Strange growth on koi's head

My parents have an approximately 5,000 gallon backyard pond stocked
with goldfish and a few koi, maybe 8 fish in all. The weather has been
getting warmer, so they did the recommended spring mucking out today
and transferred all the fish to a 55 gallon bucket so the pond could be
drained. Then Mom noticed the largest of the koi (about 20") had a
strange, gray colored growth on the top of its head, about the size of
a dime. They asked me to come over and look at it since I have
aquariums (they're all sal****er except one freshwater tropical
community tank), so to make them happy I came over and had a look. This
fish is at least 10 years old and quite tame. He eats right out of your
hand, so they are really fond of him. I got to examine the fish when it
was in the bucket, and feel the lesion. It's right on the crown of his
head and almost looked like skin that had been peeled back, and some of
it came off as the fish moved around. The fish is orange and black, so
the gray bump on his head looks really odd. It didn't look like fungus
or ich to me. Maybe an injury? The pond has been set up for over a
decade, and this is the first time there has been any problems like
this. None of the other fish have any similar lesions. They didn't want
to stress the fish out too much, so the fish were all returned to the
pond once it had been refilled. What would be the best method of
treating the fish, since my parents don't want to lose him?

"Arklier" wrote in message
oups.com...
It's right on the crown of his
head and almost looked like skin that had been peeled back, and some of
it came off as the fish moved around.
==============
Does it look waxy?
--
Koi-Lo....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

The flesh that sloughed off looked kind of white and pasty, yeah. Best
thing I can compare it to is the flesh of trout raised at a hatchery.
Firm, but opaque and colorless. The middle of the sore was definitely
gray, though. Like dead flesh on a live animal.

yes, it could be a scrape. fish heal very fast. it could also be lymphocystis which
is a virus and wont really hurt the fish, just doesnt look great.
if the fish had nice slime coat, gills were bright cherry red and the water
parameters are good then just add a bit of salt to the pond, like 0.9lbs per 100
gallons of pure rock salt no additives. just once.
Ingrid

"Arklier" wrote:
My parents have an approximately 5,000 gallon backyard pond stocked
with goldfish and a few koi, maybe 8 fish in all. The weather has been
getting warmer, so they did the recommended spring mucking out today
and transferred all the fish to a 55 gallon bucket so the pond could be
drained. Then Mom noticed the largest of the koi (about 20") had a
strange, gray colored growth on the top of its head, about the size of
a dime. They asked me to come over and look at it since I have
aquariums (they're all sal****er except one freshwater tropical
community tank), so to make them happy I came over and had a look. This
fish is at least 10 years old and quite tame. He eats right out of your
hand, so they are really fond of him. I got to examine the fish when it
was in the bucket, and feel the lesion. It's right on the crown of his
head and almost looked like skin that had been peeled back, and some of
it came off as the fish moved around. The fish is orange and black, so
the gray bump on his head looks really odd. It didn't look like fungus
or ich to me. Maybe an injury? The pond has been set up for over a
decade, and this is the first time there has been any problems like
this. None of the other fish have any similar lesions. They didn't want
to stress the fish out too much, so the fish were all returned to the
pond once it had been refilled. What would be the best method of
treating the fish, since my parents don't want to lose him?



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"Arklier" wrote in message
oups.com...
The flesh that sloughed off looked kind of white and pasty, yeah. Best
thing I can compare it to is the flesh of trout raised at a hatchery.
Firm, but opaque and colorless. The middle of the sore was definitely
gray, though. Like dead flesh on a live animal.
===========================
A sore? I hope this isn't ulcer disease. Check out the www.koivet.com site
and see if you can find something similar there. I'm thinking of koi-pox
but that may not be it. A picture would be very helpful.
--
Koi-Lo....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
rec.pond's FAQ are at:
http://www.geocities.com/justinm090/faq.html
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*