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  1. #1
    Members Jeff's Avatar
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    Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    I just saw the weirdest thing. One of my two remaining "healthy" koi did something very unhealthy. He died. I was out tending to my system, and I noticed him floating belly up, being carried by the current of the water (he's tiny........only about 6" in size). So I scooped him into my hands to look him over. His side fins were completely stuck straight out, horizontally. His mouth was CLOSED. I took him out of the water to see if I noticed anything out of the ordinary. Now, I'm no fish doctor, but nothing screamed out to me as showing signs of illness. I do see little black spots, but this is a black and white spotted koi, so I can't tell if it's anything to be concerned with.

    Now for the weird part.

    As I'm holding him, I gently squeeze his abdomen, which opened his mouth. When I let go, the mouth closes. Simply pressure, I tell myself. So I do this a few more times, and I notice him twitch. Leaving my hand in the water, I continue this "Fish CPR" for a couple minutes, and he begins breathing on his own. I hold him in my hand a while longer, and gently release him.....and he swims away like normal.

    Now, I admit that I am not satisfied with this. SOMETHING caused him to go catatonic. Water chemistry seems acceptable:

    Ammonia - 0.25 or possibly 0.50, which is a little high, but the temperature is only in the mid-70's
    Nitrites/Nitrates - 0.00
    pH - Looks to be the high 7's to low 8's

    Now, I admit that I don't know how long he was floating like that......my guess is that it couldn't have been too long or else he wouldn't have revived. THE ONLY THING I DID was I added 5 gallons of new water to the system (treated with the recommended dosage of Stress Coat + to remove clorine/chloramine). Keep in mind that the tank itself has about 80 gallons of water in there, and I added this mere five gallons of water through a slow siphon (not just dumped in there).

    So I don't know if THAT did anything, but it seems doubtful that such a small amount of water (compared to the existing water in the system) would have shocked that fish.

    Any ideas? My questions are as follows:

    - Aside from any disease explanation, do you know of anything that would cause a fish to go into this catatonic shock? Again, I thought he was dead (and may very well have been) until I squeezed him back to life).

    - Had I not stepped in, do you think the fish would have naturally recovered? I have never seen a fish do this before. I almost dipped him in an immediate SALT DIP (3% solution) but when he swam off relatively normal, I didn't want to risk shocking him back to death.

    Whatever "this" is, I think it may have been what killed most of my other fish, since all of them didn't appear to have any sickness or disease before dropping dead.
    ------------
    My System: Jeff's Backyard System Here We Go!

  2. #2
    Moderator JCO's Avatar
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    Re: Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    Sounds like you 'LAID HANDS ON HIM"...Real spooky and I have no explanation for you...how's he doing now?
    JCO
    Irish eyes are always smiling but
    • "In the eyes of the world, you are only as good as your last success"
    so never forget
    • "MAN IS ONLY LIMITED BY HIS IMAGINATION"

  3. #3
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    Re: Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    Quote Originally Posted by JCO
    Sounds like you 'LAID HANDS ON HIM"...Real spooky and I have no explanation for you...
    No kidding.....I've got some 'skin lesions' that need attention.....what's your rate....maybe I can just skip the Dermatologist

  4. #4
    Members Jeff's Avatar
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    Re: Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    Here's the update: good news, bad news, and then good news again.

    The GOOD NEWS is that after I revived him (yesterday afternoon), he looked perfectly fine. I mean, PERFECT. He was acting social around other fish.......he was swimming back and forth across the tank, etc.

    The only "strange" (?) thing is that occasionally, he would skim the top surface of the water, but only along the EDGE. It's almost like he was trying to find food or something which would be floating along the edge of the tank.......but when I put food there, he wasn't interested. I thought maybe he was trying to eat bubbles (made from the turbulent water), or possibly he was trying to nibble some kind of "film" or something on the sides of the tank. If I tried to approach him, he'd quickly swim away, so he was cognizant and responsive as I would expect.

