Lost My Tancho

[An Ly]

Was away for three days, came home today and my Tancho Die, it develop a scratch on the side from netting about two months ago at that time it didn't look like it was anything just a little red mark, was feeding, didn't pay much attention to it. It looks like bacterial infection, what would have been the treatment for something like this for future learning. thanks

[lildude]

Quote: Originally Posted by An Ly Was away for three days, came home today and my Tancho Die, it develop a scratch on the side from netting about two months ago at that time it didn't look like it was anything just a little red mark, was feeding, didn't pay much attention to it. It looks like bacterial infection, what would have been the treatment for something like this for future learning. thanks

Sorry to hear that that happened. I guess we all are reminded not to let a small scratch or abrasion on a koi just be. Treat it, and things should be O.K. when its still small.

[saratogatan]

from the picture, it definately took more than 3 days for the wound and infectin to get to the point of no return. What is the weather in your area, what is your pond's water temparature ?

'koi feeding' is no indication that a koi is healthy. You should try to know your koi more. When there is a scratch, you should keep an eye, if not both eyes, on it.

For scratch, cut of minor wound, here is my protocal, a rather cheap one:

1. net the koi
2. take a better look at the wound, consider knocking the koi out using oil of clove. I got mine from a pharmacy, $3.69US compared to $9.99 from koi join. (koi joins are similar to strip join, they don't strip, but strip your $$$ if you are not being careful)
3 dry the wound
4. clean the wound throughoutly with iodine, from local pharmacy or long's drug. You must go under the scales.
5. apply extra-strength triple anti-biotic oinment, put a lot of them under the scales in the wounded area

repeat 2,3,5 for a few time, I normally do it every other day. Watch the koi, repeat 4 if needed. Give the koi a week. If the wound does not heal, you need to use antibiotic injection.

The koi is gone, hang in there and learn. hopefully the same thing will not happen again.

stan

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by lildude Sorry to hear that that happened. I guess we all are reminded not to let a small scratch or abrasion on a koi just be. Treat it, and things should be O.K. when its still small.

Lildude, I read your post and had to wonder why you posted. An Ly already knows that it was a mistake to leave the scratch. All you did was to remind him of it.

[An Ly]

Thanks Stan, i live in Northern California, temp here can get pretty hot in the summer up to 100's my pond temp is around 75-80F. Let this be my learning experience and not to overlook any small cuts or abrasion on Koi, and to treat it early.

[lildude]

Quote: Originally Posted by Russell Peters Lildude, I read your post and had to wonder why you posted. An Ly already knows that it was a mistake to leave the scratch. All you did was to remind him of it.

Guess if I have nothing helpful to say, dont say it.

[moikoi]

i had good luck with Tricide-Neo dip.

[dubtaco]

Hi Stan,

I have always used denture powder after applying ointment (in my case Neosporin), I guess it locks the water out and gives the ointment time to do its magic before getting washed off?

An Ly,
With an ulcer that large, in addition to what Stan mentioned I would probably do a series of 5 Baytril injections.

[KoiCop]

An Ly . . .

Stan's advice is solid -- but there might be a bit of confusion about the iodine.

Just to be perfectly clear, you should only use iodine the one time; since it cauterizes the wound (burning and killing cells), using it again on a healing wound will set back the progress.

It's the antibiotic creams &/or dips that might need to be repeated several times.

Best Wishes,

[CarolinaGirl]

Actually, I often take the "watch-and-wait" approach with my koi. Often small scratches or even small ulcers will heal up on their own if the water quality is excellent and the koi is otherwise healthy. The key word here is WATCH. I had a koi this spring that developed an ulcer where a scale got knocked off. Rather than stressing her by netting and treating, I watched her closely. I spent time by the pond daily, watching for signs of the sore growing worse, pinking in the fins, etc. She got better all on her own. Unfortunatly in An Ly's case, a small ulcer turned into a very large, ugly one. It didn't happen in 3 days though, but rather festered and got worse as the weeks went by. If caught very early, a topical iodine treatment may have been enough. Tricide neo is excellent stuff too. Injectible antibiotics are also great, but very hard to get sometimes. I like Amikacin, even though it is a very powerful antibiotic. It usually only takes one injection to fix the problem.

I am very sorry you lost your koi. Just learn from this one and move on. Spending time by the pond daily, putting your eyes on each koi is a very good habit to get in to. It takes time, but allows you to catch a problem very eary on. You can't wait until a koi stops eating to see if something is wrong, because sometimes koi will eat and act normal while it is terribly sick. I saw a picture of a koi once that had been eating one day, dead the next. the koi had an ulcer that covered nearly it's whole underside clear through to the internal organs. And yet it continued to eat right up until the end.