Salt.......

[Kohaku]

It was not meant to sound condescending. Sorry.

[jnorth]

Quote: Originally Posted by kingkong This sounds a bit condescending to me, you look up the the salt next time.

Sorry KK I was not saying your post or anyone elses was not good or informative . I was making a general comment that Koivet is a very good place to quickly find all sorts of info on koi health. Most time a quick search over there will yield you the answers you need without having to post. As far as this particular post goes, I wouldn't use salt first. I'd scrape this guy to see if he has any bugs and then treat that. If he doesn't then maybe some salt. The problem with salt is many medications don't work with it in your water. So if you salt and that doesnt work you then have to do water changes to get he salt levels down so you can medicate. All of this will take time that you may not have. Really though I try to not post in koi health posts. I'm no expert on koi health and would rather give no advice then maybe accidentally give bad advice.

[adreamer2]

I can certainly respect that, JNorth....

I'm thinking of using Orabase on it To seal the wound.

However, I'm debating on whether to anasthetize it...

How could I possible apply this stuff to this creature without anasthetizing it?... Is there a way?....

Adreamer2

[kingkong]

Skin has to be dry, that's all, Benzoin is 80% alcohol so will dry quickly. By the way table salt is 77% SC, could that be? Don't want to use it anyway.
Fish and other vertebrates have a unique common characteristic. The salt content of their blood is identical (0.9% solution). About 77% of the salt is Sodium and Chloride.

Fish blood is brought into close contact (1-2 cells) with environment. (fresh water). Salts diffuse from blood to fresh water or called leakage. Mucus reduces this loss of salts. Lost salts are replaced by re-absorption and food digestion, that's it. Body energy is used to replace salts lost. Too much salt in the environment can cause dehydration and most verts, this dehydration (10% or more) can be lethal. Calcium hardness also helps control leakage in blood salts.

[elunned]

KoiVet can be a source of some very poor information - like that salt is a panacea (cure-all) and kills most common parasites. If this little guy is 5" including its fins - it is a very, very young fish and very fragile. Meds often do far more harm than good, especially on fish that are already weak. Many meds are harsh chems, and you need to balance risk vs. benefit. (Prazi is very gentle, but only works on flukes.) No matter what the problem, all sick fish REQUIRE stable, excellent water quality with maximum aeration and gentle heat (70-72dF is good). If there is a break in the dermis, low levels of salt (0.1%) will ease osmotic stress due to loss of fluids through the injury. There are cells in the gills that control ion depletion, but if the skin is broken, there is no such protection.

Breaks in the skin need to be thoroughly cleaned and debrided to remove infected tissue, then sealed - OraFix powder works well. Search on KoiVet for posts by LeeB.
How do the gills look, and what is the length of the body (from the fleshy base of the tail to the nose)?