Koi Health Check and Treatment



Hopefully, the following will correctly guide you through the methods used to perform a health check on your Koi, take a mucus sample to observe under the microscope and treat appropriately.

Many thanks to ChrisD and Dixie Dean for providing the experience and taking the pictures... enjoyed the day.



Below is a brief description of each picture.

This is intended for newcomers to the hobby like me and anyone else….

I hope it is helpful and informative….



PIC A

“1st job…. Get the testkit out.”



PIC B, C, D, E

“Test your water… Temp, PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, KH, GH, Oxygen, TDS… and more.

My results were:

Temp 17.5 deg

PH 8.5

TDS 180ppm

(Total dissolved solids)

Ammonia 0.25ppm

Nitrite 0.5ppm

Nitrate 5.00ppm

KH 35.8ppm (2gdh)

GH 1 43.2ppm (8gdh)

Phosphate 0.5ppm

Copper 0.25ppm

Oxygen 6ppm

… All results were ok… I have the tail end of ‘new pond syndrome’

(We doubled checked the readings using two different test kits)”



PIC F

“Nets and bowls with anaesthetic ready to go”



PIC G

“Soaking towel in pond water”



PIC H

“Equipment laid out”



PIC I

“Netting the 1st Koi”



PIC J

”Into sock… head first

(Then into bowl for a few seconds or so until the Koi ‘keels’ over onto side and can be held for 7-10 secs without ‘kicking’)”





PIC K, L & M

“Pictures of ailment”



PIC N

“Broken Caudal fin”



PIC O

“Scraping, using plastic scapula, to remove any dead skin/infected parts”



PIC P & Q

“Hydrogen Peroxide applied to cleanse (Solution 3%)”



PIC R, S & T

“Iosal applied to areas – note the use of kitchen roll to guard the eyes from accidental spillage”



PIC U

“Iosal on tail… note the red veins… an indicator of stress”



PIC V

“Taking a mucus scrape from just behind the gills towards the tail.”



PIC W

“Koi held gently in water near/over air bubbles”



PIC X

“As the Koi becomes more lively, hold only by the tail until he/she kicks away”



PIC Y

“Mucus sample on slide”



PIC Z

“Cover glass placed on top, ready for inspection”



PIC ZA & ZB

“Inspecting slide under microscope”



PIC ZC

“Netting no.2”



PIC ZD

“Gill scrape from the gill cover, not the gills themselves… This is not for the novices, like me, as it is a very delicate task”



PIC ZE

“Last one to be netted”



PIC ZF

“Under belly scrape of non-anaesthetised Koi… two person job unless you are experienced”



PIC ZG & ZH

“Found several Costia on the 3rd Koi… the other two were clean…

Potassium Permangenate was added as treatment for the Costia.

(Dosage used was 1.5ppm)”



PIC ZI

“The camera man was tired after a hard days toil”