Ryukin: Floaty Issues + Shipping?

[Lupin]

Ksane, he went upside down after the koi attacked him. He had been that way for two weeks since the attack. My friend called me last night since he was getting confused by my text messages after I kept referring to different kinds of fins asking him to tell me the exact extent of damage. He had been extremely busy and commented last night the fins showed slight improvement in recovery after he was able to give it a close examination for the first time apparently in two weeks. He said all the koi did was leave the fin rays at least in dorsal, caudal, ventral and anal fins. The pectoral fins are still intact but with a slight damage although the fish remained upside down but not completely anymore.

Overall, the ryukin has a gleamer of hope if the owner is consistent with his water changes. He will be putting it in the tub along with some marginal plants for gas exchange and water quality control since as I expected, he did have very limited utilities, not even an airpump. All he has is a pond and nothing else.

Once the ryukin recovers, he will be shipped as quickly as possible to me. Shipping expenses will still be shouldered by him. I offered to pay it for him but he insisted in the end, he will be the one to do it.

Thanks for the support, Ksane. When I called him, I told him how much I adored the fish and I am going to assist him at all costs to save the fish. I kept pestering him over the call to do what is needed to be done since I want the fish to recover as quickly as it can from its ordeal.

 

[ksane]

Lupin, when I die I'm going to come back as a goldfish (I"ve already put in my request with The Big Guy). Will you adopt me? I want to live at your place lol

 

[Jennie Beth]

Lupin,
Is it possible to 'pack' a fish with something for support? Maybe a mat of moss or filter material to keep it upright in transit? In a 'V' shape, like a cradle? Never have shipped even a healthy fish, but you have helped me so much, I thought I'd ask...

Best of luck to you and the little one,
Jen

 

[Lupin]

That's a possibility, Jennie. He does have some marginal plants which he could use as a cushion to help with the goldfish. I'll just let the goldfish recover a bit though before we can safely call for the shipment signal. It's best to err on the side of caution by letting it recover for awhile so it'll be physically fit in the end. Meanwhile, I have been asking the owner to update me from time to time about the fish so I can see what else can be done to help improve its recovery. So far, the fish remained tilting but he's still okay. I think he may be at least 5 inches in size judging from the photo posted earlier. He's going to be a lucky boy when he meets his perfect girl, Satine.

 

[Lupin]

Lupin, when I die I'm going to come back as a goldfish (I"ve already put in my request with The Big Guy). Will you adopt me? I want to live at your place lol

:22_yikes: You crack me up, Mitz.:silly:

 

[Lupin]

He posted the photos. I asked him if the eyes are actually cloudy or not. No response yet. It's a horrifying sight.

 

[geekboy]

Yikes. My impression from the photo is that the flash is making the eye look that way, so that might be good news at least. It just bothers me that the floatation issues coincided so closely with the attack. The loss of that much fin would definitely make it hard to move around, but shouldn't change buoyancy characteristics very much IMO. A secondary infection would scarcely have time to settle in and cause it. The only thing that leaves, in my mind, is something physical to the internals -- such as a injury to the swim bladder itself, or possibly a huge disruption to food digestion.

On the upside, the wounded fins appear to have very clean edges. Hopefully this means your troubles won't include infection on the healing sites. Thanks for passing along the pics.

 

[Inka4040]

Is the fish still eating? If so, fasting it for a few days then gorging it on peas and cooked shrimp could force any possible blockage or air in the intestines out. However, with that level of distension, and the squared off appearance of the belly, I'd worry that there were some serious fluid buildup issues.

 

[Somervell]

Lupe, from the photos it looks like the fins are already starting to heal. Is it possible that the flipping could be caused by some sort of contusion? (like being side bumped repeatedly out of the food pool by a bunch of larger, hungry koi?) Either way, I think that you made the right call to wait before shipping.

There's a particularly dark spot to the side of the anal fin in the photo. Is is possible that there is a bleeding injury there?

 

[kyryah]

Oh, boy.

Sorry I missed this until now. I would not recommend shipping that fish in it's current state.

The fish that I had that I was considering shipping had gone through every conceivable treatment for buoyancy issues with no improvement. His previous owner had allowed him to remain upside down for a year or more with no treatment.

That fish has something current going on. At this point I would be more concerned with curing the cause of that severe distention than worrying about the fins, which appear to be healing.

Kristina