Koi CPR!!!!

[Brutuscz]

I had to perform CPR on a fish the other day...and it actually worked!! I had a 16 inch goshiki with an ulcer near the tail. It was not too terrible, probably the result of rough mating. I have some nuflor, so I decided to play it safe and give her a shot. I used oil of clove at my usual dosage..8 drops per gallon. She went under after about 5 minutes and I gave her the peritoneal shot with a 20 gauge needle (need a needle that thick for nuflor.)
Anyway..put her back in the shallow water...5 minutes go by..not coming out as expected. Gills not moving at all!! Mouth not moving either. I thought..uh oh. I started to move her in the water...first forward, then back faster. I don't even remember where I learned this..but knew I read it somewhere. 5 more minutes of this...still nothing. I thought...holy crap...I killed her. Not going to give up though....kept going...now forward, but back much, much harder. 5 more minutes...I figured lets stop and look now. Holy cow...the gills moved..just a little. Ok...continue cpr (or whatever this is technically (assisted respiration??)). Another minute of this...then stop and watch...gills moving, then mouth moving. My heart started to beat again!! After a few minutes, she started to swim. She didn't eat that day..or the next. Then she ate yesterday...and looks excellent today..eating fine and swimming with the pack. I had saved my precious Bambi...I hope this story can help someone else in a similar situation. Here is a picture of bambi last season..she is bigger and fuller now!! My Girl...gotta love her!!

[mitten]

A kinder gentler CPR would be to hold mouth in swift aerated water flow- under water fall? or above airstone. When reviving fish from oil of clove I have used a seperate small tub of fresh water with an airstone and supported the fish until most of the way back to fiesty, then returned to pond. Side benefit? you get to add more caring touch to the fish you are healing.

Mickey the windowman

[dick benbow]

CPR stands for Carp preparatory respiration...or maybe we should change it to KPR....LOL


I used to be a big proponent of Oil of gloves, but for cases where you have serveral shots in daily series they build up a resistance to the stuff, takes longer and longer to go under and longer and longer to come out, which used to make me more anxious. So anymore I use Finquel, knocks em right out brings em right back.


On the lighter side of anxiety this sunday morning...remember originally Moses was a basket case!

[Russell Peters]

Clove oil is very stressful for Koi, and if you have anything else you should switch. Clove oil is generally used for fungal infections on feet!

[ChrisC]

Yeah, and you'll never be able to eat ham with cloves again!

[Lee B]

FWIW, I have a small 125 gph pump used for table top fountains. I use this to mix meds (particularly useful for salt), but it can also be used for reviving fish quite easily. It's gentle enough so that all you have to do is point the discharge towards the fish's mouth (not IN it!!!!), and it will do the work for you. It's more controllable than most water returns.

I don't use Oil of Clove anymore either, preferring MS-222.