    The only other time I have heard of fish hanging near the top of the water has to do with oxygen deprivation, or bladder issues.....neither of which I believe we're dealing with here. The tank has a LOT of aeration, and I have my fish on a pea diet every few days to change up the diet (normally just koi pellets that I pre-soak in water). So I can't explain why I noticed him skimming the top......but then he would go back down to the bottom and swim around there as well. In other words, he wasn't ALWAYS on the top. In fact, it almost looked playful when he was on the top, swimming around the perimeter of the tank (but not flashing or anything that would scream PROBLEM).

    So that was the good news (the fact that he revived yesterday and was acting normal all the way until I went to bed around 10:00pm at night).

    Now for the BAD NEWS. I awoke this morning, about to respond to this post, when I thought, "Let me go check on him." Sure enough, I go out there, and he's floating "dead" again in the middle of the tank. By middle, I mean not on the bottom, not on the top.......just floating with the current, stiff as a board, with fins pointed straight out horizontally.

    So I tried my thing again. I reached my hand in the water (cold....temps around high 50's F this morning, so I'm sure it was low 50's in the middle of the night).

    I held him in my hand, did a couple of gentle squeezes, and then his mouth GAPED WIDE OPEN. A couple more times, and it would close....then open. I began to actually feel like a pulse in my hand, which was him breathing in and out again.

    I thought, "CRAP! I should have filmed this for you guys"......so I put him back and he stayed upright while I got the camera. So here is the quick video I got. He's already revived, but he allowed me to catch him EASILY. I give you a close up of what he looks like, just in case you see anything out of the ordinary (because I can't!). Then I let him go and he swam back to the bottom where he is alive again:

    [youtube:2gc7wpi8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdzIIh6qR1U[/youtube:2gc7wpi8]

    So that's the final good news, if you can call it that. He's swimming around, and no longer dead.....but the fact that this happened twice to the same fish, with no visible signs of illness, and no behavioral signs (except for the occasional hanging on the surface of the water along the edge, as if looking for something).

    I may think the temperature is a factor, but when this happened yesterday, it wasn't THAT cold and happened in the middle of the day. So I'm really perplexed about this one. I just checked on him right now and he's swimming around with the other fish on the bottom of the tank, hanging with their little group. In fact, he might be the more active fish of the bunch, checking in on the other fish and just swimming around actively.

    I look forward to your thoughts on this!
    ------------
    My System: Jeff's Backyard System Here We Go!

  5. #5
    Members Jeff's Avatar
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    Re: Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    After yesterday's event, he's been fine. I woke up this morning and he was happily swimming around. I will let you know if I see anything else.
    ------------
    My System: Jeff's Backyard System Here We Go!

  6. #6
    Members Roger L.'s Avatar
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    Re: Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    I don't think that is a Koi. It is either a Possum fish or an even rarer Lazarus fish, but the Lazarus fish generally only does it once.
    At what point did our government cease to be of the people, by the people, and for the people?

  7. #7
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    Re: Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    Possum fish - lol!

  8. #8
    Moderator JCO's Avatar
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    Re: Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    The curse of the Swiming (walking) Dead...
    JCO
    Irish eyes are always smiling but
    • "In the eyes of the world, you are only as good as your last success"
    so never forget
    • "MAN IS ONLY LIMITED BY HIS IMAGINATION"

  9. #9
    Members Aloha Don's Avatar
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    Re: Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    I have seen this before but it was with people staying out too late drinking.....
    What exactly do you feed your fish or should we even ask what kind of whacky weed you are growing.....
    Put all excuses aside and remember this: YOU are capable - Zig Ziglar

  10. #10
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    Re: Dead Fish Brought Back to Life --- How and Why?

    Sounds like we have a koi wisperer ,or a fish with a disorder craving your attention ,careful if this catchs on with all your fish ,you will have the first fish massage parlor ,and then your reputation is SHOT or INHANCED depending !!!
    It's not what you look at as much as what you see!

    It is what it is ,Till YOU CHANGE IT!

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