# Outdoor Ghost Carp advice needed



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

We have an outdoor pond which has a number of different species of coldwater fish.

One of them is a very large Ghost Carp who's been in there for about 10 years and is about about 1 foot in length, but he seems to be having a swim bladder problem. 

This morning he was upside down at the edge of the pond beside the shallow 'beach' area, where he likes to 'rest' and sunbathe on a normal day, whereas at this time of year he should be down at the bottom hibernating.

Being in the depths of winter I'm not sure what we can do, so I'm wondering if anyone can offer any advice, given that he's outside in a pond, isn't feeding (so pretty sure it can't be constipation).

What I don't want is to get up one morning and find that he's frozen in the surface ice and had a slow death, so I'm wondering whether he should be 'despatched', but don't want to do it if anyone can recommend something we can try to sort out the problem.


----------



## blackjohnzx6 (Jun 18, 2009)

*koi*

iif it swim bladder theres not alot u can do theres no cure sorry for the bad news


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Yeh! That's kind a what I was thinking, he swims fine, but as soon as he stops actually swimming he's back on the surface.

Was just hoping someone on here might have had that problem before and had some advice!


----------



## daftlassieEmma (Oct 23, 2008)

the problem could be because of temperature fluctuations (not sure what the weather's been like down your way?)

if it is swim bladder disorder there is no specific treatment but, if you can try isolating the fish to a quarantine tank if possible and add salt it can help greatly - my LFS has dione this with fancy goldfish and had the problem resolved over a period

i'm not 100% sure on how much salt to add though :? 

another thing i've heard is to feed peas, but with being winter i'm not sure he'd take them

good luck though, hope that was some help : victory:

EDIT: oh, and if you can quarantine him, then shallower water helps keep them more comfortable, which is probably why he's resting in the shallower area anyway


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Yes I've heard about the peas, but that's if they've got constipation and I'm not sure that's his problem, because they stopped feeding a couple of months ago.

I thought about temperature fluctuations too, but we haven't had much of that this last week or so neither.

In the days when we had tanks in the house, I would have isolated him and put him in saltwater straight away, but the problem is that we have no tanks nowadays and isolating a fish that big would need a big tank too.


----------



## jamesh (Jul 3, 2009)

salt works very well for treating swim bladder disorders, the dose is about 1.005 specific gravity with a calibrated refractometer or you can use a set of accurate scales and an online calculator to work out how much you will need.

the only method i can see being possible is to ask someone who has a marine tank if you could borrow there chiller, they will most probably not be using it at this time of year.

you can use it to keep the temp within a degree of the set temp( set the temp the same as the pond water and use pond water)
add the salt slowly over a few days as the salt will dehydrate the fish as it messes up its osmo regulation (regulation of salt and water within the body).

ensure the fish is in a dark place.

just promise you wont try to put copper in the water or they wont thank you when you whipe out there system lol


----------

