeM]

On another board I recently saw the suggestion that an impacted female be injected with hormones/thyroid extract, wait two days, and then express the eggs .... followed by antibiotic injections. Letting them spawn before it goes that far seems safer, and a fast for a 6 week period seems even better.

[aquitori]

Well my friend seperated the female and put her in a show tank with two males who are not interested in her...Sorry I dont have pics...What if the 2 males dont do their job? What would be next for the female? Surgery?

[koifishgirl]

From past experience with fish that are inpacted like that if you put them in with males they will kill her trying to spawn her. I dont think I would go that route, but it is up to you. Right now she is sick and I think your best bet would be to get a vet to help you out with this or you might regret that you did not. All I have ever tryed that way have died. Sometimes males my not be interested but some males are aggresive and dont pay her any attention and just do what is natural and end up killing the female.

[D@z]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquitori Me personnally, nope. I have a friend whose fish is very gravid and has problems swimming. Plus he thinks she is retaining eggs from the previous season...What do you think?

I would get her to a vet straight away m8. You wont get them to spawn 'naturally' at this time of year. If she is egg bound with eggs that she should have absorbed last autumn then I think the vet would be her only chance but you need to get a proper vets diagnosis first as there are other things that it could be.

[bekko]

A single hormone injection will probably bring her to ovulation. I don't like to use hormones because of the extra handling and anesthesia required. However, the hormone itself is pretty safe. There are several choices of hormone to choose from including human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH), and acetone dried carp pituitary. However, Ovaprim by Syndel seems to be the most popular right now and is especially effective with carp. For more detail, see:

http://www.syndel.com/spawning/ovapr...ion_sheet.html

In the old days, any fishery professional could buy the material - but no more. In most places, you have to get it through a vet but we are fortunate to have an aquaculture extension agent who works through a vet and is approved to acquire the hormone and make it available to clientel. If there is a fish hatchery nearby, you might want to check with them.

-steve hopkins