My 12" Koi lost his equilibrium a week ago?

Question

One of my Koi has been doing the following for at least a week: Floating on his side, floating upside down, going in circles with his nose at the surface, spinning a little and sinking, then occassionally circling to the top and gulping air, then sinking again. The little bit of swimming he does, he does on his side. The water quality has never been bad and there are only 6 fish in the pond. After asking a local shop, I put 20 pounds of salt in the water. The next day I put him in a 5 gallon bucket of the pond water with medication for disease. The next day I put him back in the pond and treated the whole pond with the medication. I treated it twice last week. I did a 3/4 water change last night. I thought he would be dead since it has been so long. I will toss in a few peas but I'm not even sure he can eat. Any other ideas of what this might be and what I can do to help him? I'd go the extra mile if needed. Thank you for your time.

The fish are not fed too much and they get a mix of quality pellets and flake food.

Answer 1

That is certainly a swim bladder problem and it at first sounds like an infection, but assuming that's what you treated for it should be recovering or else dead by now to be totally honest. This could be the result of damage or genetic problems, but I would suggest you continue the treatments for a total of 10 days to see if that will give and recovery.

MM

Answer 2

I actually had a balloon molly that did that, turns out that it's a parasite that causes it. I would check with another pet store (the corner pet store owners tend to know more than Petsmart but it might be a good idea to check with them). My fish actually lived like 2 months like that-- I didn't try and treat him (don't ask why, I really don't know why) but I imagine a hearty fish like a Koi would live even longer. Good luck to you.