How to treat ulcers
Hi, I have a few koi which have ulcer open wound sores. What medicine is available?
Reply: Ulcer wounds are contagious because they keep on shedding bacteria increasing chances of infecting pond mates. Best to isolate the fish and treat as soos as possible.
Few possibilities but I find this the easiest. Dip the fish in potassium permanganate (1g/10liter unsalted pond water) for 5-7 minutes. Repeat three times every alternate day. Confirm that the gills of the fish are healthy otherwise shorten the dip time. A readymade solution like KOI-PPM makes it easy.
OR
Scrape the wound clean ONCE and wash with antiseptic like diluted Savlon or Dettol.
Dab dry with tissue and seal wound with WOUNDSEAL or BIOWOUND and blow dry.
Best to sedate the fish with BIOSLEEP. You will not like to be operated on while awake, do you?
The first clean must be thorough to ensure all infected tissue are removed. After that wound heals over, take care not to damage the thin new white skin layer that appears.
One can put the fish on an ANTIBIOTIC FEED regime which we prepare on a case by case basis.
The pond you can treat with ANTI-BAC to lower the bacterial count. Alternatively BENZALCIDE diluted 5x the normal dosage.
I will do the dip first and if necessary, do the manual cleaning job. The dip will also remove most other common parasites.
Information on the listed products can be found HERE. Please contact us for advice on alternate medication common in your area.
27-10-2020
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