Just in time!

[James WF10]

I have 3 goldfish which i have in with my koi (not in there out of choice but happy enough to look after them). A fornight ago week one of the goldfish was sulking at the surface with a swolen/bulging eye. I was unable to do anything for a couple of days but went out one afternoon in the view of getting it netted and taking it for a scrape and scope at my local koi suppliers shop and getting it sorted out. i couldnt see the fish anywhere and can only assume it must have been one of the local cats that had fished it out due to it being at the surface and probably being weak from whatever illness it had although never seen a cat watching them before and our cat is scared still of the pond and the fish. I was gutted, i went to the shed to re-fil the food container and there on the lawn, about 6 foot away from the pond was my 12 inch long sturgeon laying lifless and covered in mud from where the cat had played with it and then left it. i was devestated. i had bought it a couple of years ago and it was only about 3 inch and seeing the growth i had had on it made it one of my favourite fish in there. i picked it up to go and bury it and there wasnt a mark on it which made it even more sad as the cat must have just swiped it out while the sturgeon was doing its rounds and due to it being quite spiny couldnt get its teeth into it so just played with it a bit then left it. Anyway, just as i was looking for where to bury it i saw a tiny bit of movement in its gil, after staring at it while holding it in the pond for a few minutes i noticed another weak attempt to breath. Needless to say after an hour and 45 minutes of gently sliding the sturgeon up and down in the pond and a bloody freezing hand it started recovering to the point where it started to attempt a bit of a swim. After another hour of careful watching it was holding its own and although very weak it was surviving. OVER THE MOON! shame i lost a goldfish but so so happy my sturgeon survived the ordeal. its now back to full health and doing fine, no sign of any cats looking in the pond since and if i do see one looking in i will have a new cat fish in there!!!
my main worry from it all is that i dont know what could have been wrong with the goldfish in the firstplace to cause its eye to swell up so much?
all other fish seem fine although one of the larger koi looks to have what seem like a couple of 1cm round blisters on its head?
any suggestions guys?
Thanks in advance
James

[kingfisher]

Needless to say after an hour and 45 minutes of gently sliding the sturgeon up and down in the pond and a bloody freezing hand it started recovering to the point where it started to attempt a bit of a swim. After another hour of careful watching it was holding its own and although very weak it was surviving.

Well done Stoneman. That is dedication.

kingfisher

[kimr]

Hi James

My first thought about the sturgeon is that they are known to jump out of ponds, or it could of been after a bit of food and got stuck and couldn't get back in, my mum had 2 sturgeon that managed to get out and ended up in the middle of the garden. Well done for sticking with it and bringing it back from the brink.

As to the damage on the other fish, have the marks been there for long, and does this fish like to stay near the top in the sun as it could be sunburn, or there were flukes which had taken hold but the fishes immunity has picked which enabled them to fight back and not surcome to a full blown parasite problem, which could of been the cause of the problem with a the goldfish, it had something called dropsy which is really hard to recover from. Flucks grip the fish with a hook and this penetrates the edpidermus which can cause a round red mark which can lead to an ulcer. I would get a topical treatment and treat the marks there are some good kits on the market which contain most things you would need to do this.

Hope this helps and I hope your sturgeon is fully recovered and the fish makes a good recovery