Fish question-URGENT

I have a pond in my front yard with koi and shubunkins. One of my shubunkins I know for a fact is a female as we had babies last year. After the babies arrived a cat or something during the night ate three of my fish, the only male(known at the time) and two females. I have two shubunkins left, the second one I believe is also a female as they have had no more babies. The question I have is that my female, Dottie, is grossly "swollen" in her abdominal area as if she is full of eggs. Does anyone know how to get her to lay the eggs without a male? I know that sound :confused: but she is more sluggish and I am afraid that if she does not get them out I will lose her. At least this is what I am hoping, eggs not some illness but everyone else in my pond seem to be doing well, I have 16 babies left from last year and 6 koi in they same pond with these other two fish. If anyone knows that it is not eggs and thinks they know what ?disease? this may be please give me any information you can. Thanks in advance.

Sounds like she may be constipated and, if she survived, here's how to prevent it happening again. Feed them some brine shrimp (fresh/frozen best) to prevent this. It's pretty rich food so don't overdo but see that they get some several times a week to keep them free flowing and healthy.

These types of fish often have very compacted intestinal tracts that make obstruction a real problem unless they have the right stuff to prevent problems.

Wish you all the best.

Callie

Still have a problem? Fish rarely get impacted with eggs. This most likely is constipation or a disease called dropsy. Don't feed them for a few days and see if it helps. After that if she is still swollen try a few peeled peas. If her scales are sticking out like a pinecone than she has dropsy. That requires a heavy dosing of antibiotics to cure and sometimes the body stays disfigured even after the fish is cured.

Wow, been awhile but I had checked this for several days and there were no responses so I guess I forgot about it. We ended up doing a partial water (1/2) change and of course re-adding our salt and in a few days she seemed to look better. She does not look quite as stream line as she did before all this but she is definately half the side. If it was dropsy it cured itself (if that is at all possible) because I have never put antibiotics in the water. Maybe it was constipation but our fish are only fed 4-5 days a week anyway in the summer and 1-2 times a week in the winter(depending on water temp). I will definately keep these things in mind if it should happen again. Thank you both.

Good to hear that all is well. Yes, dropsy can cure itself, especially once you improve the water conditions.

It's great that everything is going well! :D