Butterfly Koi - Near death experience, questions remain!!

[Mikos]

This is my only Butterfly Koi, which I've had since 2004, and which, until today, I thought had perished in some mysterious manner over the past few days.  When I checked on the pond on Friday, this Koi appeared to be fine, swimming and looking for food.

I didn't really see it during the weekend and when I was working on the pond yesterday for an hour or two, the fish was nowhere to be seen.  So I began to suspect the worst and that something had happened to this koi.

Today when I went out to feed the fish, miraculously the Butterfly Koi "appeared to be fine" and was swimming a long side the other fish.

However I did notice some white discoloration on this koi's body that wasn't present previously and I cannot explain how it occurred. 




Now I have no clue how this came to be.  I would first suspect my waterfall pump but that seems unlikely since the flow was so weak.  However the marks could be the consequence of the Koi being sucked against the intake.

Secondly, I thought perhaps one of the stones had been dislodged and had landed and pinned the Koi.  This seems unlikely.  Thirdly, I did notice that some of the styrofoam that I used to insulate the pond had cracked and had ended up on the top of the water's surface so I thought perhaps this was a result of ingesting the foam, but if so, why didn't the rest of the fish suffer a similar fate?

Fourthly it could have been an animal attack but again I don't suspect this is the case.  The fish didn't appear to be skittish and the white color doesn't appear to be something that an animal might do.

Anyways, I will keep an eye on him and hope that he (or she) recovers from these injuries.  Any input as to what you guess might have caused this is appreciated!!  My guess remains the waterfall pump being the culprit but I welcome any thoughts/ideas other forum members might have.

[Sunbeam56]

Looks to me like he/she took a thrashing. The wound is sorta in a straight line, with abrasions.
Like he jumped against a rock, or ... do you have a skimmer?

Is this fish blind in one eye?

As always, if the fish will heal itself, that's the best. With a wound like this, I normally pull them and spread a wound powder on the area, to discourage opportunistic bacterial infections.
A bacterial infection will be seen one of two ways, a pink swelling that pushes up the scales; or green algae growing from the necrotic tissue.

[Mikos]

He was 100% normal in appearance prior to the weekend, with both eyes fully operating.  It appears that he is now blind in his left eye, although I did notice that he picked up food on that side.  Perhaps it will always be a mystery what did cause this injury although I'm still leaning towards the pump.  I don't have a skimmer on the pond.

I'm somewhat concerned about removing him while he is in a weakened state.  His appetite appeared to be fine as he ate alongside the other koi.  I will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that he doesn't deteriorate.  Thanks for letting me know what to look out for!!

[Sunbeam56]

Don't worry about removing a wounded koi.
They are very social and resilient creatures.  As long as they end up back in the water, they are good.
Roark had a koi that he used to experiment with, that was so tame that he could pick it up, look it over, and put it back in the water, and it didn't even thrash. 

Just don't bang them with the net, and they will be fine.
Its more traumatic for the human. I can't tell you how many times I've ended up in the pond chasing a fish... 

In general, intervention is not needed. But I'm a fussy mom, and feel better if I can put a bandaid on it.
 

[Mikos]

Thanks for the advice.  I will probably continue to monitor him and if I notice anything adverse, then I might take further measures!!  Yesterday he appeared to be swimming around fine with the rest of the Koi.

[Mikos]

So went out to check on the Butterfly Koi today and noticed a couple of things;

1)  The skin around the injury looks either loose or furry.  I'm not sure which.  Now this leads me to believe that its the dead skin which is in the process of falling off or perhaps it is an infection.  Any thoughts?

2)  I've also noticed that the color has returned to the left eye, which in the previous pictures was white and now appears to be black again.  Anyone think that the eye has healed?

[Ky Kim]

Has there been any spawning going on?

Could is be a she and was chased and pushed against rocks, etc?

 I know one of my big koi...she sure took a beating this year. So much, my husband found her laying on the shallow shelf on her side, half dried out, she's about 19 inches.  He pushed her back into the water and it took her a few minutes, but took off swimming.  Later in the afternoon he found her hiding there again. I moved a plant so she couldn't get there, but all it fine. She does have a couple scrape marks one about the size of a quarter, that are white and missing scales. They are getting better, I just left her alone and keep and eye on her. Her battle wounds are getting smaller and smaller.  I also have babies here and there, so I believe her injuries came from spawning.


Just a thought~

Kim

[KatFish]

Yeah, I had a jumper this year while redoing the pond.  My largest too    She flopped onto a pile of rocks and scraped her side pretty badly.  It looked 'furry' for a while then healed nicely.  She's back to her sparkly self. 

[Mikos]

Never considered that.  Apparently the water is in the high 60's, low 70's so perhaps the cause was amorous koi.  Never saw any eggs but didn't provide any breeding materials so that would explain that.  Regardless, thanks for the thoughts.  The Butterfly is doing well!!!