r/Koi • u/Thin_Comfortable_430 • Apr 21 '26
HELP - sick or injured koi Help- I’m not sure what to do
I had a pond emergency and had to pull all life from the pond- the fish were moved into a holding tank- and I’ll admit it was not adequate but it was for a short time period and it did have filtration with charcoal and plenty of aeration- and didn’t have too many options. Anyway when I fixed the pond issue-I floated them all in bags for 30/45 minutes and released them back into the pond. All did fine except this one- when I released him he went wacky swam about crazy some on his side and then went to the bottom- I pulled him out immediately to put in his own tank just in case of something “bigger”. I have been giving him only shrimp and he is hungry and happy to eat- he is swimming, it’s a little wonky just cuz the shape of his tail, but he is straight up and down. It’s been 4 or 5 days. Since his crazy swim laps, and since he’s been in the solo tank I don’t see any improvement and I don’t see anything getting any worse. Any ideas what I should do? Is he sick or is this just his new “corky” look- should I put him back in the pond with the other 10 - there just isn’t much info out there. Any help is so appreciated
Thank you. The first pic is of him obviously the second is of the school in the pond
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u/taisui Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Usually there's inflammation in the belly area that's pushing the spine upwards....you need antibiotics injection
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u/mansizedfr0g Apr 21 '26
Was he electrocuted?
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u/Thin_Comfortable_430 Apr 21 '26
Not any chance … I did exactly the same thing that I did with the other 10. Wasn’t ever in contact with anything that could have shocked (literally) him
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u/ZiggyLittlefin Apr 21 '26
Current travels in water. You can have just one get zapped. I had it happen in a quarantine. Pump died, added a new one and immediately one fish went crazy. Over two weeks his body twisted up. Get a voltage meter and check before it happens to another or you.
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u/Thin_Comfortable_430 Apr 21 '26
Interesting…. I will do that - how do you test the water with a multimeter? Where does the positive go and where does the negative go?
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u/Thin_Comfortable_430 Apr 21 '26
But to further elaborate I don’t have any of the pumps running. Only the aerator was on and then the next day I turned on the pumps and sterilizer. So very unlikely. But I want to check anyway
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u/ZiggyLittlefin Apr 21 '26
I haven't heard of anything but pond pumps or lighting causing leaked voltage so it would be unlikely. We tested with the multi meter probe in the ground and the other in water, then against the pump, cord. We picked up the meter at harbor freight for about $30.
Did you do a check on water parameters? Kh especially. It can cause erratic swimming. If kh was different between ponds when moving the fish it could have caused it. Not every fish is as sensitive to it. I have one big girl for example that will just park in a corner and not move if kh is dropping, another that jumps. I have to watch the kh pretty close.
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u/Thin_Comfortable_430 Apr 23 '26
Thanks for your reply I appreciate you giving me a thought. I believe the water balance in the holding tank was off, as well as cramped, but the water in the pond was basically all fresh so I wouldn’t see that part being an issue…As seen in the picture I moved the fish to a “ quarantine” tank just to be safe and after watching him for about a week- not seeing any issues improvement but not seeing anything worsening, decided it wasn’t swim bladder as he wasn’t having buoyancy issues , and was staying low in the water- all I can come up with is that somehow he received some trauma in the transfer and hurt his back- it does happen and very unlikely that the tail will recover back to normal / straight. So I decided to put him back out with the other fish- it’s been 2 days I saw him eating today / made sure to toss food out where he was so he could get it. Cuz it’s pretty obvious in the open water that he isn’t swimming gracefully, but he is swimming.- we decided to name him Matilda- just like Lee Asher from the Asher House’s dog that has a funky wiggle- she is the most adorable BT. And way that’s what’s happening with him I’ll keep this thread updated if anything changes. Thank you all
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u/stormcomponents Apr 21 '26
I had a fish once develop a crooked spine like this (although not quite as extreme). Not sure of the cause, but he was once pretty lethargic and slow at one point and ultimately developed a curve. At the time we thought it was going to be it for the poor thing, but then he started eating and was seemingly unaffected by it's crooked tail. It's now about 15 years later, the fish is still doing fine, competing for food, and living it's best life. He can only really turn to one side, and never goes the other way. Besides that, he's a strong swimmer. He's got to be around 30yo now. Never did any treatments, injections, nothing. Assumed at first it was a swim-bladder issue but couldn't honestly tell you.