Koi With Bloat And Popeye, Please Help!

[bguarino1]

I have a koi pond in my backyard, and the other day I noticed one of my fish had bulging eyes and bloating. I removed him and placed him in a 25 gallon hospital tank. I gave him epsom salt which almost completely took the swelling out of his eyes. I am also treating him with tetracycline. I'm not sure if this is dropsy or what. He is not pine-coning and none of his scales are raised. I don't see any lesions on him, however, he has white fuzzy-looking things hanging off of him (see picture). The picture I posted is after I treated with epsom salt. What do you think is wrong with him? Is this dropsy even though his scales aren't raised? I'm worried about fish TB so I have been wearing gloves and taking extra precautions but I'm not sure how common that is in koi.

 

[Ed204]

What are your water parameters and is he still eating?

 

[bguarino1]

Ammonia is 0
Nitrites are 0
Nitrates are around 20
He isn't eating anything but he is still swimming around.

 

[Rivieraneo]

The white things can be a reaction to the use of epsom salt. Did you dump the epsom salt into the tank and leave it there? Epsom salt is meant to be used as a bath.

There is definitely an underlying infection and with that much bloating, I'd recommend kanamycin vs tetracycline as tetracycline is rather rough on the kidneys and kanamycin is your heavy hitter when it comes to cover all antibiotics.

 

[bguarino1]

I ordered the kanamycin, it will be here tomorrow. What should I do in the meantime? Dose one more time with tetracycline? Should I change 100% of the water in the hospital tank before switching antibiotics?

 

[Rivieraneo]

I would dose one final time today and do a water change tomorrow before adding the kanamycin.

 

[bguarino1]

Update: I changed all of the water and put kanaplex in. Yesterday he started eating again and had a super super long poo. Today however, his popeye is back in one eye. I know you said to only do the epsom salt as a bath, but I think I should leave some in the water, as he seems happier when it's in there. I also put stressguard and paraguard in the tank today. I know they say not to mix the medicines, but I'm on a last resort here. He is still eating and is very active today. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Rivieraneo]

Not always the best idea to shotgun meds, but have been in your shoes before, either this or the inevitable. I'd do another water change tomorrow and keep up with the kanamycin doses.

 

[bguarino1]

Okay. Does this sound like fish TB or some other type of bacterial infection? Do koi get TB often?

 

[Rivieraneo]

Fish TB/myco is rare and unless fairly advanced, usually can only be confirmed via microscope. If it were some other type of infection. Kanamycin would be effective.